Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he made of the total cost of reoffending in Wales per year since 2020.

The specific information requested is not available and producing the information could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.

We do know, however, that the estimated economic and social cost of reoffending in England and Wales is approximately £18.1 billion per year.

That is why the Prisons Strategy White Paper, published in December 2021, sets out this Government’s ambitious plans to reduce reoffending. We will spend £200 million a year by 2024-25 to improve prison leavers’ access to accommodation, employment support and substance misuse treatment and further measures for early intervention to tackle youth offending.

This builds on investments in 2021, when we spent £70m to tackle drivers of reoffending, including to keep prison leavers off the streets.