Recommendation 18

HMPPS assured us that as the programme to reunify probation services was on scheduled to complete in June 2021. It told us that it was consistently monitoring the caseloads of probations officers but that these remain high. HMPPS told us it had committed £155 million to improving IT systems to help probation officers do their jobs more efficiently and to recruit more staff.28 21 Public Accounts Committee, Improving the prison estate, Fifteenth Report of Session 2019–21, HC 244, 11 September 2020 22 Qq 66–69 23 The Bar Council submission, para 10 24 Q 4, 35, 38–40 25 Qq 4, 35 26 Qq 35–37 27 Q 4 28 Qq 53–57 Key challenges facing the Ministry of Justice 13