Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many women have been released from prison in each of the last three years for which records are available; how many of those prisoners were released to (a) a fixed address, (b) HMPPS bridging accommodation and (c) no fixed address; and how many of those released to no fixed address have (i) reoffended and (ii) reoffended and returned to prison.

The number of female individuals released from prison to no fixed address and subsequently (i) reoffended and (ii) reoffended and returned to prison is provided in the table below:

Number of adult female reoffenders with no fixed address, 2017/18 to 2019/20, England and Wales^{1, 2, 3}

Notes

1. A proven reoffence is defined as any offence committed in a one-year follow-up period that leads to a court conviction or caution in the one year follow-up period or within a further six-month waiting period to allow the offence to be proven in court.
2. The annual average figures have been calculated by taking an average of the four preceding three monthly offender cohorts. This may therefore result in a single offender being included in an annual cohort more than once.
3. No fixed address includes individuals who identify as sleeping rough; and individuals who identify as homeless but have not been identified as sleeping rough. In some cases, it is not recorded whether an individual that is identified as homeless is rough sleeping. These cases have been included in this category.
4. Figures are based on the first reoffence for which an offender returned to custody. Each offender will therefore only appear once in this category.

Data relating to settled accommodation, unsettled accommodation and bail/probation accommodation can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/prison-and-probation-trusts-performance-statistics#community-performance-statistics.

We are working together with the Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities (DLUHC) to help prisons leavers find a settled place to live, through access to private rented sector accommodation via DLUHC’s £13m Accommodation for Ex-Offender scheme (AfEO). The scheme is aimed at moving prison leavers into settled accommodation before the expiry of the 12 weeks provided through our temporary accommodation service, by enabling Local Authorities to source private rented sector accommodation via deposits and/or rent in advance.

Our Prisons White Paper sets out our vision that no-one subject to probation supervision is released from prison homeless. By 2024-25 we will spend £200 million a year to reduce reoffending, including improving prison leavers’ access to accommodation.