A FURNITURE and electrical items recycling project in Kidderminster has given offenders good practical community service experience, according to a report on West Mercia Probation Area.

The inspection report focused on supervision of offenders and said the furniture project, at Oldington and Foley Park, had provided them with "a good quality experience of supervision".

An allotment project at Aggborough was also cited as a good example of teaching new skills and problem solving in "an informal way" to offenders.

Among major findings of the report were that attendance by offenders at projects like those in Kidderminster was generally good while imaginative ways of encouraging them to reintegrate within the community had been devised.

That helped in tackling issues such as employment, accommodation and drug and alcohol misuse.

There was room for improvement, for instance, in work on victim awareness. There was also evidence that community punishment was under-funded.

Andrew Bridges, chief inspector of probation, said in the report the West Mercia area had "a number of strengths" and was to be "commended" for improving performance.

He added: "A range of partnerships has been created to facilitate the effective supervision of offenders.

"Links with sentencers are good at all levels of the organisation.

"We found examples of responsive and imaginative practice in work with offenders that was clearly having some impact on their lives and good attention to diversity issues."

Plus points for the service over the past year included notable achievements against national targets, good attention to diversity issues and close monitoring of finance and resources.

Among areas that should be addressed was that more attention needed to be given to the assessment and management of offender's risk of harm to others.

Relatively few offenders were said to have been convicted for a further offence since the start of their orders or licences.

In most cases, the report added, resources allocated to work with individual cases were appropriate to the offenders' risk of harm and likelihood of re-offending.

The Effective Supervision Inspection of West Mercia took place during May and June this year.

A key focus was the area's supervision of a representative sample of 100 cases from most categories of orders and licences, including high risk of harm offenders.