According to William Penn 1644-1713 “to delay Justice is Injustice”. Whilst this statement is usually applied to the plight of individuals, the injustice at the heart of our Government was demonstrated on Tuesday in the House of Commons when Liz Saville-Roberts the Plaid Cymru MP for Dwyfor Meirionnydd asked an important question which was answered in a way that demonstrates how slowly the Conservative and Coalition Governments have allowed local reforms into the work of the Criminal Justice System over the last five years. The question from Liz was “To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he plans to devolve the operation of any probation functions in England and Wales to (a) local authorities or (b) police commissioners.” This question needs to be seen in the context of a policy statement on the Home Office website on 13th July 2012. This statement was posted four months before the first Police and Crime Commissioner elections and it was set out to introduce the new role that was about to be formed: “The government plans to change the current criminal justice system into a service where police, prosecution and courts work more effectively together. This will lead to speedier court cases, improved transparency so the public can understand how the system works and engagement with local communities in dealing with low-level offending. From November elected PCCs will help to forge this change, and with a new responsibility for victims they will want to ensure that crime is tackled effectively and the cycle of re-offending is broken. Police and crime commissioners will be in a unique position to help galvanise the local police, prosecution and courts to work together and focus on preventing crime and reducing re-offending. PCCs will also work with local criminal justice partnerships to implement reform on the ground.”

In the light of the statement from 2012 the answer to the question from Liz Saville-Roberts is extremely disappointing, although no one who works in the areas of the Criminal Justice System will be shocked. There us a huge gap between where we are now and where the 2012 statement promised that we were supposed to be heading in 2012. The response on Tuesday came from Sam Gyimah The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice and MP for East Surrey:

“We are committed to improving the delivery of local criminal justice services, and are working with a range of stakeholders, including Police and Crime Commissioners, Local Authorities and other government departments, to do this. We have agreed justice devolution deals with London and combined authorities in Greater Manchester, the Liverpool City region and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. We have a Memorandum of Understanding in place with Greater Manchester Combined Authority to support collaborative working, and are in discussion with other regions, including London, about further opportunities.”

It is worth pointing out that the progress made in London is entirely due to the imapct of the devolution and Mayoral impact which can be traced back to the first Mayoral election nearly 17 years ago and the preparation which lies behind that. Most of the 43 Police and Crime Commissioners in the UK have put far more effort over the last 5 years into discussions on sharing governance with Fire and Rescue Services than on demanding that the July 2012 statement is fulfilled. This needs to change dramatically in the next three years between now and when the next PCC elections will take place!