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Research & reports

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
Published date01 March 2020
Date01 March 2020
AuthorNicola Carr
DOI10.1177/0264550520908157
Subject MatterResearch & reports
PRB908157 71..73
Research & reports
The Journal of Community and Criminal Justice
Probation Journal
Research & reports
2020, Vol. 67(1) 71–73
ª The Author(s) 2020
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/0264550520908157
journals.sagepub.com/home/prb
An inspection of central functions supporting the National
Probation Service
The National Probation Service (NPS) was established in 2015 as part of the
Transforming Rehabilitation reforms, with the intention that it would supervise
offenders who were assessed as presenting the highest risk to the public. At the time
of this inspection, the NPS was in fact supervising over 106,000 people released on
licence or on community sentence, including a number who are managed under
Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements. This number constitutes approxi-
mately 42% of the total probation caseload in England and Wales. NPS also has
responsibility for the provision of pre-sentence advice to the courts and the operation
of a victim liaison service. In 2019, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP)
inspected all seven NPS divisions against 10 different quality standards. No NPS
division was afforded the highest rating, but five out of seven divisions were found to
be ‘Good’ and none were categorised as ‘Inadequate’. In comparison to Com-
munity Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs), the NPS was found to be performing
better in relation to the quality of case supervision, particularly in relation to the
management of risk of harm to the public.
While the NPS is comprised of seven divisions (which will be reconfigured into
12 NPS regions under further reforms), a number of its functions, including
recruitment and training of staff and estate management, are centralised. This
inspection report focuses on these centralised aspects of NPS functions. The report
draws on the evidence from the previous divisional inspections, as well as meetings
with senior representatives of Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS)
and the...

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