Today’s Queen speech introduced legislation to reform the way in which offenders are rehabilitated in England and Wales.

In January, the government announced plans to hand the supervision of low and medium-risk offenders over to the private and voluntary sectors on a payment-by-results basis. It has proposed introducing 16 regional contract areas to deliver probation services. But NCVO and Acevo have warned that this approach is likely to limit almost all charities to subcontracting roles, as the contracts will be too large.

The Queen also re-confirmed an employment allowance to support jobs and help small businesses, announced in this year’s Budget.