Tony Baldry raises concerns once again about the Thames Valley Probation Service
29 April 2009
Following questions raised in letters to the Secretary of State for Justice on several occasions since last November, North Oxfordshire MP, Tony Baldry, secured an adjournment debate in the House of Commons on Tuesday 28th April to highlight concerns over the proposed closure of the Banbury office.
He concluded by asking the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice, David Hanson, four questions:
1. How will centralising the probation service in a single office for the whole of Oxfordshire assist offender management in the county?
2. What sort of criminal justice system is it that, as announced by the Secretary of State yesterday, continually increases the number of prison places but is reducing the number of probation officers?
3. What explanation does the Minister have for the fact that the machinery of government denied for months that any such proposals existed?
4. Lastly, what will be done to ensure that the implementation of the changes will be monitored so that the probation service and Ministers can objectively advise in due course on their impact?
Tony Baldry MP said:
"The proposal to close the Banbury probation office struck another raw nerve. My constituents in north Oxfordshire are getting rather tired of public services that we reasonably expect to be delivered in Banbury being closed and transferred to and consolidated in Oxford."
"The probation service in north Oxfordshire was doing extremely good work on initiatives such as tackling prolific offenders, all of which will be undermined if probation officers are no longer based locally in the town."
