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Written Question
Prisoners' Release: Drugs
Wednesday 27th March 2024

Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps HM Prison and Probation Service take to ensure prisoners released on end of custody supervised licence can continue to access drug addiction treatment programs when they are released from prison.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

We know that supporting offenders to engage in drug and alcohol treatment is vital to reduce reoffending and we are working with health partners on a range of interventions to strengthen continuity of care for prison leavers. We have recruited over 50 Health and Justice Co-ordinators nationwide to improve links between prison and community treatment services, procured 650 laptops to enable prisoners to speak to community treatment providers before release and we are rolling out the Probation Notification Actioning Project (PNAP) which will make probation aware of prison leavers who have been referred to community treatment so probation can support continued engagement.

The lower-level offenders released on ECSL will have a release plan put together by probation, and where appropriate this release plan will include access to drug and alcohol treatment. It remains at the discretion of the prison service to block or delay the ECSL release of any prisoners where doing so would result in losing access to essential services such as drug and alcohol treatment.


Written Question
Prisoners' Release: Temporary Accommodation
Thursday 21st March 2024

Asked by: Simon Fell (Conservative - Barrow and Furness)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what performance measures his Department uses to measure the success of transitional accommodation for prison leavers.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

Prison leavers without settled accommodation are almost 50 per cent more likely to re-offend compared with those with settled accommodation: a settled place to live is a key factor in reducing re-offending, cutting crime and protecting the public.

The data collected on people leaving prison for transitional accommodation, together with data on settled accommodation three months after release, can be found at the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/64c10b4e90b54500143e8375/Probation_Performance_Data_Tables_2022-23.xlsx.

HMPPS Community Accommodation Service (CAS) currently provides transitional accommodation via three tiers of support, each focused on a different cohort. CAS1 (Approved Premises) is used as a public protection resource to accommodate higher-risk offenders. CAS2 provides accommodation for medium-risk defendants on bail and prisoners eligible for release under home detention curfew. CAS3 is our ground-breaking new temporary accommodation service.

HMPPS launched CAS3 in July 2021, providing up to 12 weeks’ guaranteed accommodation on release for those leaving prison at risk of homelessness, with support to move on to settled accommodation. Initially implemented in five probation regions (Yorkshire and the Humber; North West; Greater Manchester; East of England; and Kent, Surrey and Sussex), the service was rolled out to Wales in June 2022. From April 2023, the CAS3 service was operating in all probation regions in England and Wales.

Between 2019-20 and 2022-23, the proportion of prison leavers who were homeless upon release decreased by five percentage points, from 16 per cent to 11 per cent.

By January 2023, the proportion of offenders housed on the first night of release from custody was 7.6 percentage points higher in CAS3 regions in comparison with regions where CAS3 had yet to be implemented.


Written Question
Prisoners' Release: Temporary Accommodation
Thursday 21st March 2024

Asked by: Simon Fell (Conservative - Barrow and Furness)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department collects information on how many people who leave prison for transitional accommodation leave with settled accommodation.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

Prison leavers without settled accommodation are almost 50 per cent more likely to re-offend compared with those with settled accommodation: a settled place to live is a key factor in reducing re-offending, cutting crime and protecting the public.

The data collected on people leaving prison for transitional accommodation, together with data on settled accommodation three months after release, can be found at the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/64c10b4e90b54500143e8375/Probation_Performance_Data_Tables_2022-23.xlsx.

HMPPS Community Accommodation Service (CAS) currently provides transitional accommodation via three tiers of support, each focused on a different cohort. CAS1 (Approved Premises) is used as a public protection resource to accommodate higher-risk offenders. CAS2 provides accommodation for medium-risk defendants on bail and prisoners eligible for release under home detention curfew. CAS3 is our ground-breaking new temporary accommodation service.

HMPPS launched CAS3 in July 2021, providing up to 12 weeks’ guaranteed accommodation on release for those leaving prison at risk of homelessness, with support to move on to settled accommodation. Initially implemented in five probation regions (Yorkshire and the Humber; North West; Greater Manchester; East of England; and Kent, Surrey and Sussex), the service was rolled out to Wales in June 2022. From April 2023, the CAS3 service was operating in all probation regions in England and Wales.

Between 2019-20 and 2022-23, the proportion of prison leavers who were homeless upon release decreased by five percentage points, from 16 per cent to 11 per cent.

By January 2023, the proportion of offenders housed on the first night of release from custody was 7.6 percentage points higher in CAS3 regions in comparison with regions where CAS3 had yet to be implemented.


Written Question
Prisoners' Release
Thursday 21st March 2024

Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners were released within two months of the scheduled end of their sentence in the last 12 months.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) began in October 2023, and an analysis of its use will be based on one year’s worth of data and published on an annual basis in line with other statistics, such as deaths of offenders in the community.


Written Question
Prisoners' Release
Wednesday 20th March 2024

Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many individuals will be released under the end of custody supervised license scheme in 2024.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

While ECSL is in operation, it will continue to free up spaces as more prisoners reach the point in their sentence when they become eligible for release, but only where that continues to be necessary to remain within maximum capacity levels.

An analysis of its use will be based on one year’s worth of data and published on an annual basis in line with other statistics.


Written Question
Prisoners' Release: Women
Wednesday 20th March 2024

Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether female prisoners will be eligible for release 60 days early under the End of Custody Supervised Licence.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

As we announced in October, ECSL operates across the prison estate in the specific prisons where it is absolutely necessary, including the women’s estate.


Written Question
Prisoners' Release
Tuesday 19th March 2024

Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions his Department had with (a) probation officers, (b) senior probation officers and (c) trade union officials representing probation officers before announcing the extension of the end of custody supervised license scheme.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The End of Custody Supervised License (ECSL) Scheme is a targeted measure that will operate in certain areas for a limited period of time where we are moving a prisoner’s release date earlier. We are committed to continue working with the police, prisons, and probation leaders to make further adjustments as required.

Prior to the announcement in Parliament of the extension of ECSL on 11 March, Senior Regional Prison and Probation leaders and Trade Unions were advised of the decision to extend ECSL, to prepare to implement the ECSL changes effectively.


Written Question
Reoffenders
Tuesday 19th March 2024

Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will publish the number of reoffenders aged 18 years or over by (a) age and (b) offence type for the year ending March 2023.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The number of reoffenders aged 18 years or over by (a) age and (b) offence type for the year ending March 2023 will be published at the end of January 2025.

The attached tables show the number of reoffenders by (a) age and (b) index offence type for the year ending March 2022.

This Government is committed to reducing reoffending, and reoffending rates have fallen from 31.3% in 2011/12 to 25.2% in 2021/22. We are investing in rehabilitation to stop prison leavers falling back into crime – including tackling drug addiction, increasing the number of offenders in work and providing basic, short-term accommodation on release. We are also delivering the Prison Education Service which raises the level of numeracy, literacy and skills of prisoners, with the aim of securing jobs or apprenticeships after they leave custody.

On top of this, we are doubling the number of GPS tags available to courts for sentencing, ensuring more burglars and robbers are tagged which ultimately keeps our communities safer.


Written Question
Prisoners' Release
Monday 18th March 2024

Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, in which prisons the end of custody supervised licence scheme (a) is operational and (b) has been since October 2023.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

Unlike Labour’s End of Custody License scheme which ran from 2007 to 2010, End of Custody Supervised Licence only operates in specific prisons where it is absolutely necessary. The number of prisons where it is in operation is reviewed constantly and therefore varies as required.


Written Question
Domestic Abuse and Stalking: Prisoners' Release
Monday 18th March 2024

Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether (a) domestic abusers and (b) stalkers are ineligible for release under the end of custody supervised licence scheme.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

Nobody convicted of serious violence will be released early and anyone convicted of any sexual or terror offence is automatically excluded. Unlike Labour’s End of Custody Licence scheme, which ran from 2007 to 2010, all offenders who may be eligible for release will be subject to the same set of licence conditions that would apply had they been released automatically.

Those licence conditions will reflect the risk management release plan prepared by probation staff and what is necessary to safely manage the offender in the community. The offender can be immediately recalled to prison if they do not comply or otherwise behave in a way that is assessed to be putting the public at risk.

In contrast to Labour’s approach, we have introduced an additional safeguard, whereby it remains at the discretion of the prison service to block the ECSL release of any prisoners where releasing an offender earlier presents a heightened risk than if they were released at their automatic release date.