In order to answer clearly, and in order to avoid all doubt, I shall write to the hon. Gentleman on the nature of qualifications, if he will allow me, because things have changed. However, I agree with the general thrust of his question, which was that the probation service should reflect a wide range of backgrounds. Indeed, I visited a probation hostel on Friday afternoon where the deputy in charge had been in the forces—the Royal Air Force, I think—and had decided that he wanted to go into that area of work.

The thrust of the changes that I have described in answering the point raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham, North (Mr. Allen) has been to broaden the range of people able work in the probation service, and to provide greater support to fully trained probation officers in the work that they do. That process has taken place in several professions. In teaching, for instance, as well as teachers we now have teaching assistants; and in the national health service, nurses will be able to prescribe and to give injections. Those wholly sensible changes are all in the interests of the institutions involved.