Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve resettlement for prison leavers.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
We have invested an additional £22m per annum over the remaining life of the Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) contracts to deliver an enhanced Through the Gate resettlement service preparing offenders for release which includes the requirement that CRCs complete specific tasks to help prisoners to secure and maintain settled accommodation, gain employment, and manage debt and their financial affairs.
The probation reform programme will deliver an enhanced pre-release planning strategy improving the current service for all released from prison, along with access to specialist accommodation providers to reduce the risk of homelessness, and a mentoring provision to support those who struggle with the transition from prison to community to reduce the risk of recalls and build community networks. All National Probation Service (NPS) regions will have a short sentence function providing a multi-agency and responsive approach to sustain existing community links and fast track referrals into new services to improve compliance and outcomes. We will also deliver the existing NPS service-level to all CRC cases under a unified model to increase staff working within the prison service and in the community.
Accommodation pilots in Leeds, Pentonville and Bristol prisons have been operating since August 2019 and, subject to evaluation, we will inform future provision of accommodation for offenders, through the new Probation model. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Justice also secured £8.5 million to support individuals at risk of homelessness on their release from prison and help them to move on into permanent accommodation.
Seven Homelessness Prevention Taskforces have been set up to work with local authorities and other partners to find accommodation for offenders released from prison and these taskforces are still active and we are considering how the these will build on the gains made.
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 effect on the level of homelessness among prison leavers of his Department’s accommodation support scheme for those people.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
As of 26 August, a total of 420 individuals who had no pre-existing accommodation have had settled accommodation secured by Homelessness Prevention Taskforces (HPTs). This has included individuals’ own accommodation, local authority sourced accommodation, private rented sector, approved premises, and voluntary sector places. These figures are calculated from management information data provided by regional HPTs, and should be considered as indicative and subject to change as the scheme progresses.
As part of its Covid-19 response, HMPPS set up seven HPTs to work with local authorities and other partners to find accommodation for offenders released from prison. The taskforces are still active and HMPPS is considering how to continue the work that they have carried out during the pandemic in the long-term. Additionally, the Ministry of Justice secured up to £8.5 million to support individuals at risk of homelessness on their release from prison and help them to move on into permanent accommodation. This scheme commenced in mid-May and concluded on 31 August.
The department aims to track the one-year reoffending rates of individuals enrolled on the scheme when this data is available. Given the need to wait 18 months for an offence to occur and to be proven, and for this to be processed by the courts, this data will not be available until spring/summer 2022. Due to the lack of a suitable counterfactual or control group, this monitoring of outcomes will not constitute an assessment of the impact of the scheme on the rehabilitation or reoffending outcomes of individuals.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) young adult, (b) other female and (c) other male prison leavers were released without an address to go to between 18 July 2020 and 25 August 2020 in (i) each region of of England and (ii) Wales.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The information for 9 June 2020 – 31 July 2020 is provided in the attached. Data for August 2020 is still being compiled and is not yet available.
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.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) young adult, (b) other female and (c) other male prison leavers were released without an address to go to between 9 June 2020 and 17 July 2020 in (i) each region of England and (ii) Wales.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The information for 9 June 2020 – 31 July 2020 is provided in the attached. Data for August 2020 is still being compiled and is not yet available.
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.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on good practice for local authority housing officers responding to duties to refer under the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 from prisons, young offender institutions, secure training centres, secure colleges, youth offending teams, and probation services.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Everyone leaving prison should have somewhere safe and secure to live; accommodation enables offenders to hold down a job and reduces the likelihood of them reoffending
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 Ministry of Justice cannot do in isolation and we will work together with Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), Welsh Government and Other Government Departments, to address this issue, ensuring an effective contribution towards the Governments goal to eliminate rough sleeping by the end of the current Parliament.
As part of its COVID-19 response, HMPPS set up seven Homelessness Prevention Taskforces to work with local authorities and other partners to find accommodation for offenders released from prison. The taskforces are still active and HMPPS is considering how to continue the work that they have carried out during the pandemic in the long-term.
MHCLG are currently undertaking a review of the implementation of the Homelessness Reduction Act (HRA), including the resourcing of it and how it is working in practice, this includes looking at the duty to refer. This review will include evidence from several local authorities and charities on their experiences of the act and where they believe there is space for improvement.
HMPPS recently completed a review of its own referral process and has refreshed the supporting policy framework as well as undertaking a series of training events in conjunction with the National Homelessness Advice Service, to broaden awareness, knowledge and improving our referral processes. Lessons learnt from the HMPPS internal review will feed into the wider MHCLG review.
The HRA is helping more people to get help earlier, particularly single people who often would not have received help in the past and would have been at risk of sleeping on our streets. Since the introduction of the Act, over 100,000 households whose relief duty ended, were helped to find accommodation for six+ months.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 28 July to Question 76655, whether the accommodation support scheme for prison leavers was extended beyond 31 July 2020.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
As the Honourable Member is aware, the Government exceptionally allocated funding of up to £8.5m to provide accommodation for those released from prison who were at risk of homelessness during the coronavirus pandemic. This emergency funding was available for a limited time and initially ran from 18 May until 31 July. Having kept the operation of the scheme under review, it was agreed to extend it past the 31 July to the 31 August as the public health and public protection risks warranted it. The scheme has now concluded but may recommence if future public health and public protection risks require it.
We continue to work with councils and charities to secure suitable accommodation, while investigating long-term solutions to help offenders turn their backs on crime and to prevent homelessness.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 24 June 2020 to Question 61688, if his Department will extend the accommodation support scheme for prison leavers beyond 31 July 2020.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government has exceptionally secured funding of up to £8.5m to provide accommodation for those released from prison, who are at risk of homelessness during the COVID-19 period. This emergency funding is available for a time-limited period to support this process. The temporary accommodation scheme initially ran from 18 May until 26 June at which point it was reviewed and the decision taken to extend to the 31July. We will continue to keep the operation of the scheme under review and extend it past the 31 July if the public health and public protection risks warrant it.
This project will help ensure vulnerable ex-offenders at risk of homelessness will get the vital support they need to stay safe during the COVID-19 period and find suitable accommodation and continue their rehabilitation during the pandemic. This will help improve outcomes for ex-offenders and increase the chances of seeing fewer victims of crime in the future.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) young adult, (b) other female and (c) other male prison leavers were released without an address to go to between 1 May 2020 and 8 June 2020 in (i) each of the regions of England and (ii) Wales.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The table below gives the number of offenders released from custody by accommodation circumstance on the first night. The data covers the period 1 May – 8 June 2020. Of the 6,961 offenders released, 947 (14%) were described as homeless (total of rough sleeping and ‘other homeless’ combined), including 9% of young adults, 15% of other females and 14% of other males were released with no accommodation on their first night out of custody. The accommodation circumstance was unknown for 11% of young adults, 13% of other females and 13% of other males. Data is drawn from probation case management systems which relies on inputting by probation staff who may not always be aware of an individual’s involvement in accommodation scheme or similar initiatives.
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*Young adults are offenders between 18 and 24
** Other male and females are offenders 25 and over
*** “Other homeless” refers to individuals who identify as homeless but have not been identified as sleeping rough. In some cases, it is not recorded whether an individual that is identified as homeless is rough sleeping
This data does not include offenders who remain the responsibility of a prison, such as those released under release on temporary licence (RoTL), End of Custody Temporary Release (ECTR), releases where the offender is recalled to custody the same day or those released from unsupervised short sentences.
The Government has exceptionally allocated funding of up to £8.5m to provide accommodation for those released from prison, who are at risk of homelessness during the coronavirus pandemic This emergency funding is available for a limited time and initially ran from 18 May until 26 June at which point it was reviewed and the decision taken to extend to the 31July. We will continue to keep the operation of the scheme under review and extend it past the 31 July if the public health and public protection risks warrant it.
This project will help ensure vulnerable ex-offenders at risk of homelessness will get the vital support they need to stay safe during the COVID-19 period and find suitable accommodation and continue their rehabilitation during the pandemic. This will help improve outcomes for ex-offenders and increase the chances of seeing fewer victims of crime in the future.
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 Government response to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs report on Custody-Community Transitions, published in October 2019, what recent progress has been made on recommendation 2 of the report of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs entitled Custody-Community Transitions, published on 12 June 2019.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and Her Majesty's Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) are committed to meeting the health needs of offenders in custody and the community, including those with substance misuse issues, mental health problems and those who are homeless. We welcome the publication of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) report on Custody-Community Transitions, and we are working closely with health partners to deliver the recommendations accepted by the government.
A cross-Government working group has been formed in order to address recommendations 1 and 2. This work has been delayed due to the government’s re-prioritisation of resources due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but will progress over the next couple of months. The programme of work of the group will include planning improvements to the transition pathway from custody to community for vulnerable offenders. The current transition pathway will be assessed to ensure appropriate support is provided for people with substance misuse, mental health and homelessness problems. It will also explore increasing the number of individuals who continue with substance misuse treatment post release into the community.
In response to recommendation 4, a ‘deep dive’ has already been conducted into Friday releases, but further development of the findings has been delayed due to the impact of COVID-19 on government priorities. While the deep dive did not conclude that changes to primary legislation would necessarily bring about improved outcomes or tackle the difficulties offenders face on release, further consideration, with our health and justice partners, is needed to explore what next steps will best improve resettlement outcomes.
In regard to recommendation 6, face to face services are currently challenging due to restrictions implemented due to COVID-19. However, HMPPS is continuing to work with external partners to ensure that support is provided to those in need of treatment for substance misuse, and will continue to do so once restrictions have been lifted. We work in conjunction with NHSE on substance misuse services for prisoners in custody, and with Public Health England for Local Authority commissioned services in the community.
Moreover, NHS England are currently rolling out RECONNECT services for those leaving prison to ensure that they engage with community health services to support them to avoid returning to the criminal justice system. This will help to improve the links in the community between healthcare and probation services including the probation service’s Through the Gate service. Current work includes the introduction of RECONNECT Pathfinders to support vulnerable individuals to engage with community based healthcare services.
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 Government response to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs report on Custody-Community Transitions, published in October 2019, when the cross-Government working group set up to take forward Recommendations 1 and 2 of the report of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs entitled Custody-Community Transitions, published on 12 June 2019, last met.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and Her Majesty's Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) are committed to meeting the health needs of offenders in custody and the community, including those with substance misuse issues, mental health problems and those who are homeless. We welcome the publication of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) report on Custody-Community Transitions, and we are working closely with health partners to deliver the recommendations accepted by the government.
A cross-Government working group has been formed in order to address recommendations 1 and 2. This work has been delayed due to the government’s re-prioritisation of resources due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but will progress over the next couple of months. The programme of work of the group will include planning improvements to the transition pathway from custody to community for vulnerable offenders. The current transition pathway will be assessed to ensure appropriate support is provided for people with substance misuse, mental health and homelessness problems. It will also explore increasing the number of individuals who continue with substance misuse treatment post release into the community.
In response to recommendation 4, a ‘deep dive’ has already been conducted into Friday releases, but further development of the findings has been delayed due to the impact of COVID-19 on government priorities. While the deep dive did not conclude that changes to primary legislation would necessarily bring about improved outcomes or tackle the difficulties offenders face on release, further consideration, with our health and justice partners, is needed to explore what next steps will best improve resettlement outcomes.
In regard to recommendation 6, face to face services are currently challenging due to restrictions implemented due to COVID-19. However, HMPPS is continuing to work with external partners to ensure that support is provided to those in need of treatment for substance misuse, and will continue to do so once restrictions have been lifted. We work in conjunction with NHSE on substance misuse services for prisoners in custody, and with Public Health England for Local Authority commissioned services in the community.
Moreover, NHS England are currently rolling out RECONNECT services for those leaving prison to ensure that they engage with community health services to support them to avoid returning to the criminal justice system. This will help to improve the links in the community between healthcare and probation services including the probation service’s Through the Gate service. Current work includes the introduction of RECONNECT Pathfinders to support vulnerable individuals to engage with community based healthcare services.