The Act Part 1 – New arrangements for the provision of probation services
8.Sections 1 to 15 make new arrangements for the provision of probation services. They give to the Secretary of State the responsibility to ensure the provision of probation services and enable him to contract with others to do this. The sections also abolish local probation boards and allow the establishment of probation trusts with whom he may contract.
9.Section 14 makes it clear that the Secretary of State, bodies dealing with offender management and other entities with an interest in offender management may share information in accordance with the framework established by that section. Under the section, information sharing may take place so long as it is necessary or expedient for the purposes of effective management of offenders.
10.Section 15 provides a power to repeal section 4.