To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average number of offenders under supervision per probation officer was in each probation area in each of the last five years. [102451]
The average number of offenders under court order supervision per maingrade probation officer as at 31 December in each of the last five years is given in the table.Since 1998 there have been significant changes in the way in which the services of the National Probation Service (NPS) have been delivered, with increasing
| Average caseload1of criminal court orders per maingrade officer in post at 31 December | |||||
| England and Wales | |||||
| Cases per officer | |||||
| Areas2 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 |
| Avon2 | 22.3 | 24.4 | 25.2 | 17.6 | — |
| Somerset2 | 16.6 | 15.6 | 15.0 | 14.8 | — |
| Avon and Somerset | — | — | — | — | 15.8 |
| Bedfordshire | 15.1 | 17.2 | 15.9 | 14.2 | 17.8 |
| Cambridgeshire | 14.2 | 15.8 | 15.8 | 13.3 | 17.8 |
| Cheshire | 18.6 | 19.9 | 19.3 | 18.3 | 15.9 |
| Cumbria | 14.9 | 17.2 | 21.5 | 19.8 | 21.3 |
| Derbyshire | 21.4 | 22.7 | 24.5 | 23.0 | 20.6 |
| Devon2 | 17.4 | 18.6 | 18.8 | 19.2 | — |
| Cornwall2 | 20.2 | 17.9 | 16.4 | 14.2 | — |
| Devon and Cornwall | — | — | — | — | 19.1 |
| Dorset | 17.2 | 23.1 | 17.6 | 20.3 | 24.1 |
| Durham | 21.2 | 20.9 | 22.1 | 21.5 | 25.1 |
| Essex | 16.1 | 19.9 | 22.3 | 19.4 | 23.6 |
| Gloucestershire | 16.7 | 17.3 | 17.0 | 16.8 | 15.5 |
| Hampshire | 16.6 | 20.8 | 24.9 | 20.3 | 21.2 |
| Hereford and Worcester2 | 11.7 | 13.0 | 13.9 | 14.7 | — |
| Shropshire2 | 15.8 | 17.5 | 15.4 | 12.5 | — |
| West Mercia | — | — | — | — | 16.3 |
| Hertfordshire | 15.9 | 17.5 | 16.7 | 18.5 | 21.4 |
| Humberside | 16.9 | 20.0 | 18.9 | 17.3 | 14.3 |
| Kent | 16.3 | 17.4 | 15.4 | 15.7 | 21.9 |
growth in the use of probation service officers (PSOs) and trainee probation officers to support the work of the trained probation officer. Both the numbers of PSOs and trainees have increased significantly in the last few years, meaning that there has been a significant increase (20.09 per cent.) overall in the numbers of probation staff with direct responsibility for the supervision of offenders. While the figures published in Probation Statistics may reflect the average numbers of offenders who are assigned to each probation officer, they do not accurately reflect the supervision work delivered by the Probation Service for offenders. I will arrange for a short briefing note prepared by the National Probation Directorate (NPD) which explains this situation more fully to be placed in the Library.
Average caseload 1 of criminal court orders per maingrade officer in post at 31 December
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England and Wales
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Cases per officer
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Areas 2
| 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 |
| Lancashire | 19.2 | 20.2 | 18.3 | 17.1 | 16.4 |
| Leicestershire | 15.7 | 17.9 | 17.0 | 15.8 | 15.9 |
| Lincolnshire | 14.3 | 16.5 | 20.2 | 15.1 | 16.2 |
| Greater Manchester | 18.0 | 22.3 | 26.2 | 27.2 | 23.7 |
| Merseyside | 15.9 | 18.0 | 18.3 | 17.6 | 20.1 |
| Norfolk | 13.6 | 15.8 | 14.1 | 14.4 | 15.6 |
| Northamptonshire | 12.4 | 16.9 | 18.0 | 13.5 | 21.4 |
| Northumbria | 15.5 | 17.7 | 17.7 | 16.1 | 18.0 |
| Nottinghamshire | 17.7 | 18.9 | 21.1 | 19.5 | 20.9 |
| Oxford and Buckingham2 | 14.8 | 16.9 | 16.5 | 15.2 | — |
| Berkshire2 | 19.5 | 18.2 | 19.5 | 17.8 | — |
| Thames Valley | — | — | — | — | 19.0 |
| Staffordshire | 16.7 | 16.5 | 17.1 | 15.8 | 17.1 |
| Suffolk | 12.8 | 14.0 | 14.8 | 12.8 | 13.6 |
| Surrey | 15.0 | 16.6 | 20.5 | 18.0 | 19.7 |
| East Sussex2 | 14.5 | 15.4 | 14.8 | 13.5 | — |
| West Sussex2 | 16.8 | 17.5 | 17.3 | 13.7 | — |
| Sussex | — | — | — | — | 16.2 |
| Teesside | 21.6 | 24.1 | 30.6 | 30.5 | 44.8 |
| Warwickshire | 15.3 | 12.9 | 15.8 | 17.2 | 16.2 |
| West Midlands | 17.7 | 19.5 | 18.8 | 18.9 | 22.8 |
| Wiltshire | 16.9 | 19.8 | 17.2 | 17.3 | 21.7 |
| North Yorkshire | 25.0 | 17.2 | 20.5 | 16.5 | 14.7 |
| South Yorkshire | 18.4 | 19.3 | 19.4 | 17.2 | 19.1 |
| West Yorkshire | 17.6 | 17.8 | 19.0 | 15.7 | 15.5 |
| Inner London2 | 17.1 | 17.4 | 16.3 | 15.8 | — |
| NE London2 | 14.6 | 18.6 | 19.4 | 20.4 | — |
| SE London2 | 15.4 | 14.1 | 12.6 | 11.0 | — |
| SW London2 | 14.4 | 13.5 | 11.9 | 11.4 | — |
| Middlesex2 | 15.3 | 18.4 | 17.9 | 16.3 | — |
| London | — | — | — | — | 17.6 |
| Dyfed2 | 28.3 | 24.2 | 25.6 | 24.8 | — |
| Powys2 | 24.4 | 35.7 | 28.3 | 19.0 | — |
| Dyfed-Powys | — | — | — | — | 18.2 |
| Gwent | 18.5 | 16.5 | 19.7 | 17.7 | 18.9 |
| North Wales | 16.2 | 18.5 | 23.4 | 20.1 | 22.2 |
| South Glamorgan2 | 14.1 | 17.6 | 18.1 | 15.7 | — |
| Mid Glamorgan2 | 19.3 | 17.4 | 18.3 | 21.0 | — |
| West Glamorgan2 | 1.6.9 | 18.2 | 17.8 | 14.1 | — |
| South Wales | — | — | — | — | 16.8 |
| All areas | 16.9 | 18.5 | 19.0 | 17.7 | 19.0 |
1 Excludes community punishment orders and drug treatment and testing orders. Includes cases supervised by staff other than maingrade officers. | |||||
2 Under the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000, the following probation areas were amalgamated on 1 April 2001: Devon and Cornwall merged; Avon and Somerset merged; Hereford and Worcester and Shropshire became West Mercia; Oxford and Buckinghamshire and Berkshire became Thames Valley; Dyfed and Powys merged; East and West Sussex became Sussex; Mid, South and West Glamorgan became South Wales; and Inner, North East, South East and South West London merged with Middlesex to become London. | |||||