Recommendation 12

HM Government Acknowledged

Agreed Our long-term ambition for probation’s role at court is to increase the proportion of cases sentenced with a pre-sentence report (PSR) to 75 per cent. The emphasis will be on providing more detailed reports targeting increases, in particular for women, people from ethnic minority backgrounds and those at risk of a short custodial sentence, to inform safe sentencing and support long-term desistence. To support this, we aim to increase in staff numbers for probation court teams and consequently we have committed to increasing our recruitment of trainee probation officers. Historically we have recruited circa 600 trainees each year, but in 2020/21 we were successful in on-boarding over 1,000 trainees and for this year (2021/22) our target is to recruit 1,500. We will also introduce improved digital systems to support more effective and efficient assessments. Our aim is that these will bring together actuarial and dynamic risk assessments, previous conviction status and any existing probation management of the individual, simplifying the current setup which involves overlapping assessments carried out with a range of digital applications. In the shorter-term, we are supporting improvements in the quality of PSRs through a range of measures. The Effective Proposal Framework (EPF) digital tool is in place and supports probation staff to present sentence proposals consistently in line with policy informed by evidence and sentencing guidelines. Using the EPF tool, the assessing officer can offer the court the most effective intervention(s) to protect the public, to rehabilitate and to punish the person subject to court proceedings. The proposal will be proportionate to the seriousness of the offence and based on individual risk and needs identified in the assessment. Where there are particular circumstances in a case that have not been factored into the tool, the assessing officer can apply a professional override and choose proposal options that are more suited. We are also rolling out a new Prepare a Case for Sentence tool to support the early identification of individuals who would benefit from a PSR. We are also piloting an alternative delivery model for PSRs in 15 pilot magistrate courts. The pilot is testing the hypothesis that the increased delivery of quality and timely PSRs to assist sentencing determinations for certain offenders in magistrates’ courts will improve offender outcomes, sentencers’ confidence and the administration efficiency in justice. The alternative delivery model includes i) the pre plea protocol, intended to increase the effectiveness of the first hearing by having all information available to assist with sentencing; ii) maximising the capability of probation to deliver higher quality reports on the day, and iii) encouraging the delivery of short format written reports for individuals recognises as commonly presenting with higher needs, namely females, young adults and those at risk of custody. The pilot will be evaluated inform the roll out of these practices across all courts in England and Wales. All of the above delivery changes will be underpinned by comprehensive engagement with sentencers and other partners. Sentencers will be provided with continual evidence relating to interventions, their effectiveness and the outcomes of sentence management, and clear information on local availability of interventions delivered by the Probation Service and through Commissioned Rehabilitation Services.