Jo Stevens MP, Shadow Justice Minister for Prisons and Probation, responding to HMIP report on Derbyshire Probation Services, said:

“Today’s report into Derbyshire Probation Services run by private contractors RRP and paid for by the tax payer sadly endorses what Labour, probation practitioners, their trade union and experts across the sector warned would happen as a consequence of the Tories and Lib Dems privatising an award winning public probation service. 

“The privatisation was pushed ahead, untried and untested  for party political reasons ignoring the obvious risks to service quality and public protection. It’s high time the Tory Government admitted that their reckless re-organisation isn’t working, and bring their failed experiment with privatisation to an end.”