Ms Oonagh McPhillips:

No, I do not agree with that. We published a policy paper in 2023 about this whole area, and that affirmed the role of the Probation Service in leading in this area and driving developments. What we are trying to do is mainstream the principles of restorative justice into all the work done by the Probation Service. It does a huge amount of work in this area. I know that the Chair is well familiar with some specific projects. We have been funding the Probation Service as well in respect of specific posts in the regions in order to develop more capacity around restorative justice regionally because obviously it has to be done at local level to be effective.