Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of sex offending treatment programmes on reoffending rates.

A number of studies have been published that relate to HMPPS Offending Behaviour Programmes. The following is a list of studies published within the last 6 months that are related to those programmes designed to address reoffending in those persons convicted of sexual offences:

• https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/horizon-and-ihorizon-psychometric-analyses-of-the-success-wheel-measure.
• https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/horizon-and-ihorizon-an-uncontrolled-before-after-study-of-clinical-outcomes.
• https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/healthy-sex-programme-an-exploration-of-pre-to-post-psychological-test-change.
• https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/post-release-reoffending-outcomes-for-individuals-with-offence-related-sexual-paraphilias.

Participation statistics detailing the total number of programme starts and completions in a given year can be found on the .gov website. The latest statistics for delivery in Prisons can be found at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1108451/Education_Publication_202122.xlsx. The latest statistics for Probation can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/annual-national-offender-management-service-digest-2016-to-2017.

Kaizen does not include or exclude potential participants based on offence categories. For people convicted of sexual offences, Kaizen includes those who are assessed as presenting with a high or very high risk of recidivism as assessed by the OASys Sexual Reoffending Predictor (OSP/C). The OSP tool predicts the likelihood of proven reoffending for a sexual and / or sexually motivated contact offence based on someone’s history of contact and noncontact sexual offending against adults and children.