To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) whether his Department will allocate an increased budget to probation services in (a) 2008-09, (b) 2009-10 and (c) 2010-11; (182907)

The local probation boards’ and trusts’ budgets have not been settled for the period 2008-09 to 2010-11. Indicative budget planning figures for 2008-09 for the main grant, which forms the major part of Boards’ and Trusts’ budgets, show an average increase of 2.7 per cent.