Probation Officers Mark Hunter To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many vacant positions for probation officers there are in (a) Stockport and (b) England. Mr. Sutcliffe Not all Probation Areas in the National Probation Service operate a set establishment against which vacant posts can be measured. As a more representative alternative, Probation Areas are required to report regularly on the number of active vacancies they have. An active vacancy is one which a Probation Area is actively trying to fill through a recruitment process. Staffing information is collected by Probation Area, and is not collected centrally in sufficient detail to allow figures for sub sections within Probation Areas to be presented separately. Figures for 31 March 2006 show that there were a total of 8,262.50 full time equivalent Probation Officers in post in England and Wales. On the same date there were 227.70 full time equivalent vacancies that were actively being recruited to. Therefore active vacancies accounted for 2.68 per cent. of the total posts available at that time. Additionally, the National Probation Service employs 6,544.28 full time equivalent probation service officers, who also deliver front-line services to offenders. At this time, there were 347.30 full time equivalent vacancies, equating to 5.04 per cent. of the total posts available. We are not able to provide a similar breakdown for the Greater Manchester Probation Area as they are currently unable to provide data on active vacancies1. 1 The current HR system in use at Greater Manchester is unable to identify which posts are vacant. Work is on-going to rectify this position and it is anticipated that the implementation of a new version of their HR System by March 2007 will enable the Area to begin reporting the position on vacancies at that time.