STATE-RUN probation services in Wales have been praised for their “effective” rehabilitation of high-risk offenders in a glowing inspection report published today.

The findings are in stark contrast to the performance of private community rehabilitation companies (CRCs) which face being taken back into public ownership after their failure to manage lower risk offenders since the part-privatisation of the sector in 2014.

Chief inspector of probation Dame Glenys Stacey said Wales’s National Probation Service – overseen by the Ministry of Justice – had “dynamic, effective leaders and enthusiastic staff committed to high-quality work.”

“Stakeholder engagement is good and includes the Welsh government as some services are devolved,” she added.

The Welsh government is led by Labour leftwinger and former probation officer Mark Drakeford.

Overall the service in Wales was rated “good,” the second highest rating.

This is significant because in February the inspectorate rated CRCs in the privatised probation service in south-west England as “inadequate,” its lowest possible rating.

Richard Garside, director of the centre for crime and justice studies, told the Morning Star: “Over a number of reports Glenys Stacey has found that the public probation service has been doing a better job than the private probation companies.

“I’m pleased that the Ministry of Justice is proposing to scrap the privatised probation service in Wales. It should do the same in England too.”

Ian Lawrence, general secretary of probation workers’ union Napo, welcomed the inspectorate’s report and said rehabilitation should not be “left in the hands of failing private companies whose sole motivation is profit.”

He added: “We need to see a change of direction from Westminster to take all probation work back into public ownership and control to ensure consistency and public safety.”