Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information his Department holds on the number and proportion of prisoners that were released under the End of Custody Supervised License scheme who were homeless upon their release from prison in each month since October 2023.

End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) began in October 2023. Analysis of its use will be based on at least one year’s worth of data and published in line with the same approach we take for other statistical releases such as deaths of offenders in the community. We cannot provide any breakdowns of the ECSL cohort ahead of publication because they would give an early indication of that cohort and hence these statistics.

Release under ECSL follows the same planning and arrangements as release at the normal automatic release point and that includes making suitable arrangements for accommodation.

We know that having a safe place to stay helps cut crime which is why we are investing in our ground-breaking transitional accommodation service so prison leavers can have a guaranteed 12 weeks of basic, temporary accommodation to provide a stable base on release.

His Majesty’s Prisons and Probation Service has a statutory duty in England to refer someone at risk of homelessness to a local authority for assistance and we have worked closely with DLUHC on the design and delivery of its Accommodation for Ex-Offenders scheme.

In 2022/23, 86% of prisoners were accommodated on first night of release, up from 80% in 2019/20.