Chris Grayling: Offender mentoring 'will bring down costs'

The government is setting out plans to increase support and supervision for people released from prisons in England and Wales.

All former inmates will be supervised for at least a year, with charities and private companies paid according to how well they prevent re-offending.

Senior members of the Probation Service - which will continue to monitor high risk offenders - have criticised the new plans as "untried and untested". The Justice Secretary, Chris Grayling, said the changes are about delivering more for less.

"Every major organisation in the commercial sector has spent the last generation... trying to be more effective in delivering service to its customers and at the same time bring down costs, there is no reason for the public sector to be any different," he explained.

Mr Grayling told the Today programme's John Humphrys that "this is an important part of getting offenders back on the straight and narrow."

He said that he wanted to encourage "mentoring support" from former prisoners who have "turned their lives around, to help those who are yet to do so."

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Thursday 9 May 2013.