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What do we know about the new probation providers?
There are a mix of aspiring large private companies (15), probation mutuals (11), voluntary organisations (10), County and Borough Councils (3) and a further education college (1) – these add up to more than 30 since many organisations are in partnerships or Joint Ventures.

1st stage successful Transforming Rehabilitation bidders announced
The Ministry of Justice today (19 December 2013) announced the names of the 30 successful organisations who have cleared the PQQ stage of the Transforming Rehabilitation competition for the new probation contracts. The main newsworthy topics are the withdrawal of G4S and Serco from the competition, there is no official comment on whether they were pushed or jumped themselves and the inclusion of 11 potential Probation Service Mutuals in the list.

Justice Data Lab Christmas edition
However, the largest scheme which was assessed – the national analysis of all the NOMS CFO employment schemes with offenders who started their interventions in the community found that this intervention reduced reoffending by between 4 and 8 percentage points. The 19 individual regional schemes in this programme (which are run by different providers) were assessed in the previous month’s Lab Report and varied considerably.

Transforming Rehabilitation under the microscope
The latest edition of the British Journal of Community Justice is a special issue dedicated to Transforming Rehabilitation. It is more than double its normal length and has been made available for free online. You can also order the print edition for just £5 (+£2 p&p).

Creating effective Police partnerships
It should be remembered that “Policing for a Better Britain” was commissioned by the Labour Party and it is, therefore, no surprise to see the issue of privatisation tackled head-on. The report is not against privatisation but recommends that outsourcing should only be considered by reference to five key principles:

Alcohol Concern: Transforming Rehabilitation risks losing probation expertise
Eric sees the potential that TR brings to providing help to alcohol using prisoners, many of whom serve short sentences and relapse as soon as they leave the prison gates.
However, he has serious concerns that TR may not work in practice and that probation expertise at working with offenders with complex needs could be lost.
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