The supervision of all offenders in England and Wales is being brought under public management.
The National Probation Service will take over low and medium-risk cases again after a part-privatisation suffered a lot of criticism.
A recent inspection found thousands of offenders were being managed by a brief phone call once every six weeks.
Following the announcement, Rt Rev James Langstaff, Bishop of Rochester and Bishop to HM Prisons has said: “I welcome the Secretary of State, David Gauke’s announcement that all probation services are to be brought back within one national service.
“The previous regime whereby many services were provided by a number of Community Rehabilitation Companies was ill-conceived and has not worked in practice.
“Both former prisoners and communities have not been served well. Launched under the banner of ‘Transforming Rehabilitation’, the system has not been transformative and has not rehabilitated. Re-offending rates are but one indicator of this.
“Within the proposed unitary service, there will no doubt continue to be multiple providers of particular services.
“I welcome the Secretary of State’s indication that the voluntary sector will have a significant role and look forward to further discussions about this.
“There is a wealth of experience within faith-based organisations, many of them Christian, who already work in…
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