PEOPLE in Worcestershire have been assured that the amalgamation of the Probation Service will be to the county's advantage.

Eithne Wallis, the national director of the Probation Service for England and Wales, said the West Mercia Probation Service would be the best way of delivering its programmes.

The service, which consists of the Shropshire and Herefordshire and Worcestershire offices, has its head office in Kidderminster.

Ms Wallis said that amalgamation was the best way of ensuring that each area received the resources required to deliver its probation programmes to full effect.

Resources

"Worcester is a small area and the county was going to find it increasingly difficult on its own to attract the kind of resources needed to continue by itself," she said.

"There's a whole range of new ways of working with offenders, and there's a great deal of evidence from our own practice on most of the things we need to do to stand a chance of reducing re-conviction levels.

"The programmes are designed on the basis of that evidence.

"Probation areas must have a full range of interventions available to tackle the different groups of offenders."

She said members of the new West Mercia Probation Board now reflected the communities they served.

"This is an exciting era," said Tricia Bradbury, chairman of the West Mercia Probation Service.

"The Government is expecting the probation service to work closely with our partners in the criminal justice system and all those links are in strong support."