Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that vulnerable female prison leavers, in particular those with complex needs, have access to safe and secure accommodation immediately on release.

The report by the Safe Homes for Women Leaving Prison initiative incorrectly suggests that six in ten female prisoners are released homeless. This is based on a sample of just 116 women from a single prison in 2019. Official statistics published in July 2020 show that 6,185 women were released from custody in the year to March 2020, with 50.8% of them going into secure, long-term accommodation and a further 7% to approved premises. 18.3% (i.e. fewer than 2 in 10) were recorded as being homeless at the point of release.

Nonetheless, too many prisoners, of both genders, are released homeless. We are strengthening our work to prevent homelessness on release by continuing the successful probation Homeless Prevention Teams (HPT), which have supported many homeless service users during the pandemic. We are also engaging with other organisations to develop new initiatives.

We are launching a new accommodation service in Summer 2021, providing up to 12 weeks of basic temporary accommodation for prison leavers who would otherwise be homeless. This service will launch in five of the 12 probation regions in England and Wales: the East of England, Yorkshire and the Humber, Greater Manchester, Kent Surrey and Sussex, and the North West. It is our intention to roll out the accommodation provision nationally, pending the Spending Review later this year.

We also continue to ensure that appropriate funding is available to women’s community sector organisations, having invested £5.1 million in the two years following publication of the Female Offender Strategy as well as announcing a further £2.5 million last year to cover the core costs of these organisations. This funding responded directly to the many requests for the Government to act to address financial instability in parts of the sector.

HMPPS has also recently announced the development of Eden House, which will be a new Approved Premises for women in Bristol; it is due to open in June 2021 and will be the first new Approved Premises in over 30 years.