Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of prison leavers are employed six months after their release.

We know that employment reduces the chance of reoffending significantly, by up to nine percentage points. In order to grow, businesses need skills and labour to fill the nearly one million vacancies in the UK right now. Prison leavers have a role to play in filling those vacancies, particularly in sectors with skills shortages such as construction and hospitality, that the economy needs to grow, while also cutting crime and delivering safer streets. That’s why we’ve invested heavily in delivering key employment reforms across 93 resettlement prisons, including:

• Prison Employment Leads to match prisoners to jobs;
• Employment Hubs where prisoners can access job vacancies and support with applications;
• Employment Advisory Boards – chaired by business leaders and advise prisons on skills delivery.

I am pleased to say that the proportion of prison leavers in employment six months after release more than doubled from 14% in April 2021 to over 30% in March 2023. The next release of this data will be published this summer