(2) what the re-adjusted funding formula is for the distribution of probation area budgets.
The funding formula for the distribution of probation area budgets remains in place, and the 2009-10 budget allocation process was based primarily on the 2008-09 outturns calculated using this formula.
In 2009-10, the National Probation Service is required to make efficiency savings of £20 million gross in line with the wider Ministry of Justice efficiency programme. But taking account of a £17 million underspend in 2008-09 the net saving will be £3 million. Allocating these savings requirements according to the traditional funding formula would have had a disproportionate impact on some areas. A number of additional factors were therefore taken into account including convictions data, current and past financial performance, externally verified savings potential, and the need to avoid radical budget shifts in any one area.
Final decisions on how to allocate probation area budgets for 2010-11 and subsequent years will not be finalised until there is a definitive budget for the service as a whole for those years.