There is a lot of evidence to support the increased use of non-custodial sentences such as community service and community payback schemes.

These orders avoid putting more strain on our already overcrowded prisons and they also mean the offenders actually put something back into society.

This paper has actively supported such schemes because of their benefit to the community as a whole, and because there is evidence that they help to reduce crime.

That is why it is so important that the probation service ensure the type of incident highlighted in the paper today is a one off.

The suggestion is that offenders who were involved in a scheme to clear Ferniehurst Dell in Baildon by removing litter and tidying up the beauty spot only spent about four hours of the working day actively clearing the site. Time was lost by spending two hours travelling elsewhere for lunch and only arriving on the site at 10.30am and leaving at 4pm.

The chairman of the Ferniehurst Dell Community Improvement Partnership, who observed the team at work, said they spent most of their time either travelling or on a break, and described the situation as farcical.

The West Yorkshire Probation Trust has accepted that standards had been compromised on this occasion, but points out that the community payback programme had completed the equivalent of more than £500,000 of work in the Bradford district. That is a huge contribution and must be encouraged, but sadly, a fall in standards like this one provides fuel for the critics of non-custodial sentences.

Rigorous and robust standards have to be applied so there can be no suggestion that the community service orders are a soft option for our criminals.