PRESS ASSOCIATION -- It is "staggering" that probation officers can spend as little as a quarter of their time dealing directly with offenders, MPs have said.
The Commons Justice Committee criticised the "tick-box, bean-counting culture" which has left staff tied up filling in paperwork rather than supervising and helping to rehabilitate criminals.
The MPs recommended that probation trusts should be given greater independence and said there was an "urgent need" for scarce resources to be focused on the front line.
Publishing a report into the role of the probation service in England and Wales, the committee called on the Ministry of Justice to commission an external review of the National Offender Management Service (Noms).
The MPs questioned whether Noms, which was established in 2004 and effectively merged the prison and probation services, was delivering good value for money, giving probation trusts the support and freedom they need, or co-ordinating the supervision of offenders in jail and the community.
They raised particular concerns about "micro-management" by Noms and the volume of form-filling probation staff must do to comply with the agency's targets.
The report said: "We accept that probation officers have to do a certain amount of work which does not involve dealing directly with offenders.
"However, it seems to us staggering that up to three quarters of officers' time might be spent on work which does not involve direct engagement with offenders."
Probation and prisons minister Crispin Blunt said: "I heartily agree that the probation service needs to be freed up from unnecessary red tape in order to focus on reducing the appalling rates of reoffending.
"That's why we're making changes to enable probation officers to use their judgment and discretion more widely. The culture of target-setting and box-ticking is over."