Carter had been asked by the government to propose a way of achieving a better balance between the prison population in England and Wales and the resources available for the correctional services.

By this means, he argued, efficiency would be increased, unit costs reduced, and innovation encouraged.

Growth in the prison population, which had increased by two thirds over the previous ten years, would be constrained by giving the courts greater confidence in the effectiveness of community sentences as opposed to prison sentences through better management of offenders, leading to reduced levels of recidivism.

On 9 May 2007 the correctional services element of the Home Office was moved to join the former Department of Constitutional Affairs in the newly created Ministry of Justice.

Responsibility for commissioning services, development of policy and setting standards passed from the agency to the MoJ.