IT AND PROBATION

That this House is alarmed by the ongoing reports of IT issues within the newly formed National Probation Service (NPS) and 21 community rehabilitation companies (CRC); notes the failure of the NDelius IT system in the first days of the new service with some areas in England and Wales reporting the system was down for four days; is concerned that this has resulted in numerous residual issues including delays in court reports and prison recall as well as significant delays in transferring cases to the new organisation; is further concerned that staff working in the CRCs cannot access records of the NPS and this has resulted in CRC staff being unable to assess an individual's risk of harm, including risk registers such as child protection and sexual offences, which is putting both staff and the public at risk; and calls on the Government to assess the risk to public safety of the new probation service and halt the process of privatisation to protect the public and the dedicated staff of both the NPS and CRCs.