‘Dangerous’ part-privatisation of probation services

The “dangerous” part-privatisation of probation services is costing taxpayers an extra £467m, The National Audit Office (NAO) reports. “Sir Amyas Morse, head of Whitehall’s spending watchdog, said the Ministry of Justice had ‘set itself up to fail’ as Chris Grayling ignored warnings over contracting out the supervision of criminals. ‘Its rushed roll-out created significant risks that it was unable to manage,’ he added. ‘These have had far-reaching consequences. Not only have these failings been extremely costly for taxpayers, but we have seen the number of people on short sentences recalled to prison skyrocket.’” Meg Hillier MP, chair of the Public Accounts Committee, “said the NPS had performed better but was being ‘hampered by a shortage of staff and intolerable workloads.’ Peter Dawson, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said: ‘The so-called rehabilitation revolution has actually just put more people back into prison with damaging consequences.’”