Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what funding his Department plans to allocate to the Homelessness Prevention Taskforces operating in each National Probation Service region from 1 April 2021.

In 2021-22, £1.86 million will fund the 12 regional Homelessness Prevention Taskforces. This will provide a Band 6, a Band 5 and a Band 3 member of staff in each region – that is £155,000 per region.

Five of the 12 probation regions in England (East of England, Yorkshire and the Humber, Greater Manchester, Kent Surrey and Sussex, and the North West) will be launching a new accommodation service in summer 2021, providing up to 12 weeks’ worth of basic temporary accommodation for prison leavers who would otherwise be homeless.

£20 million will be allocated between the five regions. As yet the allocation to each region has not been determined. Funding will be allocated according to the number of people we forecast being released homeless in each area, and will reflect the learning gathered from both the Covid-19 emergency scheme, and the offender accommodation pilot.

It is our intention, pending the Spending Review later this year, to proceed to roll out the accommodation provision nationally.