Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the early release of prisoners on levels of homelessness.
Answered by Rushanara Ali
Prisons, probation and local authorities worked closely together to mitigate the risk of homelessness during the standard determinate sentence (SDS40) release scheme. MHCLG is working closely with the MoJ to build on lessons learned through SDS40.
The MoJ is currently collating data relating to the September and October SDS release dates and this will be published.
Asked by: Baroness Porter of Fulwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of how the capacity of charitable organisations working with people in prisons, or helping former prisoners readjust upon release, could be scaled.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations already play an enormous role in the vital work of preparing prisoners for release, and of helping them to adapt on their return to the community. 76% of current Commissioned Rehabilitative Services (CRS) contracts – support to help people in custody or on probation to reduce their risk of re-offending – are led by VCSEs.
In addition, the CRS General Grant Scheme provides funding exclusively to third-sector services that promote rehabilitation and desistance, as well as those providing support to people with shared protected characteristics or shared experiences. To date, 32 grants have been awarded.
His Majesty’s Prison & Probation Service (HMPPS) also works with a wide range of charitable organisations to deliver prison education. These include the Shannon Trust, National Literacy Trust, Prisoners Education Trust, The Clink and St Giles. Many have been funded to develop their work through HMPPS grants or contracts.
To inform the development of a new generation of CRS contracts, national engagement events have been held throughout the design phase. These events have been well attended by third-sector organisations and have ensured that the providers’ voice is fully taken into account in designing the new specification. Resources have been dedicated to ensuring a role for third sector organisations in the new generation of contracts.
We are keen to evaluate activities, wherever possible, to learn from best practice, and we encourage charity providers themselves to evaluate their work. The ability to demonstrate good outcomes can help to support further bids for funding.
Many suppliers of Prison Education Services, of which there are over 400, are charitable organisations. Best practice is shared regularly with Heads of Education, Skills and Work in HMPPS, and information is regularly distributed from potential providers to all prison sites.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of temporarily housing acquitted remand prisoners who are homeless.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
The Government inherited a prison system in crisis, in which the remand prison population has risen to record highs. We are committed to working with partners across the criminal justice system to ensure this is effectively managed, including looking at resettlement support to those who have served a period of time on remand and were subsequently acquitted. The rehabilitation contracts for specialist accommodation support have been extended to include remanded and unsentenced people in prison, including those who are un-convicted, held on remand and then acquitted. We know that a settled place to live is key to help people reintegrate with communities and reduce the likelihood of reoffending, as prison leavers without settled accommodation on release are almost 50 percent more likely to reoffend than those with settled accommodation.
Data on accommodation outcomes on release from prison are published annually and include total releases and settled accommodation outcomes. Monthly and annual data for the period April 2019 – March 2024 is in the ‘Housed on Release from Custody’ tables, available here: Offender Accommodation Outcomes, update to March 2024 - GOV.UK. The data for April 2024 - March 2025 is due for publication in July 2025.
Accommodation outcomes for prison leavers are recorded against the categories of settled accommodation, other housed, bail/probation accommodation, homeless (not rough sleeping) and rough sleeping, rather than ‘no fixed address’. An individual’s risk of serious harm level is determined in accordance with the Risk of Serious Harm guidance, available here: Risk of Serious Harm Guidance. In the year to March 2024, 4.7% of the total caseload of offenders were high risk of harm offenders and released homeless or rough sleeping.
Prison leavers at risk of becoming homeless and who are supervised by probation can be offered up to 12 weeks of basic accommodation on release by HM Prisons and Probation, with support to move to settled accommodation. This programme has been gradually rolled out nationwide since July 2021 and since then has supported over 12,200 prison leavers who would otherwise have been homeless.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of work to reintegrate prisoners released via the early release scheme.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
The government inherited a prisons system in crisis and was forced to change the release point for standard determinate sentences in order to avert disaster and total gridlock of the criminal justice system.
Once released, offenders are subject to the same set of strict licence conditions that would apply had they been released at a 50% automatic release point, and are liable to recall to prison if they do not comply with these conditions or are judged by probation practitioners to be a risk to public safety.
There is robust and varied support available informed by an assessment of individual needs, to ensure effective resettlement into the community. This includes Prison Employment Leads, Employment Hubs, ID and Banking Administrators and Employment Advisory Boards in every resettlement prison.
Asked by: Carla Denyer (Green Party - Bristol Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 17 October 2024 to Question 8297 on Prisons: Food and Prescription Drugs, what steps he is taking to monitor the adequacy of (a) suicide prevention provision, (b) palliative care, (c) medical emergency care and (d) mental health care in prisons; and whether she has made an assessment of the adequacy of those steps.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England, via the regional health and justice teams, has regular meetings with prison healthcare providers to ensure the quality of the services that are provided. These are also supplemented with local partnership boards where governors, commissioners, and providers meet to discuss any issues, risks, and areas of concern. This could include the number of prisoners who are currently under an Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork approach where there is a risk of self-harm, and the overall healthcare provision, including any issues around enablement.
The Dying Well in Custody Framework and supporting self-assessment framework describes a set of national standards for local adoption, and provides a tool for a local multi-disciplinary approach to providing agreed standards of palliative and end of life care to people in prison.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of recent changes to the early release scheme.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
SDS40 is a necessary measure to avoid the collapse of the Criminal Justice System. In designing the measure, we took every possible step to mitigate risk including an 8-week implementation period, clear offence exclusions, and a huge amount of collaboration with partners across the Criminal Justice System.
Once released, offenders will be closely monitored by probation and subject to strict licence conditions, which if breached could lead to their immediate recall to prison.
Following the first tranche of SDS40 releases that took place on 10 September, the Ministry of Justice and His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service have consulted our frontline and cross government partners on how things went. Following the release of prisoners under Tranche 1 on 10 September 2024 and Tranche 2 on 22 October, we are determined to continue to take every step possible to bring the prisons system under control, reduce reoffending and to keep the public safe.
As the Lord Chancellor has previously announced, the change will be reviewed in 18 months.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the roll out of the early prison release scheme.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
SDS40 is a necessary measure to avoid the collapse of the Criminal Justice System. In designing the measure, we took every possible step to mitigate risk including an 8-week implementation period, clear offence exclusions, and a huge amount of collaboration with partners across the Criminal Justice System. Once released offender will be subject to strict licence conditions and face being immediately recalled to prison should they breach those conditions.
Following the first tranche of SDS40 releases that took place on 10 September, the Ministry of Justice and His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service have consulted our frontline and cross government partners on how things went. Following the release of prisoners under Tranche 1 on 10 September and Tranche 2 on 22 Octoberr, we are determined to continue to take every step possible to bring the prisons system under control, reduce reoffending and to keep the public safe.
As the Lord Chancellor has previously announced, the change will be reviewed in 18 months.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what comparative assessment she has made of the effectiveness of (a) public and (b) private prisons in reducing recidivism.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
Robust assessments of the reoffending rate broken down by prison are not currently available, however the adult reoffending rate following a custodial sentence has fallen from 49.3% in 2011/12 to 37.0% in 2021/22. Both public and privately-run prisons play an important role in reducing reoffending across England and Wales.
All prisons in England and Wales work to reduce an individual's risk of reoffending and promote successful resettlement. In a mixture of 93 public and private prisons, for example, there are Prison Employment Leads who play a key role in getting prisoners work ready and matching them to jobs on release.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether (a) public and (b) private prisons require prison officers to have a minimum level of experience.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
We have inherited a prison system crisis. For far too long, our hardworking staff have had to face the brunt of prison overcrowding, which has damaged morale and put the safety and security of staff at risk. This is one of the reasons why we have taken difficult but necessary action to rescue the prison system from the point of collapse. We know that sufficient and skilled frontline staffing is fundamental to delivering safe, secure, and rehabilitative prison regimes.
On recruitment, nationally we are currently above target staffing levels for prison officers, although challenges remain in some sites with a high number of vacancies. Recruitment efforts will continue at all sites with a current or projected future need, and we have a number of targeted recruitment interventions that can be deployed where needed.
There are no specific expectations in terms of experience for a new prison officer, but all new joiners have to pass an assessment process, and complete at least 10 weeks’ training prior to starting their roles.
The loss of staff post-Covid has meant that we have significant numbers of prison officers who have recently been recruited. Due to this large intake of new staff, many colleagues lack experience – with over 40% of Band 3-5 prison officers having less than 3 years of experience. We are focused on retaining our dedicated staff, but we know it takes time to build confidence, capability, and the jailcraft skills that are essential to improve the system. HMPPS have in place over 150 New Colleague Mentors across the estate to provide support for all new staff and improve the onboarding process. HMPPS also provides colleagues with its ‘Career Pathways Framework’. This equips staff with information on career options and the variety of job roles available in HMPPS, as well as learning and development programmes.
On prison officer joiners and leavers, data can be found in Tab 8 of the quarterly HMPPS workforce statistics publication, with Tables 1 and 2 showing the number of joiners and leavers in each year to the end of March over the last 5 years, as well as the latest data in the year to the end of June. We have not included Bands 4 and 5 in the joiner data, as we recruit these grades through promotion, apart from re-instatements.
Table 1 – Prison Officer joiners
Time series - 12 months to end of each year | |||||||
Grade | 31-Mar-2019 | 31-Mar-2020 | 31-Mar-2021 | 31-Mar-2022 | 31-Mar-2023 | 31-Mar-2024 | 30-Jun-2024 |
Bands 3-4 / Prison Officer (incl. specialists) | 4,738 | 2,301 | 2,409 | 3,842 | 4,312 | 4,818 | 4,819 |
Table 2 – Prison Officer leavers
Time series - 12 months to end of each year | |||||||
Grade | 31-Mar-2019 | 31-Mar-2020 | 31-Mar-2021 | 31-Mar-2022 | 31-Mar-2023 | 31-Mar-2024 | 30-Jun-2024 |
Band 5 / Custodial Managers | 65 | 91 | 78 | 91 | 97 | 103 | 104 |
Band 4 / Supervising Officer | 138 | 165 | 88 | 155 | 156 | 138 | 138 |
Bands 3-4 / Prison Officer (incl. specialists) | 2,437 | 2,596 | 1,950 | 3,141 | 3,078 | 2,907 | 2,926 |
To provide the number of prison officers in supervisory roles with less than one year’s experience, we have provided data on Band 4 Supervising Officers, whose role includes overseeing the daily regime of a wing or area of the prison. Tab 4 of the quarterly HMPPS workforce statistics publication gives data on staff length of service for the main operational grades, including Band 3-5 officers. On 30 June 2024 there were four 'Band 4 / Supervising Officer' prison officers in post who had less than one year's experience. The length of service is calculated from the most recent hire date within HMPPS, not from them starting a specific role. It should be noted that if these members of staff were previously employed by HMPPS, left and rejoined, only their latest service would be counted.
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to help ensure the (a) rehabilitation and (b) education of offenders who took part in violent disorder during summer 2024.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
This Government is committed to reducing reoffending by giving offenders leaving prison the tools to rehabilitate and move away from crime.
Offenders involved in this summer’s violent disorder and given prison sentences will receive an education assessment on reception to prison. Prison staff and probation practitioners will work to create a sentence plan to ensure the right support is on offer during their time in prison and on release.
As well as the opportunity to improve English and mathematics (if needed) and to undertake vocational training, HMPPS offer a range of behavioural programmes and other interventions that may be considered for offenders convicted of violent offences as part of this summer's disorder. These include programmes to improve relationships, thinking skills and healthy identities. Eligibility is determined based on assessed risk and need.
Where individuals involved in this summer’s disorder have substance misuse issues we will work to tackle these To achieve this, 80 prisons have an Incentivised Substance-Free Living unit, where prisoners are regularly tested and receive incentives, and we have dedicated staff to tackle drugs in custody and support continuity of care. In the community we are diverting offenders into treatment at the earliest opportunity. This includes more offenders sentenced to Drug Rehabilitation Requirements, a form of community sentence which includes a requirement to engage in treatment