Offender Management Act 2007
Offender Management Act 2007
2007 Chapter 21
An Act to make provision about the provision of probation services, prisons and other matters relating to the management of offenders; and for connected purposes.
[26th July 2007]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Part 1
New arrangements for the provision of probation services
Probation purposes
1 Meaning of ‘the probation purposes’
(1) In this Part "the probation purposes" means the purposes of providing for—
(a) courts to be given assistance in determining the appropriate sentences to pass, and making other decisions, in respect of persons charged with or convicted of offences;
(b) authorised persons to be given assistance in determining whether conditional cautions should be given and which conditions to attach to conditional cautions;
(c) the supervision and rehabilitation of persons charged with or convicted of offences;
(d) the giving of assistance to persons remanded on bail;
(e) the supervision and rehabilitation of persons to whom conditional cautions are given;
(f) the giving of information to victims of persons charged with or convicted of offences.
(2) The purpose set out in subsection (1)(c) includes (in particular)—
(a) giving effect to community orders and suspended sentence orders (or, in the case of persons mentioned in subsection (3), any corresponding sentence which is to be carried out in England and Wales);
(b) assisting in the rehabilitation of offenders who are being held in prison;
(c) supervising persons released from prison on licence;
(d) providing accommodation in approved premises.
(3) That purpose also applies in relation to persons who—
(a) are convicted of an offence under the law of a country outside England and Wales, and
(b) receive a sentence which is to any extent to be served or carried out in England and Wales,
as it applies in relation to persons convicted of offences.
(4) In this section—
"authorised person" and "conditional caution" have the same meaning as in Part 3 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (c. 44) ;
"community order" means— (a) a community order within the meaning of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (see section 177 of that Act); (b) a community order within the meaning of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000 (c. 6) (as it applies to offences committed before 4th April 2005);
"prison" includes a young offender institution and a secure training centre;
"suspended sentence order" has the same meaning as in the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (see section 189 of that Act); and
"victim" includes a person claiming to be a victim of a person charged with or convicted of an offence.
(5) Regulations made by the Secretary of State may extend the purposes mentioned in subsection (1) to include other purposes relating to persons charged with or convicted of offences or persons to whom conditional cautions are given.
Functions of the Secretary of State
2 Responsibility for ensuring the provision of probation services
(1) It is the function of the Secretary of State to ensure that sufficient provision is made throughout England and Wales—
(a) for the probation purposes;
(b) for enabling functions conferred by any enactment (whenever passed or made) on providers of probation services, or on officers of a provider of probation services, to be performed; and
(c) for the performance of any function of the Secretary of State under any enactment (whenever passed or made) which is expressed to be a function to which this paragraph applies;
and any provision which the Secretary of State considers should be made for a purpose mentioned above is referred to in this Part as "probation provision".
(2) The Secretary of State shall discharge his function under subsection (1) in relation to any probation provision by making and carrying out arrangements under section 3.
(3) The Secretary of State must have regard to the aims mentioned in subsection (4) in the exercise of his functions under subsections (1) and (2) (so far as they may be exercised for any of the probation purposes).
(4) Those aims are—
(a) the protection of the public;
(b) the reduction of re-offending;
(c) the proper punishment of offenders;
(d) ensuring offenders' awareness of the effects of crime on the victims of crimes and the public; and
(e) the rehabilitation of offenders.
(5) The Secretary of State is not required by subsections (1) and (2) to take any action in relation to the making of provision for a purpose mentioned in subsection (1) if it appears to him that appropriate provision is being or will be made by any person acting otherwise than in pursuance of arrangements under section 3.
(6) In this section "enactment" includes subordinate legislation (within the meaning of the Interpretation Act 1978 (c. 30)
).
3 Power to make arrangements for the provision of probation services
(1) This section applies to any probation provision which the Secretary of State considers ought to be made for any of the purposes mentioned in section 2(1).
(2) The Secretary of State may make contractual or other arrangements with any other person for the making of the probation provision.
(3) Arrangements under subsection (2) may in particular authorise or require that other person—
(a) to co-operate with other providers of probation services or persons who are concerned with the prevention or reduction of crime or with giving assistance to the victims of crime;
(b) to authorise individuals under section 9(2) to act as officers of a provider of probation services;
(c) to make contractual or other arrangements with third parties for purposes connected with the probation provision to be made, including in particular contractual or other arrangements—
(i) for provision to be made, or for activities to be carried out, by third parties on behalf of that other person; or
(ii) for individuals who are not members of that other person's staff to act as officers of a provider of probation services.
(4) The Secretary of State may make provision for the performance of any function to which section 2(1)(c) applies by making arrangements under subsection (2) above providing for the delegation of that function to the other person.
(5) If instead of making arrangements under subsection (2) the Secretary of State considers it appropriate to make any probation provision himself, he shall make arrangements for the making of that probation provision (and for the avoidance of doubt the members of staff through whom he may act in making and carrying out those arrangements include prison officers or other persons employed at a prison).
(6) In this Part "provider of probation services" means—
(a) a person with whom the Secretary of State has made arrangements that are in force under subsection (2); or
(b) the Secretary of State (in relation to probation provision which is the subject of arrangements that are in force under subsection (5)).
(7) In carrying out functions under this Part in relation to arrangements under subsection (2) with another person ("the provider"), the Secretary of State shall have regard to the need to take reasonable steps to avoid (so far as practicable) the risk that—
(a) the provision, in pursuance of the arrangements, of assistance to a court or to the Parole Board for England and Wales, and
(b) the carrying out, in pursuance of the arrangements, of any other activities,
might be adversely affected by any potential conflict between the provider's obligations in relation to those activities and the financial interests of the provider.
4 Restriction on certain arrangements under section 3
(1) Arrangements under section 3(2) relating to restricted probation provision may only be made with a probation trust or other public body.
(2) In this section "restricted probation provision" means probation provision which—
(a) is made for a purpose mentioned in section 2(1)(a) or (b); and
(b) relates to the giving of assistance to any court in determining the appropriate sentence to pass, or making any other decision, in respect of a person charged with or convicted of an offence.
5 Power to establish probation trusts
(1) The Secretary of State may by order—
(a) establish a probation trust for purposes specified in the order;
(b) alter the name or purposes of a probation trust;
(c) dissolve a probation trust.
(2) The purposes of a probation trust must consist of or include the making or performance by the trust of contracts with the Secretary of State under section 3(2).
(3) The purposes of a probation trust may include all or any of the following purposes—
(a) the making or performance by the trust of contracts with another probation trust or any other person which provide for the carrying out by the trust of activities which contribute to the achievement of any...
To continue reading
Request your trial