Is the hon. and learned Gentleman aware that to continue with a situation in which child care officers can get very much more - perhaps £300 or £400 a year - than probation officers is leading to a Crisis in the Probation Service, and that many probation officers are leaving?
I will return to them in a moment because I believe the Crisis in the Probation Service is undoubtedly at its most serious in inner London, for reasons which I shall adduce.
Instead of ruminating about further schemes, should not the Minister for Crime Reduction, Policing and Community Safety attend to the Crisis in the Probation Service?
The financial Crisis in the Probation Service is made worse by an absurd system of target management, whereby fines are imposed on probation services for not meeting the targets that the Government have set.
Let us be clear: we have a Crisis in the Probation Service now and a problem with the funding now.
I hope that we can address the Crisis in the Probation Service.