Member

I preface what I have to say by mentioning the urgent requirement, which we all accept, to increase the number and effectiveness of rehabilitation activities, and the effectiveness of custodial sentences, in reducing reoffending. The noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Sentamu, was right to remind us of the points pressed by my noble friend Lord Foster—namely, that the success of the Bill depends on a full resourcing of the Probation Service. There long has been, and continues to be, a shortage of resources. I say again what I have said at Second Reading and elsewhere: resources spent on the Probation Service would, first, reduce our prison population and the expense of prisons—that is a move that the Bill encourages—and, secondly, hold out the hope of increasing the financial and social benefits of reducing reoffending.