Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) young adult, (b) other female and (c) other male prison leavers were released without an address to go to between 1 May 2020 and 8 June 2020 in (i) each of the regions of England and (ii) Wales.

The table below gives the number of offenders released from custody by accommodation circumstance on the first night. The data covers the period 1 May – 8 June 2020. Of the 6,961 offenders released, 947 (14%) were described as homeless (total of rough sleeping and ‘other homeless’ combined), including 9% of young adults, 15% of other females and 14% of other males were released with no accommodation on their first night out of custody. The accommodation circumstance was unknown for 11% of young adults, 13% of other females and 13% of other males. Data is drawn from probation case management systems which relies on inputting by probation staff who may not always be aware of an individual’s involvement in accommodation scheme or similar initiatives.

*Young adults are offenders between 18 and 24

** Other male and females are offenders 25 and over

*** “Other homeless” refers to individuals who identify as homeless but have not been identified as sleeping rough. In some cases, it is not recorded whether an individual that is identified as homeless is rough sleeping

This data does not include offenders who remain the responsibility of a prison, such as those released under release on temporary licence (RoTL), End of Custody Temporary Release (ECTR), releases where the offender is recalled to custody the same day or those released from unsupervised short sentences.

The Government has exceptionally allocated funding of up to £8.5m to provide accommodation for those released from prison, who are at risk of homelessness during the coronavirus pandemic This emergency funding is available for a limited time and initially ran from 18 May until 26 June at which point it was reviewed and the decision taken to extend to the 31July. We will continue to keep the operation of the scheme under review and extend it past the 31 July if the public health and public protection risks warrant it.

This project will help ensure vulnerable ex-offenders at risk of homelessness will get the vital support they need to stay safe during the COVID-19 period and find suitable accommodation and continue their rehabilitation during the pandemic. This will help improve outcomes for ex-offenders and increase the chances of seeing fewer victims of crime in the future.