Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 17 November 2010
48 Deputy Arthur Morgan asked the Minister for Justice and Law Reform his views on whether staffing levels within the Probation Service are sufficiently adequate to deal with any increase in the service’s workload following the passing of the Fines Bill or other proposed legislation which will impact on their work and to cope with the increased use of community service orders into the future. [42872/10]
View answerThe Probation Service of my Department is the lead agency in the assessment and management of offenders in our communities. In common with the rest of the Civil Service, the Probation Service is subject to the Government's moratorium on recruitment and promotion and its staff also have access to the Incentivised Career Break and Early Retirement schemes. Where vacancies do arise, the Probation Service is required to further prioritise its workload.
When the Probation Service was restructured five years ago, emphasis was placed on working with higher risk offenders and juvenile offenders and in developing the Community Service system as an effective alternative to custody. These remain the priority areas for the Probation Service. Indeed, I understand your party colleague and Justice spokesman received a detailed briefing from the Probation Service very recently on the work of the Service. I trust this gave the Deputy a good overview of the important work which the Probation Service undertakes. I am on record as commending the important work they do which includes a strong emphasis on enhancing public safety in the community.
As part of this re-focussing of its work, the Deputy will be aware that the Probation Service benefited from the provision of an increased level of resources during the restructuring period. This has meant that despite the impact of the Moratorium and other associated measures the number of staff working in the Service is still greater than at the end of 2006 and only marginally less than at the end of 2007. The overall number of staff in the Probation Service increased by more than 15% over the years 2007 and 2008 following a targeted programme of recruitment on foot of a Government Decision to approve an additional 71 professional and administrative posts for the Service. The majority of these posts were professional positions at Probation Officer level or higher.
I can inform the Deputy that my Department has obtained Department of Finance sanction to recruit 8 Probation Officers and 3 Community Service Supervisors. This followed the making of special cases for these front-line posts to be treated as exceptions to the current Moratorium on recruitment in the civil and public service.
The independent Value for Money Review of Community Service published by me in October 2009 found that the Scheme was not being used to the extent that it had been in the past. Furthermore, it found that the Community Service Supervisors then employed, operating at full capacity, could provide supervision services to three times as many offenders as were then on Community Service Orders.
Based on this, and other recommendations contained in the review, the Probation Service of my Department is leading the drive to substantially increase the number of persons that could potentially be placed on Community Service. The Probation Service has restructured the delivery of Community Service nationally under the governance of a dedicated Community Service Unit and has piloted a new model of delivery of Community Service in the Dublin area between January and September 2010.
The recruitment of the new Probation Officers and Community Service Supervisors, which is currently underway, is further evidence of the priority attention being given to the important work of the Probation Service generally and will serve to bolster the delivery of its front-line services.
Probation Service management prioritises its workload and allocates its resources in such a way as to maximise its efficiency and effectiveness. This prioritisation includes particular focus on the delivery of front-line services and the supervision of Community Service Orders. The Deputy can be assured that my Department and Probation Service management are keeping the situation under constant review to ensure that the resources at the disposal of the Service are managed as effectively and efficiently as possible.
