Union condemns privatisation plans

The move is “bound to compromise public protection”, with fewer staff, less supervision and less training, the probation union Napo said.

Launching its campaign against the proposals at its 100th annual conference, Napo said the shambles of the Olympics security contract with private firm 
G4S showed there was a clear need to overhaul the tendering process and the contracts themselves.

Harry Fletcher, the union’s assistant general secretary, said: “This tendering exercise is not about quality, but purely about ideology and cost.

“In reality, it is a race to the bottom on price at the expense of effectiveness and efficiency and is bound to compromise public protection.”

Core probation services such as the supervision of criminals and the writing of pre-sentence reports could be put out to competition under Government plans.