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 Annual Report of the Independent Monitoring Board at HMP Birmingham, published on 3 November 2021, which prisons in England and Wales are covered by a prison leaver accommodation contract that does not cover (a) releases from remand, (b) immediate releases from court and (c) those released without a probation licence or supervision period.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
This government is committed to reducing the risk of homelessness on release from custody. In support of this, the MoJ have published a policy framework which mandates the roles and responsibilities of both prison and probation staff in making effective referrals to Local Authorities in relation to those at risk of homelessness at this critical point.
In relation to immediate releases from Court, where an individual is homeless or at risk of homelessness at the point of sentence, the Probation Service Court Team take steps to ensure that a referral to the Local Housing Authority is undertaken.
In addition, Pre-Release teams working in prisons currently provide a service to those who are unconvicted and this includes identification of immediate resettlement needs on reception, including sustaining tenancies. These teams will remain embedded in all prisons which house those who are unconvicted, including HMP Birmingham, and their role includes planning for a potential release from Court.
Releases from HMP Birmingham of offenders who have received a custodial sentence have been falling from around 2,100 in 2015 and 2016 to 750 in 2020, which was an atypical year impacted by the Covid pandemic. All of those who are eligible will be supported by the new Accommodation Services commissioned as part of the reforms to the Probation Service. This provision includes pre and post-release support to obtain and sustain tenancies.
A proportion of those released without a custodial sentence will receive a Community Order and therefore will be eligible for the new Accommodation Services support at that point. For those who are released without charge or the case is discontinued, Probation staff in Court will offer advice to the individual on how to make representation to their Local Authority homeless unit.
Information on what proportion of prisoners released from HMP Birmingham in a typical year will be ineligible for accommodation support on release following the full implementation of the new accommodation contract, can only be obtained from individual case files at disproportionate cost.
Access to stable accommodation has been identified as one of the key resettlement pathways to support people address their offending behaviour and to reduce the likelihood of reoffending. Accommodation Services are a key element of Commissioned Rehabilitative Services (CRS) Framework, which went live on 26 June 2021. The CRS accommodation contracts provide services for prisoner released under Probation supervision and covers the entire prison estate. We are currently looking into what accommodation and rehabilitative support could additionally be provided to people in prison who are unconvicted and who are at risk of homelessness on release.
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 Annual Report of the Independent Monitoring Board at HMP Birmingham, published on 3 November 2021, what proportion of prisoners released from HMP Birmingham in a typical year will be ineligible for accommodation on release following the full implementation of the new accommodation contract.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
This government is committed to reducing the risk of homelessness on release from custody. In support of this, the MoJ have published a policy framework which mandates the roles and responsibilities of both prison and probation staff in making effective referrals to Local Authorities in relation to those at risk of homelessness at this critical point.
In relation to immediate releases from Court, where an individual is homeless or at risk of homelessness at the point of sentence, the Probation Service Court Team take steps to ensure that a referral to the Local Housing Authority is undertaken.
In addition, Pre-Release teams working in prisons currently provide a service to those who are unconvicted and this includes identification of immediate resettlement needs on reception, including sustaining tenancies. These teams will remain embedded in all prisons which house those who are unconvicted, including HMP Birmingham, and their role includes planning for a potential release from Court.
Releases from HMP Birmingham of offenders who have received a custodial sentence have been falling from around 2,100 in 2015 and 2016 to 750 in 2020, which was an atypical year impacted by the Covid pandemic. All of those who are eligible will be supported by the new Accommodation Services commissioned as part of the reforms to the Probation Service. This provision includes pre and post-release support to obtain and sustain tenancies.
A proportion of those released without a custodial sentence will receive a Community Order and therefore will be eligible for the new Accommodation Services support at that point. For those who are released without charge or the case is discontinued, Probation staff in Court will offer advice to the individual on how to make representation to their Local Authority homeless unit.
Information on what proportion of prisoners released from HMP Birmingham in a typical year will be ineligible for accommodation support on release following the full implementation of the new accommodation contract, can only be obtained from individual case files at disproportionate cost.
Access to stable accommodation has been identified as one of the key resettlement pathways to support people address their offending behaviour and to reduce the likelihood of reoffending. Accommodation Services are a key element of Commissioned Rehabilitative Services (CRS) Framework, which went live on 26 June 2021. The CRS accommodation contracts provide services for prisoner released under Probation supervision and covers the entire prison estate. We are currently looking into what accommodation and rehabilitative support could additionally be provided to people in prison who are unconvicted and who are at risk of homelessness on release.
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 Annual Report of the Independent Monitoring Board at HMP Birmingham, published on 3 November 2021, what steps he is taking to prevent immediate releases from court to homelessness.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
This government is committed to reducing the risk of homelessness on release from custody. In support of this, the MoJ have published a policy framework which mandates the roles and responsibilities of both prison and probation staff in making effective referrals to Local Authorities in relation to those at risk of homelessness at this critical point.
In relation to immediate releases from Court, where an individual is homeless or at risk of homelessness at the point of sentence, the Probation Service Court Team take steps to ensure that a referral to the Local Housing Authority is undertaken.
In addition, Pre-Release teams working in prisons currently provide a service to those who are unconvicted and this includes identification of immediate resettlement needs on reception, including sustaining tenancies. These teams will remain embedded in all prisons which house those who are unconvicted, including HMP Birmingham, and their role includes planning for a potential release from Court.
Releases from HMP Birmingham of offenders who have received a custodial sentence have been falling from around 2,100 in 2015 and 2016 to 750 in 2020, which was an atypical year impacted by the Covid pandemic. All of those who are eligible will be supported by the new Accommodation Services commissioned as part of the reforms to the Probation Service. This provision includes pre and post-release support to obtain and sustain tenancies.
A proportion of those released without a custodial sentence will receive a Community Order and therefore will be eligible for the new Accommodation Services support at that point. For those who are released without charge or the case is discontinued, Probation staff in Court will offer advice to the individual on how to make representation to their Local Authority homeless unit.
Information on what proportion of prisoners released from HMP Birmingham in a typical year will be ineligible for accommodation support on release following the full implementation of the new accommodation contract, can only be obtained from individual case files at disproportionate cost.
Access to stable accommodation has been identified as one of the key resettlement pathways to support people address their offending behaviour and to reduce the likelihood of reoffending. Accommodation Services are a key element of Commissioned Rehabilitative Services (CRS) Framework, which went live on 26 June 2021. The CRS accommodation contracts provide services for prisoner released under Probation supervision and covers the entire prison estate. We are currently looking into what accommodation and rehabilitative support could additionally be provided to people in prison who are unconvicted and who are at risk of homelessness on release.
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 Final Report of The Kerslake Commission on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping, published on 23 September 2021, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the findings and recommendations of that report.
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 Final Report of The Kerslake Commission on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping, published on 23 September 2021, what discussions he has had with Ministerial colleagues in (a) HM Treasury and (b) the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on funding for programmes that increase the supply of accommodation suitable for prison leavers at risk of homelessness and rough sleeping.
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 Final Report of The Kerslake Commission on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping, published on 23 September 2021, what discussions he has had with Ministerial colleagues in (a) HM Treasury and (b) the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on the (i) continuation and (ii) expansion of Housing First.
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 recommendations in the final report of The Kerslake Commission on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping, published on 23 September 2021, if he will make an assessment of the progress that has been made on ensuring that prison releases on a Friday take place early in the day.
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 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.