The Government's proposals for opening up probation services to competition need further thought, MPs on the Justice Committee have warned in a new report released today. The committee believes that the Government's proposals for payment by results and wider competition in the provision of rehabilitative services are limited because they separate the commissioning of prison places from the commissioning of every other form of sentence provision. They also criticised the very large and incoherent areas used for the tendering of community payback contracts, which they say should not be a model for future commissioning. The report also recommends that probation trusts are given greater freedoms - for example, over the buildings and IT systems they use - and calls on them to focus scarce resources on the frontline. MPs were concerned that frontline probation staff spend three-quarters of their time doing administrative tasks rather than meeting directly with offenders. The committee concluded that the creation of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), which effectively merged prison and probation services, has not led to an appreciable improvement in the 'joined-up' treatment of offenders; its handling of the community payback tendering exercise has not inspired confidence; and it has not proved itself proficient at running effective national contracts. The MPs are calling on the Government to commission an externally-led review of NOMS. The committee calls for leadership and courage from politicians and sentencers in supporting community sentences and recommends that the Government clarifies to the public what it means by more robust community sentences, and the outcomes they are designed to achieve. For Volume 2, Oral and Written Evidence, (see ISBN 9780215561022).