asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether the offender assessment system was used in the pilot scheme in the north-west region for new styles and methods for managing and resettling offenders sentenced to prison; and to what extent it was found helpful and effective. [HL1083]

The offender assessment system (OASys) is in use across England and Wales and was used in the offender management pilot, or pathfinder, in the north-west region.

The pathfinder benefited from the high-quality assessment of offenders that is delivered through use of OASys. It also highlighted where improvements might be made to OASys to better support offender management. An important step forward in relation to one such improvement—connectivity between the probation and prison OASys IT systems—was achieved in March 2006 when work was completed that linked probation areas to the public sector prisons.