This House of Lords Library Briefing provides information on some of the proposed changes to probation services identified the Government’s recent consultation, 'Strengthening Probation, Building Confidence'.
Probation Services: Reforms and Proposed Future Changes (199KB PDF)
The probation services framework in England and Wales has been subject to significant reforms in recent years. This briefing considers structural changes introduced by the Coalition Government before summarising further changes to the system proposed by the current Government in its recent consultation, Strengthening Probation, Building Confidence, published in July 2018. The Government has stated it will announce fuller details of forthcoming changes in early 2019.
Probation Services: Reforms and Proposed Future Changes (199KB PDF)
The Public Office (Accountability) Bill is a government bill introduced in the House of Commons in the 2024–26 session. It was carried over to the current session and completed its Commons stages on 14 July 2026. It is scheduled to have its second reading in the House of Lords on 1 September 2026.
The bill would make the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales (YJB) primarily responsible for certain youth justice functions, provide a formal role for the Welsh government in some youth justice decisions, and restrict the UK government’s ability to alter the YJB’s functions through secondary legislation.
The Conduct of Undercover Policing and Surveillance Operatives Bill is a private member’s bill introduced in the House of Lords. It would make it an offence for a person deployed as a covert human intelligence source (CHIS) to engage in an intimate sexual relationship with any person they have been deployed to target, who is a member of the group they have been deployed to target, or whom they encounter during their deployment.