(1)The Secretary of State shall at least once in every year consult the Welsh Ministers, and such other persons as he thinks fit, about the provision that should be made for the purposes mentioned in section 2(1) for the following year.
(2)The Secretary of State shall, before the end of each year, publish an annual plan for the following year which sets out the way in which the Secretary of State proposes to—
(a)discharge his functions under section 2(1) and (2) during that year; and
(b)carry out any arrangements which he expects to be in force under section 3(5) for that year.
(3)The Secretary of State shall have regard to the annual plan published under subsection (2) for any year—
(a)in discharging his functions under section 2(1) and (2) during that year; and
(b)in making or carrying out arrangements under section 3(5) for that year.
(4)Arrangements made by the Secretary of State under section 3(2) with a probation trust shall require the trust to publish an annual plan for each year in which it expects to carry out any specified activities.
(5)Arrangements made by the Secretary of State under section 3(2) with a person other than a probation trust shall, if the Secretary of State thinks fit, require that person to publish an annual plan for each year in which it expects to carry out any specified activities.
(6)In subsections (4) and (5)—
“annual plan” means a plan setting out the way in which the probation trust or other person (as the case may be) proposes to carry out any specified activities during the year to which the plan relates;
“specified activities”, in relation to a probation trust or other person with whom arrangements under section 3(2) are made, means activities of a description specified in those arrangements for the purposes of subsection (4) or (5) above (as the case may be).
(7)In this section “year” means a period of 12 months ending with 31st March.