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Justice select committee report reveals much of their time taken up by computer work and red tape Probation officers spend three-quarters of their time on work that does not involve them in direct contact with offenders, according to a report by the Commons justice select committee. The MPs say they accept that probation officers have to do a certain amount of work that does not involve dealing directly with offenders but are “staggered” to find it can be as much as 75%. “No one would suggest that it would be acceptable for teachers (who also have to do preparatory work and maintain paperwork) to spend three-quarters of their time not teaching,” say the MPs. “The value which really effective probation officers can add comes primarily from their direct contact with offenders.” The report says the rest of the probation officer’s time is split between computer activity, drafting correspondence and reports, meetings and dealing with other red tape. The MPs took evidence from one chief probation officer who said it was true that a routine offender in the middle of their order might be seen for only 10 minutes but a serious violent offender who was coming out of prison would mean several hours a week contact time. The MPs say that a “tick-box culture” imposed by the advent of the national offender management service [Noms], which took over prison and probation a decade ago, is part of the root cause of this growth in bureaucracy. The justice select committee in their report on the role of the probation service also calls for the government’s “payment by results” plans to open up probation to competition to be looked at again. The MPs argue that while there is a lot of scope for new organisations to provide probation services there is a danger that payment by results will overlook the rights of victims and offenders’ obligations towards them. The committee’s report is highly critical about the impact of Noms on the probation service, which it describes as a prison service takeover. The MPs want to see an external review of the future of Noms, saying its creation has not led to a joined-up treatment of offenders and it has not proved itself proficient at handling national contracts such as for bail accommodation and facilities management. Harry Fletcher of Napo, the probation union, said: “The report confirms that Noms has been a major problem from the start. Napo warned in 2004 that Noms would be a bureaucratic nightmare. It is scandalous that probation staff now spend 75% of their time on form-filling and responding to centrally driven emails. Even Daniel Sonnex, who brutally murdered two French students three years ago was seen for just 20 minutes a week. “The last 10 years has witnessed a massive rise in the constant government monitoring of probation staff to the detriment of face-to-face contact with offenders. This does not enhance public protection but undermines it. This flawed historical trend must be reversed,” he said. Prisons and probation UK criminal justice Alan Travis guardian.co.uk