Reducing offending in our communities, cutting crime, and stopping re-offending remain among the top priorities for government.
All of us want to see safer communities, but that challenge requires hard work and commitment at a local level week in and week out. For me one of the best ways to achieve that goal is through the work of the probation service.
Probation services across the country play a key role in supporting offenders to turn away from crime. They give help and support in tackling drug or alcohol abuse, finding employment or housing, and give vital support to keep contact with families. They also support courts to assess how best to work with offenders and crucially making sure offenders understand the impact of their behaviour on victims.
These key tasks are undertaken day in and day out by dedicated probation staff helping to reduce offending behaviour across the country.
And it's working.
Thanks in no small part to the work of the probation service, crime has fallen by over a third since 1997. Last year alone probation services worked with 200,000 offenders, providing over six million hours of unpaid work and supporting over 15,000 offenders with intensive substance misuse treatment.
This month sees important changes to the probation service. As part of our drive to keep improving what we do, we have started the process of changing how the current 42 probation boards work.
On April 1 we created England and Wales' six new probation trusts as a result of changes we made through the Offender Management Act 2007. More trusts will follow over the next two years.
The aim of the new trusts is to build on the good work done to date but crucially to give new freedoms to the organisations, allowing the public, private and third sectors to provide the best in rehabilitation and public protection, in ways that are cost effective to the taxpayer and that do the job.
Inevitably with change comes concern. I am therefore determined to have an open relationship with all parties and full consultation to allow everyone to feed in their thoughts as to how the new services should develop.
Today, I launch a consultation on a Best Value system within probation. This looks at how probation boards and trusts will secure probation provision which represents the best value for money and the best services for reducing re-offending. The consultation will enable a comprehensive framework to be put together for all trusts and boards to use in the future. I want to hear the views of probation services as well as other interested parties in this consultation and I would encourage you to participate.
Until recently we had set a crude target of 10% for sub-contracting for probation boards. The document launched today will change this and introduce the concept of best value to the service - only by delivering the best will we achieve the objectives I have set.
I remain impressed by the work of the probation service and by the people I see who are working within it, often in a difficult and demanding job. But I am also committed to supporting the private and third sectors to work with the probation service where they are best placed to do so. The introduction of probation trusts and the best value regime will support areas to continue to make good use of alternative providers.
We must never lose sight of why we are doing this. Cutting crime is our focus and the Probation Service is at the forefront of this - for example in developing world class community sentences. There will always be offenders for whom a prison sentence is the only option, but for many, community-based punishments are proven to be more effective at reducing re-offending than short-term prison sentences. Community sentences involve hard physical labour, tough treatment programmes and strict curfews - for many offenders this is the first work they have ever done. More importantly they provide the opportunity to address their offending behaviour. This is why I committed £40m to the Probation Service last month for exactly this purpose.
The probation service has done an excellent job for over 100 years with a strong and positive future. Today's publication is a further step in continuously improving that service for the 21st century.
I encourage you to make your views known in the consultation. Doing so will ensure we continue to reduce crime for the benefit of all. Copies of the document can be accessed at justice.gov.uk/publications/cp0608.htm.
· David Hanson MP is minister for justice
