Thousands of local offenders to be supervised by private firms
Diana Johnson MP
30/10/13, 00:00
Thousands of Humberside's convicted criminals could soon be supervised by G4S and Serco, as the Coalition Government privatises the Probation Service.
Many of these offenders are guilty of serious crimes including robbery, sex attacks and burglaries.
A Freedom of Information request has revealed the number of offenders currently being supervised by highly trained professional probation officers that will be off-loaded to private companies.
In the Humberside area, that means that 4,944 offenders in the hands of the likes of G4S and Serco.
Up to now the Government has refused to reveal how many serious and violent offenders would be put in the hands of private companies, but Labour's Freedom of Information request has revealed the true scale of their plans in our local area.
Commenting on this data, Hull North MP Diana Johnson said: "You can't take risks with public safety. Yet this is what this Lib Dem-backed Government is doing with their reckless plans to privatise the Probation Service.
"Handing over supervision for serious and violent offenders to the same companies that have repeatedly let down tax-payers is a recipe for disaster.
"The public need confidence that those under supervision in our communities aren't part of some giant ideological experiment influenced by private vested interests. The Government is running scared. They've not brought their plans before Parliament, instead rushing ahead at breakneck speed to impose their untried and untested privatisation on our communities."
Labour called a Commons debate today (30 October) on the Coalition's privatisation plans for the Probation Service.