Member

New clause 17 would do what many have long called for: devolving probation and offender management to Wales by amending the Government of Wales Act 2006. That is not a political ask; it is an operational one, and it comes from within the service. When Napo Cymru executive Su McConnel gave evidence to the Welsh Affairs Committee in May, she not only provided on-the-ground insight into the realities of the Probation Service in Wales, but made it clear that the UK Government are ignoring expert advice by refusing to turn away from their failing centralised approach to probation. Locally based and community-centred probation is desperately needed and is loudly advocated for by probation staff in Wales and experts and academics alike. As the chair of the Thomas commission rightly said, following a question from my Plaid Cymru colleague in the other place, it would be useful to know why the unanimous recommendation of a completely apolitical group of experts is thought to be wrong by the UK Government. I add to that the recommendations of the Silk commission report, the Gordon Brown report and that of the independent commission on the constitutional future of Wales. Gordon Brown—a former Labour Prime Minister—made this recommendation. Although the reports recommend the devolution of justice to Wales to various degrees, the devolution of probation is an undebatable commonality—it is asked for by all those reports.