Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for he policies of trends in the levels of reoffending rates in Lincolnshire in the past five years; and what steps her Department is taking to help reduce reoffending rates in that county.

The overall proven reoffending rate for Lincolnshire has decreased from 28.8% in 2018 to 26.3% in 2022 (the latest year for which reoffending data is available – see Table 1). Despite this overall downward trend, the reoffending rate increased from 24.5% in 2021 to 26.3% in 2022. We have seen reoffending rates increase slightly as we move away from Covid-affected periods (during which reoffending rates were impacted by court closures and other Covid-related operational restrictions). Despite this, rates remain lower than historical levels.

This Government is committed to reducing reoffending by giving people the tools they need to turn their backs on crime, including by investing in getting offenders into employment which we know can reduce reoffending by up to 9 percentage points.  We have, for example, recruited specialist employment leads in prisons to support and prepare prisoners for work on release. This role is currently in place at HMP Lincoln and HMP North Sea Camp, two prisons located in Lincolnshire. We have also recently launched regional Employment Councils, which for the first time will bring businesses together with probation services and the Department for Work and Pensions to support offenders in the community. The county of Lincolnshire is covered by the East, North & West Midlands Employment Council.