Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate his Department has made of the number of prisoners who were in receipt of welfare payments prior to imprisonment in the latest period for which figures are available.
On reception into custody prisoners are asked if they receive benefits. The total number of occasions prisoners confirmed they were in receipt of welfare payments prior to imprisonment in 2018 was 41,620.
Prisoners are also asked if they were working before they came to custody on reception. The total number of occasions prisoners answered that they were unemployed to this question in 2018 was 63,683.
We know that getting a steady job on release can be a huge part of turning offenders away from a life of crime, helping to prevent future victims and cutting the annual £15 billion cost of reoffending.
That is why we launched the Education and Employment Strategy last year, which works with businesses to offer a wide range of work experience opportunities to equip offenders with the self-discipline, skills and qualifications they need.