Asked by: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of prisoners are released into (a) homelessness, (b) temporary accommodation and (c) hostels in the most recent period for which figures are available.
Answered by Alex Chalk
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.
We provided data on accommodation on release last summer given the uncertainty around early releases from prison and other factors during the first Covid peak, and the public interest in this area at the time. In response to Written Parliamentary Question 76656 on 28 July 2020 we supplied data ahead of the official statistics publication schedule.
We are now reverting back to publishing this data in a more orderly and transparent way in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics, which allows sufficient time for analysts to fully assure and quality check the data. Future statistics on accommodation on release from will be published in due course, in line with the official statistics publication schedule. The next release will be published as part of the Community Performance Series. Previously the release schedule for the series had been quarterly, it has now moved to an annual cycle, with the 29 July 2021 edition reporting full-year outcomes for 2020/21.