THE term “private firm” seems to go hand in hand with fears over public disaster these days.

Today it is concerns over Government plans to turn over the bulk of probation monitoring to private companies, taking them from the hands of the public probation authorities.

This is a recipe for disaster, MPs and others say, fearing that when dangerous criminals are placed into an untried private mechanism the public could be at risk.

That these fears are voiced is quite correct.

Public safety must be at the forefront of any probation service. That is, presumably, the most dangerous high risk criminals will remain monitored by a public probation system.

For the remainder, says the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), the move to private probation companies will open up the opportunity to improve the disastrous numbers of criminals who go on to reoffend.

At present a half of offenders reoffend, and this is not acceptable, says the MoJ.

That is why the new private companies will be paid on performance. If this leads to fewer offenders turning again to crime, then it is worth giving the new system a chance.

But results will have to be visible and rapid for a sceptical public to be convinced.