The justice secretary, Jack Straw, strongly denied weekend reports that his recently formed ministry already faces being split again but confirmed that a Whitehall review is to lead to an internal shake-up for the troubled National Offender Management Service, writes Alan Travis, home affairs editor.
He told a Smith Institute fringe meeting that when the new Ministry of Justice was set up three months ago its top civil servant, Alex Allen, set up a review of its internal structures.
"It is about who reports to whom," said Mr Straw. "It may well result in some adjustments in the relationship between NOMS and the prison and probation services."
But the justice secretary did hint that more substantial change is on the way when the government's trouble-shooter, Lord Carter, reports on what to do about the spiralling prison population in England and Wales which is now once again edging 81,000.
Mr Straw said Carter is "about to report on what, I hope, will be a more rational process for balancing between supply and demand for prison places".
Mr Straw claimed that judges and magistrates were sending so many people to prison because they were often "at the end of their tether" with persistent offenders who were in and out of their courts.
He said although community penalties were often cheaper and as effective but imprisoning them brought relief to communities, and broke up their gang structures.
