Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
What steps he is taking to tackle recent trends in the level of self-harm in prisons.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
There are encouraging signs that self-harm has started to reduce in recent months, but it remains a concern.
We have given over 25,000 prison staff better training to spot and prevent self-harm;
We have refreshed our partnership with the Samaritans which supports the Listeners scheme, whereby selected prisoners are trained to provide emotional support to their fellow prisoners;
We have also piloted improvements to Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT), the multidisciplinary case management approach to supporting prisoners thought to be at risk of self-harm or suicide. We are currently planning the resumption of roll-out of the revised ACCT across the prison estate.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
What recent estimate he has made of the number of people released from prison without adequate accommodation.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Approximately 13% of offenders released between March and April this year were released homeless; which is comparable to data for 2018/19.
Everyone leaving prison should have somewhere safe and secure to live because accommodation reduces the likelihood of them reoffending.
That is why our accommodation pilots, in Leeds, Pentonville and Bristol, have been operating since August 2019 and we have secured up to £8.5 million to support individuals at risk of homelessness released from prison during Covid-19. This will help them to move into permanent accommodation.