Toby Perkins, Member of Parliament for Chesterfield, visited Derbyshire Probation Trust’s Brimington Road offices to meet staff and gain a clearer view of the work they do.

Speaking to probation staff, Mr. Perkins recognised the changes going on in the Justice portfolio and that whilst the government intended to reduce the number of custodial sentences, the Probation service were facing extreme funding pressures.  He therefore “wanted to learn more about how things are going on the ground.” 

The Chesterfield MP was given insights into offender supervision, remedial and rehabilitation programmes and education and training support work, as well as Community Payback and a very recent development, Integrated Offender Management which includes meeting Police officers meeting offenders as they leave prison in an attempt to reduce re-offending. 

With a particular interest in families and children, Toby was very impressed by the remedial work probation does with male domestic abuse offenders, and with the support given to female offenders – one of the most vulnerable groups of victims, often the victims of abuse and the sole supporter of children. 

He also heard from an ex-offender who has turned his life around and now mentors other offenders to get their lives on track.

Following the two and a half hour visit , Toby said,

“It has been very helpful to get more background as to how Probation undertakes its role; to understand the challenges it faces.  It demonstrated the value of high quality probation services in helping offenders to become valuable contributors to society and cut re-offending.” 

He described the afternoon as “an incredibly professional, enlightening and thorough review of what probation does.”