Minister Long praises work of Probation Board
Date published:
The Justice Minister has met teams working across the Probation Board for Northern Ireland, to hear how they manage the challenges of rehabilitating, reintegrating and reducing re-offending
Minister Naomi Long was joined by Chief Executive, Amanda Stewart and Probation Board Chair, Glenn Houston, on a visit to the organisation’s Belfast headquarters.
Praising the work of the service, Minister Long said:
“It’s invaluable to hear firsthand from staff at the Probation Board for Northern Ireland, the approaches used to enable safer communities by helping people to desist from crime and stop reoffending.
"Breaking the cycle of reoffending by working across the courts, communities and prisons takes great partnership and dedication.
“This partnership approach is essential in order to tackle re-offending and the causes of crime.”
She chatted to staff and discussed a range of issues from the value of community sentencing to responding to victims’ needs. Up until the end of March this year, the Probation Board for Northern Ireland supervised 4,107 service users on a combined total of 5,743 orders, licenses and sentences; completed 6,397 pre-sentence/court reports and supported 566 victims registered with the Victim Information Scheme.
Notes to editors:
1. Photo caption: Justice Minister Naomi Long is pictured at Probation Board for Northern Ireland’s headquarters in Belfast where she met with Chief Executive, Amanda Stewart and Board Chair, Glenn Houston.
2. PBNI is an arm’s-length body of the Department of Justice and plays a key role in preparing reports for the courts and others, supervising people who have offended, delivering programmes to support behavioural change and delivering a Victim Information Scheme.
3. For media enquiries please contact DoJ Press Office via email.
4. The Executive Information Service operates an out of hours service for media enquiries only between 1800hrs and 0800hrs Monday to Friday and at weekends and public holidays. The duty press officer can be contacted out of hours on 028 9037 8110.