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Author Archives: Andrew Neilson

Opinion: The future of the probation service

By Andrew Neilson | Wed 23rd February 2011 - 3:27 pm

In 2004, the last government merged the prison and probation services into one gigantic super-agency: the National Offender Management Service (NOMS). The changes exacted by NOMS have led to the systematic fragmentation and demoralisation of probation, whose purpose has been altered beyond all recognition.

Unrepresented at the highest management structure of NOMS, neglected and misrepresented, the probation service has for years plodded along in the shadows, only to be thrust into the limelight when the spotlight fell on individual tragedies amid media frenzies.

The creation of NOMS bought with it the mantra of ‘managerialism.’ Staff at all levels experienced a loss …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged howard league for penal reform, justice affairs select committee, national offender management service and probation | Leave a comment

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