Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Approved Premises referrals were submitted by probation staff to accommodate people released on an End of Custody Supervised Licence in each month since October 2023; and how many and what proportion of those referrals were rejected.

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.

HMPPS currently delivers 104 Approved Premises across the country to accommodate higher risk prison leavers and people on probation. They provide a high level of supervision in a controlled environment and are closely integrated with Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA).

Beyond their role in public protection, Approved Premises can also play a key role in improving the rehabilitation of prison leavers, ensuring they have a place to stay upon release, and a stable environment from which to engage with wider support including helping source employment opportunities and engage with drug and alcohol treatment.

Overall, we provide 2,357 spaces and accommodate approximately 11,300 individuals each year in Approved Premises.