Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans she has to work with Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to help reduce reoffending by people in the criminal justice system.

The Ministry of Justice, working with the Department of Health and Social Care, is firmly committed to reducing reoffending by addressing health-related causes of offending behaviour.

Where appropriate, we are working to divert offenders with health needs out of the criminal justice system altogether, including through Liaison & Diversion services, present in all police custody suites and criminal courts in England. Community Sentence Treatment Requirements can also be used as part of community or suspended sentences. Previous research has shown reduced reoffending rates for these types of sentences compared to short custodial sentences, and we are working to evaluate their use.

For those in prison, we work in close partnership with NHS England, who are responsible for commissioning healthcare services, including drug treatment, in all English prisons, so that all prisoners have access to health care equivalent to that in the community. We also work with the Welsh Government, who are ultimately responsible for commissioning and delivering health services for people in prison in Wales. We also work in partnership to ensure that our prisons provide wider support to help prisoners engage with treatment. 80 prisons currently have Incentivised Substance Free Living units where prisoners commit to regular drug tests.

We also want to better support rehabilitation of prisoners leaving custody, who have engaged in treatment and help them to remain in treatment on release. NHS England’s RECONNECT service supports prison leavers with vulnerabilities including mental health and substance misuse needs to engage with services through referrals and peer support.