Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the recommendations in the final report of The Kerslake Commission on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping, published on 23 September 2021, what progress his Department has made on reducing the proportion of prison releases that take place on a Friday.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
We recognise that offenders face significant barriers to securing suitable accommodation, often linked to their lack of access to necessary funds, availability of local authority housing supply and affordability/access to private rented sector. However, overcoming these barriers is something that the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) cannot do in isolation and we work together with Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), Welsh Government and Other Government Departments, to address this issue.
We welcome the publication of the Kerslake report and will carefully consider the commission’s findings, in collaboration with Other Government Departments and the Welsh Government. We are pleased the report reflects the action the Government took during the pandemic to protect health and reoffending by providing temporary accommodation through both HMPPS’ Covid Emergency Scheme and DLUHC’s Everyone In. This led to the levels of rough sleeping reducing by 37% in the last year and rates of prison leavers released to homelessness reduced by 28% from 2019/20 to 2020/21.
We are committed to focusing efforts on making sure that individuals turn their backs on crime when leaving prison and know having stable accommodation helps rehabilitation and reduces the likelihood of rough sleeping. We understand the concern about the challenges some prisoners can face in accessing services and support in the community upon release, especially when being released on a Friday. That is why we continue to explore how to improve services for those being released. To support this, £20m was invested in the Prison Leavers Project which will test new and innovative ways to reduce reoffending, by addressing the challenges people face when they are leaving prison. This includes a specific focus on day of release to better understand how we can deliver improved outcomes for people leaving prison.
DLUHC Housing First pilots are currently in their 4th year of delivery and their latest figures show that over 1,050 of the most entrenched rough sleepers are being supported on the programme. The combined authorities have adopted a collaborative approach towards delivery, including liaising with agencies such as the probation service. Each client has access to critical wrap-around care, including drugs and alcohol misuse and mental health support. As the pilots continue to progress, they anticipate seeing increasing numbers of vulnerable people with complex needs, including potentially prison leavers, moving into safe and secure homes.
Working together, DLUHC and MoJ have launched two schemes which will help prisons leavers find a settled place to live, through access to MoJ’s temporary Community Accommodation Service (CAS3) in five probation regions and a move into private rented sector accommodation through DLUHC’s £13m Accommodation for Ex-Offender scheme (AfEO).
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the paper entitled Effectiveness of psychological interventions in prison to reduce recidivism: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials, published by Lancet Psychiatry in September 2021, what progress has been made with Her Majesty's Prison and Probation Service impact evaluations of accredited offender behaviour programmes.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) keeps abreast of any research and reviews relevant to our rehabilitative work and will consider the Lancet Psychiatry paper as we would with any published study. Programmes that follow Risk, Need and Responsivity (RNR) and Cognitive-Behavioural Treatment (CBT) principles have been shown to be linked to a reduction in reoffending. There is considerable research highlighting the importance of RNR in promoting effective interventions, and evidence to support the use of CBT programmes that include the teaching of skills to reduce offending.
Therapeutic communities (TC) are part of the Offender Personality Disorder (OPD) pathway, a joint venture with NHS England and Improvement. There are currently no plans to increase the number of prisons that operate TCs. The evidence and principles behind TC are at the heart of the OPD pathway which operates across prisons and probation. The Pathway continues to look for opportunities to invest in provision within available resources.
In July, this Government published the Beating Crime Plan which announced plans to tackle some of these key drivers of reoffending. This includes launching a £20m scheme across five probation regions to provide temporary accommodation for prison leavers at risk of homelessness. As set out in the Beating Crime Plan, we are also encouraging prison leavers to turn their backs on crime by securing employment. The Prison Service’s New Futures Network continues to broker partnerships between prisons and employers to improve employment opportunities for prisoners and prison leavers and we are increasing the number of DWP Prison Work Coaches across the estate, which means that prior to release, prisoners can access advice and support on employment and benefits. The Civil Service is also leading by example with the goal of recruiting 1,000 prison leavers by the end of 2023.
This is all part of wider investment this Government announced earlier this year: £70 million package to tackle some of these key drivers of repeat offending and £80 million on expanding drug treatment services in England to address offenders’ substance misuse issues, divert them on to effective community sentences and reduce drug-related crime and deaths. This £80 million will bolster the continuity of care for substance misuse treatment for prison leavers and we will continue to work closely with NHS England on rolling out RECONNECT services for those leaving prison to ensure that they engage with community health services.
We are committed to evaluating the current suite of accredited offender behaviour programmes and have a number of evaluations underway or being scoped. Where there is a sufficient number of people who have completed the programme and the necessary data is available to construct a meaningful comparison group, to help attribute any change to the intervention, the aim is to conduct good quality offending and reoffending impact studies to assess whether the programme is effective. We will be keeping the future direction of travel on accredited programmes under review using the best evidence.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the paper entitled Effectiveness of psychological interventions in prison to reduce recidivism: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials, published by Lancet Psychiatry in September 2021, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of that paper's conclusion that (a) continuation of care upon release and (b) addressing the (i) accommodation, (ii) employment and (iii) financial difficulties after release that contribute to recidivism risk, may be important in ensuring that offending behaviour programmes have a rehabilitative effect.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) keeps abreast of any research and reviews relevant to our rehabilitative work and will consider the Lancet Psychiatry paper as we would with any published study. Programmes that follow Risk, Need and Responsivity (RNR) and Cognitive-Behavioural Treatment (CBT) principles have been shown to be linked to a reduction in reoffending. There is considerable research highlighting the importance of RNR in promoting effective interventions, and evidence to support the use of CBT programmes that include the teaching of skills to reduce offending.
Therapeutic communities (TC) are part of the Offender Personality Disorder (OPD) pathway, a joint venture with NHS England and Improvement. There are currently no plans to increase the number of prisons that operate TCs. The evidence and principles behind TC are at the heart of the OPD pathway which operates across prisons and probation. The Pathway continues to look for opportunities to invest in provision within available resources.
In July, this Government published the Beating Crime Plan which announced plans to tackle some of these key drivers of reoffending. This includes launching a £20m scheme across five probation regions to provide temporary accommodation for prison leavers at risk of homelessness. As set out in the Beating Crime Plan, we are also encouraging prison leavers to turn their backs on crime by securing employment. The Prison Service’s New Futures Network continues to broker partnerships between prisons and employers to improve employment opportunities for prisoners and prison leavers and we are increasing the number of DWP Prison Work Coaches across the estate, which means that prior to release, prisoners can access advice and support on employment and benefits. The Civil Service is also leading by example with the goal of recruiting 1,000 prison leavers by the end of 2023.
This is all part of wider investment this Government announced earlier this year: £70 million package to tackle some of these key drivers of repeat offending and £80 million on expanding drug treatment services in England to address offenders’ substance misuse issues, divert them on to effective community sentences and reduce drug-related crime and deaths. This £80 million will bolster the continuity of care for substance misuse treatment for prison leavers and we will continue to work closely with NHS England on rolling out RECONNECT services for those leaving prison to ensure that they engage with community health services.
We are committed to evaluating the current suite of accredited offender behaviour programmes and have a number of evaluations underway or being scoped. Where there is a sufficient number of people who have completed the programme and the necessary data is available to construct a meaningful comparison group, to help attribute any change to the intervention, the aim is to conduct good quality offending and reoffending impact studies to assess whether the programme is effective. We will be keeping the future direction of travel on accredited programmes under review using the best evidence.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the paper entitled Effectiveness of psychological interventions in prison to reduce recidivism: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials, published by Lancet Psychiatry in September 2021, what steps he is taking to increase the (a) number and (b) proportion of prisons in England and Wales that include therapeutic communities.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) keeps abreast of any research and reviews relevant to our rehabilitative work and will consider the Lancet Psychiatry paper as we would with any published study. Programmes that follow Risk, Need and Responsivity (RNR) and Cognitive-Behavioural Treatment (CBT) principles have been shown to be linked to a reduction in reoffending. There is considerable research highlighting the importance of RNR in promoting effective interventions, and evidence to support the use of CBT programmes that include the teaching of skills to reduce offending.
Therapeutic communities (TC) are part of the Offender Personality Disorder (OPD) pathway, a joint venture with NHS England and Improvement. There are currently no plans to increase the number of prisons that operate TCs. The evidence and principles behind TC are at the heart of the OPD pathway which operates across prisons and probation. The Pathway continues to look for opportunities to invest in provision within available resources.
In July, this Government published the Beating Crime Plan which announced plans to tackle some of these key drivers of reoffending. This includes launching a £20m scheme across five probation regions to provide temporary accommodation for prison leavers at risk of homelessness. As set out in the Beating Crime Plan, we are also encouraging prison leavers to turn their backs on crime by securing employment. The Prison Service’s New Futures Network continues to broker partnerships between prisons and employers to improve employment opportunities for prisoners and prison leavers and we are increasing the number of DWP Prison Work Coaches across the estate, which means that prior to release, prisoners can access advice and support on employment and benefits. The Civil Service is also leading by example with the goal of recruiting 1,000 prison leavers by the end of 2023.
This is all part of wider investment this Government announced earlier this year: £70 million package to tackle some of these key drivers of repeat offending and £80 million on expanding drug treatment services in England to address offenders’ substance misuse issues, divert them on to effective community sentences and reduce drug-related crime and deaths. This £80 million will bolster the continuity of care for substance misuse treatment for prison leavers and we will continue to work closely with NHS England on rolling out RECONNECT services for those leaving prison to ensure that they engage with community health services.
We are committed to evaluating the current suite of accredited offender behaviour programmes and have a number of evaluations underway or being scoped. Where there is a sufficient number of people who have completed the programme and the necessary data is available to construct a meaningful comparison group, to help attribute any change to the intervention, the aim is to conduct good quality offending and reoffending impact studies to assess whether the programme is effective. We will be keeping the future direction of travel on accredited programmes under review using the best evidence.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the paper entitled Effectiveness of psychological interventions in prison to reduce recidivism: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials, published by Lancet Psychiatry in September 2021, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of (a) commissioning of offending behaviour programmes, (b) use of completion of offending behaviour programmes as evidence of reduced risk, (c) use of completion of offending behaviour programmes as evidence of sentence progression and (d) other findings of that paper.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) keeps abreast of any research and reviews relevant to our rehabilitative work and will consider the Lancet Psychiatry paper as we would with any published study. Programmes that follow Risk, Need and Responsivity (RNR) and Cognitive-Behavioural Treatment (CBT) principles have been shown to be linked to a reduction in reoffending. There is considerable research highlighting the importance of RNR in promoting effective interventions, and evidence to support the use of CBT programmes that include the teaching of skills to reduce offending.
Therapeutic communities (TC) are part of the Offender Personality Disorder (OPD) pathway, a joint venture with NHS England and Improvement. There are currently no plans to increase the number of prisons that operate TCs. The evidence and principles behind TC are at the heart of the OPD pathway which operates across prisons and probation. The Pathway continues to look for opportunities to invest in provision within available resources.
In July, this Government published the Beating Crime Plan which announced plans to tackle some of these key drivers of reoffending. This includes launching a £20m scheme across five probation regions to provide temporary accommodation for prison leavers at risk of homelessness. As set out in the Beating Crime Plan, we are also encouraging prison leavers to turn their backs on crime by securing employment. The Prison Service’s New Futures Network continues to broker partnerships between prisons and employers to improve employment opportunities for prisoners and prison leavers and we are increasing the number of DWP Prison Work Coaches across the estate, which means that prior to release, prisoners can access advice and support on employment and benefits. The Civil Service is also leading by example with the goal of recruiting 1,000 prison leavers by the end of 2023.
This is all part of wider investment this Government announced earlier this year: £70 million package to tackle some of these key drivers of repeat offending and £80 million on expanding drug treatment services in England to address offenders’ substance misuse issues, divert them on to effective community sentences and reduce drug-related crime and deaths. This £80 million will bolster the continuity of care for substance misuse treatment for prison leavers and we will continue to work closely with NHS England on rolling out RECONNECT services for those leaving prison to ensure that they engage with community health services.
We are committed to evaluating the current suite of accredited offender behaviour programmes and have a number of evaluations underway or being scoped. Where there is a sufficient number of people who have completed the programme and the necessary data is available to construct a meaningful comparison group, to help attribute any change to the intervention, the aim is to conduct good quality offending and reoffending impact studies to assess whether the programme is effective. We will be keeping the future direction of travel on accredited programmes under review using the best evidence.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Government plans to bring into force all the provisions under the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017; and what assessment he has made of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to better meet the needs of homeless female prison leavers.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
This Government is committed to ending rough sleeping this Parliament and fully enforcing the Homelessness Reduction Act.
We are working across government and with the Ministry of Justice to address the barriers offenders face in securing suitable accommodation and are aware of the specific complex needs of women prison leavers.
To reflect this we have updated the Homelessness Code of Guidance to ensure local authorities are equipped to identify the specific support needs of women leaving prison.
The Ministry of Justice has committed over £20 million to supporting prison leavers at risk of homelessness into temporary accommodation and will support individuals into long-term settled accommodation. My department secured funding at the 2020 Spending Review to support prison leavers at risk of homelessness into private rented sector tenancies. The Ministry of Justice has also opened Approved Premises for women.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of appointing designated prison officers to act as brokers for housing in women’s prisons.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
We are committed to doing all we can to address the issues around female offending. It is vital that we do so to better protect the public and deliver more effective rehabilitation. This includes supporting women when they are leaving prison.
As part of our commitment to eliminate rough sleeping, we are working across Government with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), Welsh Government and Other Government Departments, to address the barriers offenders face in securing suitable accommodation.
In January, we announced a £70 million investment in accommodation and wider support for prison leavers to cut crime. An integral aspect of that announcement related to the appointment of specialist housing advisor role in up to twenty prisons, four of which are female prisons: HMPs New Hall, Peterborough, Bronzefield and Styal. These specialists will act as brokers for prisoners so that they can get quicker access to accommodation services as they are released.
These specialists will seek to improve accommodation outcomes for those being released from prison by strengthening partnerships with key stakeholders to identify and unlock any barriers which prevent access to related services or accommodation on release. In addition, they will work with both prison and probation staff to raise understanding and knowledge of housing legislation and issues, including any specific challenges female offenders face accessing accommodation.
We are investing more than £20m in supporting prison leavers at risk of homelessness into temporary accommodation. Individuals released from prison will be provided up to 12 weeks of temporary accommodation and will be supported into long-term settled accommodation before the end of that 12-week period. Initially launching in five national probation regions, the service will support around 3,000 offenders in its first year and will be commencing in Summer. It will be in operation during the next financial year 2021-22, with a view to scaling up and rolling out nationally, though the Spending Review 2021 will set out the approach for future years.
The Offender Management in Custody (OMiC) scheme was launched in the women’s estate on 30th April 2021. The bespoke model recognises the different challenges and opportunities of working with women where self-harm and complex needs are of significant concern. Both key work and case management time will be allocated to women based on their level of need in addition to their risk of harm. Women with the most need will receive an enhanced offender management service, with additional engagement time between Prison Offender Manager (POM) and prisoner taking place.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the impact on homelessness for prison leavers of (a) the end of the temporary accommodation scheme and (b) other housing support schemes.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
We recognise that accommodation is a key priority as it is often the first step in an individual’s resettlement journey. We continue to work with councils and charities to secure suitable accommodation, while investigating long-term solutions to prevent homelessness and help offenders turn their backs on crime. Accommodation outcomes for 2020/21 are due to be published as part of the Community Performance series due to be released in July.
We are investing more than £20m in supporting prison leavers at risk of homelessness into temporary accommodation. Individuals released from prison will be provided up to 12 weeks of temporary accommodation and will be supported into long-term settled accommodation before the end of that 12-week period. Initially launching in five national probation regions, the service will support around 3,000 offenders in its first year and will be commencing this Summer. It will be in operation during the next financial year 2021-22, with a view to scaling up and rolling out nationally.
HMPPS will work in conjunction with MHCLG’s announced funding to support prison leavers at risk of homelessness into private rental tenancies. Funded schemes to support prison leavers will be developed to assist in securing settled accommodation by the end of the 12 weeks temporary accommodation provided by HMPPS.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when his Department plans to publish the next data release on homelessness for prison leavers; and what periods that data release will include.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
We recognise that accommodation is a key priority as it is often the first step in an individual’s resettlement journey. We continue to work with councils and charities to secure suitable accommodation, while investigating long-term solutions to prevent homelessness and help offenders turn their backs on crime. Accommodation outcomes for 2020/21 are due to be published as part of the Community Performance series due to be released in July.
We are investing more than £20m in supporting prison leavers at risk of homelessness into temporary accommodation. Individuals released from prison will be provided up to 12 weeks of temporary accommodation and will be supported into long-term settled accommodation before the end of that 12-week period. Initially launching in five national probation regions, the service will support around 3,000 offenders in its first year and will be commencing this Summer. It will be in operation during the next financial year 2021-22, with a view to scaling up and rolling out nationally.
HMPPS will work in conjunction with MHCLG’s announced funding to support prison leavers at risk of homelessness into private rental tenancies. Funded schemes to support prison leavers will be developed to assist in securing settled accommodation by the end of the 12 weeks temporary accommodation provided by HMPPS.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to reduce homelessness amongst people leaving prison.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
On 29th January, we announced a £70m investment programme to provide stable accommodation for prison leavers. The investment will bring together the work of Approved Premises (AP) and the Bail Accommodation and Support Service (BASS) with a new tier of provision for prison leavers at risk of homelessness. This new accommodation service will provide up to 12 weeks of basic temporary accommodation for prison leavers who would otherwise be homeless.
The service will launch in five of the 12 probation regions in England and Wales, namely the East of England, Yorkshire and the Humber, Greater Manchester, Kent Surrey and Sussex, and the North West. All individuals aged 18 and over, either released from prison or moving on from APs or BASS, into those five regions who are at risk of homelessness, will be eligible. HMPPS will work in conjunction with MHCLG’s announced funding to support prison leavers at risk of homelessness into private rental tenancies as part of plans to secure settled accommodation by the end of the 12-week period.
It is anticipated that the new intervention will commence in Summer 2021 and will provide support for approximately 3,000 service users. It will be in operation during the 2021-22 financial year, with a view to scaling up and rolling out nationally, though the Spending Review 2021 will set out the approach for future years.
We are introducing and testing a new specialist housing advisor role in up to twenty prisons, including HMP Leeds. The new role will seek to strengthen links between prisons, through the gate teams and local authorities to improve accommodation outcomes for those at risk of homelessness.
The recently published Target Operating model for the unified probation service includes information regarding the future performance framework for probation, including a target on the number of individuals being housed on release from custody (90%), together with a measure relating to settled accommodation for all people under supervision (those released from prison and those on community sentences); this will assess the status three months after commencement of supervision (80%).
In preparation for the launch of the new unified probation service, MoJ have published a policy framework in support of the Homelessness Reduction Act (2017) Duty to Refer process, which will mandate the roles and responsibilities of both prison and probation staff in making effective referrals.