The Offender Management Bill will reduce re-offending and better protect the public.
It will do so by providing new arrangements for the provision of probation services, and other measures to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of how offenders are managed in custody and the community.
The probation service has delivered improvements in performance over recent years, but tackling re-offending requires a broad coalition of effort.
The Bill will take away probation boards' exclusive statutory duty to provide probation services and enable the Secretary of State to commission services from the best available provider, whether in the public, private or voluntary sectors.
It will enable the Government to focus on delivering the services needed to stop offenders committing further crimes, raising standards and encouraging organisations to work more closely together.
