Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made in conducting a national review of deaths under post-release probation supervision, as stated in their response to the 12th report of the Health and Social Care Select Committee Prison Health (HC Paper 963).

In our response to the Health and Social Care Select Committee the Government committed to undertake a review of deaths under post release supervision during 2019-20. Scoping work has been undertaken, and the full review is on track to be completed within this time period. This is in addition to the existing requirement on all probation providers to conduct an internal review following each death, and to share learning from these reviews.

The number of deaths of offenders under post-release supervision decreased from 401 in 2016/17 to 367 in 2017/18, a fall of 8%. The National Suicide Prevention Strategy identifies people in contact with the criminal justice system as a high-risk group, and we recognise that the time following release from prison can be a particularly high-risk period for suicide and for deaths from other causes. The primary role of probation is to protect the public and prevent re-offending, and people under supervision in the community are not in the care of HM Prison and Probation Service in the way that they are when in custody. While probation staff do everything they can to help offenders find access to vital services including healthcare, housing, and treatment for drug and alcohol problems, they do not have sole responsibility for caring for them. The national review aims to identify what further actions may be appropriate to prevent offenders’ deaths, while recognising that a range of other organisations share responsibility for their wellbeing.

We are also investing an extra £22m in ‘through-the-gate’ assistance for offenders, to help them find the support they need on issues such as housing, healthcare and employment, and they have the same access to these services as any other person in the community.