To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) probation officers and (b) probation service officers retired, per service, in each of the last three years for which figures are available. [81558]
The available information is as follows:
| Full-time established probation officers retiring each year by area | |||
| Number of persons | |||
| Probation area | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 |
| Avon | 2 | 4 | 3 |
| Bedfordshire | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| Berkshire | 2 | 1 | 8 |
| Cambridgeshire | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| Cheshire | 5 | 6 | — |
| Cornwall | 3 | — | — |
Full-time established probation officers retiring each year by area
| Number of persons
| ||||||
Probation area
| 1996
| 1997
| 1998
| ||||
| Cumbria | 3 | 2 | 4 | ||||
| Derbyshire | 7 | 4 | 2 | ||||
| Devon | 6 | 8 | 3 | ||||
| Dorset | 4 | 9 | 2 | ||||
| Durham | 1 | 2 | 1 | ||||
| Essex | 5 | 5 | 3 | ||||
| Gloucestershire | 2 | 3 | 1 | ||||
| Hampshire | 8 | 9 | 4 | ||||
| Hereford and Worcester | — | 4 | 1 | ||||
| Hertfordshire | 5 | 3 | 1 | ||||
| Humberside | 4 | 10 | 5 | ||||
| Kent | 11 | 4 | 5 | ||||
| Lancashire | 9 | 7 | 3 | ||||
| Leicestershire | 1 | 2 | 1 | ||||
| Lincolnshire | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Greater Manchester | 6 | 10 | 4 | ||||
| Merseyside | 14 | 11 | 8 | ||||
| Norfolk | 3 | 4 | 3 | ||||
| Northamptonshire | 2 | 4 | 2 | ||||
| Northumbria | 6 | 8 | 1 | ||||
| Nottinghamshire | 2 | — | — | ||||
| Oxford and Buckingham | 5 | 8 | 5 | ||||
| Shropshire | — | 2 | 1 | ||||
| Somerset | 2 | 3 | — | ||||
| Staffordshire | 5 | 11 | 5 | ||||
| Suffolk | 2 | 2 | 5 | ||||
| Surrey | 3 | — | 1 | ||||
| East Sussex | 1 | 2 | — | ||||
| West Sussex | 1 | 3 | 1 | ||||
| Teesside | 3 | 1 | 3 | ||||
| Warwickshire | 4 | 1 | — | ||||
| West Midlands | 24 | 11 | 16 | ||||
| Wiltshire | 2 | 6 | 1 | ||||
| North Yorkshire | 2 | 8 | — | ||||
| South Yorkshire | 5 | 12 | 3 | ||||
| West Yorkshire | 8 | 8 | 14 | ||||
| Inner London | 16 | 30 | 17 | ||||
| North East London | 2 | — | 4 | ||||
| South East London | 1 | — | 2 | ||||
| South West London | 1 | 2 | 1 | ||||
| Middlesex | 11 | 5 | 3 | ||||
| Dyfed | — | 5 | 4 | ||||
| Gwent | — | 2 | — | ||||
| North Wales | 3 | 2; | 1 | ||||
Probation officers by age and grade1,2 England and Wales 1 November 1998
| |||||||
Number of persons
| |||||||
Grade
| Under 47
| 47–48
| 49–50
| 51–55
| 56–58
| Over 58
| All ages
|
| CPO | 10 | 6 | 5 | 21 | 8 | 1 | 51 |
| DCPO | 6 | 3 | — | 5 | — | — | 14 |
| ACPO | 81 | 42 | 31 | 41 | 9 | 1 | 204 |
| Area manager | 19 | 3 | 11 | 6 | 1 | — | 40 |
| SPO | 447 | 137 | 106 | 193 | 43 | 36 | 961 |
| PO | 3,113 | 490 | 426 | 913 | 216 | 215 | 5,373 |
| Temp PO | 72 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 8 | 32 | 132 |
Non-probation officer staff by age and grade1,2 England and Wales 1 November 1998
| |||||||
Number of persons
| |||||||
Grade
| Under 47
| 47–48
| 49–50
| 51–55
| 56–58
| Over 58
| All ages
|
| Research officers | 61 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 88 |
| Probation services' officers | 1,051 | 119 | 168 | 366 | 141 | 152 | 1,996 |
| Clerical/secretarial | 1,472 | 215 | 230 | 530 | 180 | 181 | 2,807 |
| Administrative | 724 | 82 | 94 | 205 | 69 | 37 | 1,211 |
| Other | 838 | 116 | 113 | 252 | 100 | 222 | 1,641 |
1Returns were not received from Durham, Hereford and Worcester and Staffordshire | |||||||
2Whole-time equivalents. Figures may not add to the total because of the rounding of part-time hours | |||||||
Full-time established probation officers retiring each year by area
| |||
Number of persons
| |||
Probation area
| 1996
| 1997
| 1998
|
| Powys | — | — | 3 |
| South Glamorgan | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| Mid Glamorgan | 1 | 4 | — |
| West Glamorgan | — | 2 | 1 |
| England and Wales | 221 | 256 | 170 |
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment takes place by probation officers in preparation for a home detention curfew; and if he will make a statement. [81561]
The Probation Service contributes to the risk assessment conducted by the prison to establish the suitability of an offender to participate in the Home Detention Curfew (HDC) scheme. Probation staff advise on the suitability of the prisoner and on the proposed curfew address. The Probation Service will consider whether the participation of the offender in the HDC scheme would be likely to present an unacceptable risk to the victim, others living at the proposed address or the public; whether there is a pattern of offending which indicates an unacceptable risk of re-offending during the HDC period; or whether there is a probability of failure to comply with the conditions of the curfew.Guidance to the Probation Service on HDC is set out in Probation Circulars 44/1998 and 82/1998, copies of which are in the Library.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the average age of (a) probation officers and (b) probation service officers in each of the last three years. [81560]
The Home Office does not collect information on the ages of probation staff on a routine basis. However, a survey was held on 1 November 1998 to collect some limited information on the age structure at that time. The results for the 51 areas that responded are shown in the tables.