Recommendation 80

Witnesses told us that referrals exceed availability and that increasing availability “would save lives”, especially in respect of mental health. 145 Tom Franklin told us that “local services may not be available” to deliver treatment requirements, such that the Probation Service would not recommend them in Pre-Sentence Reports in the first place, adding that “this is particularly the case with mental health treatment requirements”. 146 Niki Scordi also told us that “mental health services are not sufficient anywhere”, as she explained that there are “waiting lists and insufficient services” across all six Probation regions in which her charity operates. 147 Damian Hinds MP told us that “over the years, there has been much more provision of mental health services, but there has also been a huge growth in demand, which has been a strain”. 148 He nevertheless assured us that “secondary care mental health treatment requirements already exist throughout the system”. 149