ENFORCEMENT: OFFENDER Probation

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION SHEET

PURPOSE
Circular
To require probation areas to provide information to help court enforcement REFERENCE NO:
staff make risk assessments and locate offenders who are the subject of
17/2004
community penalty breach warrants.
ISSUE DATE:
ACTION
23 February 2004
Chief Officers should ensure that the relevant information is provided with
immediate effect.
IMPLEMENTATION DATE:
Immediate
SUMMARY
This circular provides guidance and provides a model form to areas
regarding the information to be passed to courts to assist with the risk EXPIRY DATE:
assessment and location of offenders. February 2009

RELEVANT PREVIOUS PROBATION CIRCULARS TO:

PC 66/2001 Chairs of Probation Boards
Chief Officers of Probation
CONTACT FOR ENQUIRIES Secretaries of Probation Boards
David Beaumont – 020 7217 0762
david.beaumont@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk CC:
Board Treasurers
Regional Managers

AUTHORISED BY:
Steve Limpkin, Acting Head of
Policy Unit

ATTACHED:
N/A

National Probation Directorate

Horseferry House, Dean Ryle Street, London, SW1P 2AW General Enquiries: 020 7217 0659 Fax: 020 7217 0660

Enforcement, rehabilitation and public protection

1. PC66/2001 advised probation areas on the transfer of warrant execution from the police to the Courts and attached a
National Framework Agreement produced by the Lord Chancellor’s Department (now Department for Constitutional
Affairs) and the Home Office. Paragraph 8 of this agreement notes; “…it is vital that the arresting officer has as much
information about the offender as possible before executing the warrant. Crucial to this will be the sharing of
information at local level…in particular if a Probation Officer …suspects that an offender may become violent when
arrested they must notify the Magistrates’ Court of this when applying for a warrant.” Additionally, it is accepted that
information passed on by Probation Officers initiating breach action will assist Civilian Enforcement Officers/Approved
Enforcement Agencies with the execution of breach warrants and improve enforcement performance, in line with the
national standard that Magistrates Courts’ Committees should enforce 75% of adult bail and no bail community
penalty breach warrants within 28 days of issue of warrants.

2. At the point when the court issues a warrant for execution it is important for the court enforcement staff to have
accurate, up to date information about the offender to enable them to speedily locate the offender and for the warrant
to be served without unexpected difficulty.

3. It is a matter for the Chief Officer to decide at what point in the process the additional information should be provided.
It could be at the same time that breach action is notified to the court, which has some advantage but might result in
some nugatory work, or it could be provided later at the stage when a warrant is applied for. Where the form is
completed prior to the application for a warrant, probation staff will need to ensure that any new information that
subsequently comes to light is made known to the court.

4. The information which enforcement staff will find useful to have is set out on the attached model Offender Additional
Information Sheet. Some probation areas are already using an equivalent form of their own design. There is no
objection to these forms continuing to be used, provided that they have been agreed with MCCs and as a minimum
contain all the information that is on the model Offender Additional Information Sheet.

5. The model Offender Additional Information Sheet consists almost entirely of information which will already be
available to NPS staff from their case files and records. The exception is the offender's National Insurance number
which may not yet be collected by NPS staff as a matter of routine. The National Insurance number is extremely
useful to warrant enforcement staff to help them locate offenders who have gone out of contact but who may be
known to other Government Departments or agencies such as the Department for Work and Pensions. This
information should be provided on the form whenever it is available.

6. If use of the new form and procedure is to be effective it is vital that the information provided to court enforcement
staff should be entirely up to date and current. There is a greater prospect of this being the case if NPS staff were to
check contact details with the offender at each appointment. At any point that new information comes to light it should
be passed to the court without delay.

7. It should be noted that those executing the warrant have a duty to undertake their own risk assessment. It is the
responsibility of the NPS to provide information to assist this risk assessment, not to undertake the risk assessment
on their behalf.

8. The court may feel it necessary to obtain further information by contacting the Probation Service. It is therefore
important that relevant contact numbers are included as part of the completed form.

9. It is possible that there will be further developments affecting enforcement procedures in the future since this is
regarded as a priority by both the Department for Constitutional Affairs and the Home Office.

PC17/2004 - Enforcement: Offender Additional Information Sheet 2

 OFFENDER ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

CRO NO.: …………………. Gender: (delete as appropriate) Male / Female

Surname: Forename/s:

Alias/Other Names: Date of Birth: / /

National Insurance No……………………

Current/Last known address: Other recent Known Addresses:

Postcode: Postcode:
Home Phone No: ……………………... Place Of Employment:

Mobile Phone No: ……………….

Postcode:
Key Relevant Information:
(This section should be completed as fully as possible to enable enforcement staff to assess the risk to staff & the nature
of the risk including the use of weapons/violence. Also state other relevant issues relating to health, risk of self harm,
medical issues, drug/alcohol abuse etc)

Name & Position with whom information can be checked:

Office Address/Contact Number:

Postcode Date: / /

The information contained on this form must not be shared with a third party or the offender without the prior
authority of the National Probation Service

PC17/2004 - Enforcement: Offender Additional Information Sheet 3