Recommendation 41

150. We are committed to delivering our priorities across the criminal justice system. The prison population in England & Wales is greater than it has ever been, and so it is right that we must do whatever it takes to make sure there are always enough places to keep the public safe, ensure criminals can be brought to justice, and maintain a safe and decent estate. We must also ensure we are delivering on one of our core missions to protect the public from serious offenders. 151. However, this should not, and does not, come at the expense of community sentences. We agree that ensuring that more lower-level offenders get tough community sentences that also address their rehabilitative needs should be and is a key element of this Government’s approach to the justice system. 152. We recognise the harm that repeat, low-level offenders cause in/for their local communities. For the most persistent and problematic offenders in the community, Integrated Offender Management (IOM) has received a 3-year investment of up to £30m to ensure those that commit burglary, robbery, and theft offences receive robust cross-agency supervision by Police and Probation and to commission services that will seek to support and address risks and needs of this cohort. The introduction of targeted cohorts through the 2020 revamped strategy allows IOM to focus on the most prolific neighbourhood offenders. The scheme is currently undergoing an evaluation to test its effectiveness with initial findings from the process evaluation expected in spring 2024. 153. Unification of the Probation Service in 2021 has brough together management of offenders of different levels of risk into a single agency, together with key operational functions teams that operate with offenders serving community sentences. Unpaid Work teams, in particular, are one of the probation roles that is most public-facing and which works exclusively with those serving community orders and suspended sentence orders. Our investment in Unpaid Work since 2021 has supported significant projects that bring benefits to the public while also supporting offenders to develop new skills (see JHAC31 for more details). 154. Our response to JHAC9 sets out in further detail our commitment to improving the delivery of community sentencing through increased use of EM, CSTRs (see JHAC 10,12,14) and PSRs (see JHAC11, and JHAC 44-6), and testing new approaches such as through the ISC pilots (See JHAC7). J