Prisons agency 'not being scrapped'

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Leaked documents revealed ministers were looking to abolish the National Offender Management Service (Noms), reports said.

The agency manages prisons and the probation service and, when it was created, ministers hoped it would better manage convicted criminals and thus reduce crime. A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said a decision on a reorganisation at the department had not yet been taken.

The agency has been beset by problems since its inception three years ago. Last month it emerged there was a £33 million shortfall on a computer system supposed to cost £155 million.

The overarching database was to have monitored prisoners "end-to-end" for the first time but was suspended because of cost overruns.

The Times reported the leaked document, entitled Recommendations from the organisational review: A summary, recommended the changes in the agency so early failures did not damage the ministry's reputation so early in its existence.

A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Justice said the agency was succeeding in reducing reoffending rates.

"The National Offender Management Service (Noms) is focused on reducing re-offending and protecting the public," she said. "Current performance shows improvement in reconviction rates and Noms is working to reduce these figures further.

"We are committed to the introduction of end-to-end offender management, creation of probation trusts, new commissioning structures and strategic planning with other public services.

"When the new Ministry of Justice was created from the Department for Constitutional Affairs and a significant part of the Home Office, it made every sense for there to be an internal review aimed at ensuring the new department worked as effectively as possible. This review is now nearing completion but the Justice Secretary has yet to make a decision on it."