Carol Hedderman was invited by the Justice Select Committee to give oral evidence to its inquiry into probation. Visit the Select Committee homepage for more information. 

She discussed problems associated with the way the National Offender Management Service measures local reconviction rates to assess how well probation trusts are keeping the public safe and outlined the ways in which these measurements could be improved.

She also took part in a discussion about the effectiveness and cost-benefit of using certain forms of community supervision compared with short prison sentences. The Committee subsequently asked for written advice on the measurement of the impact of Payment by Results projects. Carol, along with her colleague Darrick Jolliffe, is working with Qinetic to assess the impact of the first criminal justice pilot of such an approach running at Peterborough prison.