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The Probation of Offenders Act 1907 empowered courts to appoint Probation Officers but it was not until the late twenties that 'probation committees' were formed to provide oversight of the work of Officers. From that time until the seventies the Committees comprised mainly of magistrates with the local Clerk to the Justices as the Secretary to the Committee. From the 1970s onwards, to acknowledge the contribution of local authority funding, Committees co-opted local authority councillors but only in token numbers. Occasionally, and at local discretion, other co-opted members appeared on the main Committee or sub-committees such as representatives of local Universities (where probation officers undertook their training) or voluntary organisations which worked with the Probation Service e.g. Victims Support, voluntary accommodation providers.
As the Probation Service expanded its work not only in courts and prisons but in the community, there was a further national debate as to whether Committees comprising of mainly sentencers should be replaced by Boards with a smaller but broader representative mix from local communities. The debates in the 1990s eventually led to the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000 which laid the basis for the statutory functions of Probation Boards.
The appointment of the Cheshire Probation Board on the 1st April 2001, coincided with a number of other critical developments affecting the Probation Service:
The Cheshire Probation Board has the same aims and objectives as apply to the Probation Service nationally:
The key performance targets and indicators relating to these objectives will be determined by the Home Secretary and set out in the Board's business plan. For the first time in the history of the Probation Service the respective responsibilities of Ministers, the Permanent Secretary at the Home Office, the National Probation Directorate, the Chair of the local Board and the Chief Officer are laid down in a single Management Statement.
The Board has corporate responsibility for the proper discharge of its statutory functions within the requirements and framework laid down by the Home Secretary. Important areas of responsibility include:
The Board » is made up of 12 members, one of whom is a judge appointed by the Lord Chancellor, another is the Chief Officer. The Board comprises members selected to reflect the diversity and concerns of the community it serves. The Board must appreciate the needs of the local community. As will be seen from the biographies of the members of the Cheshire Board they represent a vast range of experience from both the private and public sectors as well as the independent voluntary sector. They reflect experience of the world of business, the criminal justice system and local communities.
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