An offender management bill has received support from the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (Acevo).
Peers in the House of Lords were urged by the association to back the bill at an Acevo briefing paper for peers.

Voluntary organisation representatives spoke on the value of the third sector to offender management.

Stephen Bubb, chief executive of Acevo, said: "The current system is not able to deliver the end-to-end offender management we need to reduce re-offending. We desperately need legislation in order for the sector to be able to deliver the results we are capable of."

"We can offer independence, innovation, a focus on prevention and giving service users a voice, but crucially we can join up all the interventions which the individual needs to go straight," he added.

The briefing underlined local accountability as an important issue, as well as the accessibility of the offender management market to organisations of all sizes.

Rates of re-offending in the current system remain high, with 67 per cent of those leaving prison re-convicting within two years.

The second reading of the Offender Management Bill will take place in the Lords on April 17th.