{"value":{"id":1546972,"askingMemberId":4133,"askingMember":null,"house":"Commons","memberHasInterest":false,"dateTabled":"2022-11-30T00:00:00","dateForAnswer":"2022-12-02T00:00:00","uin":"99849","questionText":"To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions he has had with the Courts and Probation Service on ensuring that community sentences handed out since the covid-19 pandemic will be fully enforced.","answeringBodyId":54,"answeringBodyName":"Ministry of Justice","isWithdrawn":false,"isNamedDay":false,"groupedQuestions":[],"answerIsHolding":false,"answerIsCorrection":false,"answeringMemberId":4004,"answeringMember":null,"correctingMemberId":null,"correctingMember":null,"dateAnswered":"2022-12-06T00:00:00","answerText":"<p>As with other public services, probation had to find alternative ways of working during the pandemic.</p><p>Where offenders fail to engage with requirements, we take robust steps to enforce sentences and return them to court for breach.</p><p>For unpaid work, one of the key community sentence requirements, we are investing an additional £90m over this and the next 2 years to increase staffing levels and delivering significantly more hours of work – a target of 8 million a year compared to 5 million before the pandemic.</p><p>We have also invested £195m to procure over 120 contracts across England and Wales with charities and private sector organisations to deliver specialist services in partnership with probation, to support rehabilitation. These services include:</p><ul><li><p>accommodation support,</p></li><li><p>education,</p></li><li><p>training and employment,</p></li><li><p>finance, debt and benefits, and</p></li><li><p>support to address drug dependency.</p></li></ul>","originalAnswerText":"","comparableAnswerText":"","dateAnswerCorrected":null,"dateHoldingAnswer":null,"attachmentCount":0,"heading":"Community Orders: Coronavirus","attachments":[],"groupedQuestionsDates":[]},"links":[{"rel":"self","href":"/Questions/1546972","method":"GET"}]}