Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many former prisoners who have had support via the resettlement plan were (a) sleeping rough, (b) other homeless and (c) in unsettled accommodation after (i) four, (ii) 12 and (iii) 26 weeks in each year since introduction of Community Rehabilitation Companies.
Answered by Rory Stewart
This information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
It is vital that everyone leaving prison has somewhere safe, stable and secure to live. Overcoming the many barriers offenders face to securing suitable accommodation is something that Ministry of Justice cannot do in isolation.
The Secretary of State for Justice and the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government are both members of the cross-Government Rough Sleeping and Homelessness Taskforce and the Reducing Reoffending Board. Homelessness of ex-offenders is a key issue that is discussed at these meetings.
Through this work, we are investing up to £6.4m in a joint pilot scheme to support individuals released from three prisons, namely Bristol, Leeds and Pentonville. We have now launched our Invitation to Tender, to secure suppliers in the three pilot areas. This is a concrete step in our commitment to tackling rough sleeping.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans are in place to support local authorities to work closely with Community Rehabilitation Companies and the National Probation Service in identifying homeless ex-offenders.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) and the National Probation Service (NPS) are required to facilitate access to housing for the offenders that they are managing. This includes working together with local partners to help offenders find and maintain accommodation as part of a package of support tailored to meet their individual needs.
We know that Through The Gate provision is not currently meeting the standard we require. That is why we are investing an additional £22m per annum over the remaining life of the CRC contracts to ensure that CRCs deliver an enhanced Through The Gate service to offenders leaving prison. This investment will support approximately 500 additional CRC staff to deliver Through The Gate in prisons. Alongside this investment there will be a new specification, to be introduced shortly, which will ensure that CRCs complete specific tasks, including to help every prisoner to secure and maintain settled accommodation.
We are also investing £6m as part of the Government’s Rough Sleeping Strategy in pilot schemes bringing together prisons, local authorities, probation providers and others to plan, secure and sustain accommodation for offenders on release.
We regularly publish the performance of CRCs, including measures showing the percentage of offenders who have settled accommodation on release from custody. The latest information can be found in the ‘Community Performance Quarterly Management Information Release: update to June 2018’ on Gov.uk at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/community-performance-quarterly-mi-update-to-june-2018
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether any targets are in place for Community Rehabilitation Companies and the National Probation Service to reduce the number of ex-offenders that are homeless.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) and the National Probation Service (NPS) are required to facilitate access to housing for the offenders that they are managing. This includes working together with local partners to help offenders find and maintain accommodation as part of a package of support tailored to meet their individual needs.
We know that Through The Gate provision is not currently meeting the standard we require. That is why we are investing an additional £22m per annum over the remaining life of the CRC contracts to ensure that CRCs deliver an enhanced Through The Gate service to offenders leaving prison. This investment will support approximately 500 additional CRC staff to deliver Through The Gate in prisons. Alongside this investment there will be a new specification, to be introduced shortly, which will ensure that CRCs complete specific tasks, including to help every prisoner to secure and maintain settled accommodation.
We are also investing £6m as part of the Government’s Rough Sleeping Strategy in pilot schemes bringing together prisons, local authorities, probation providers and others to plan, secure and sustain accommodation for offenders on release.
We regularly publish the performance of CRCs, including measures showing the percentage of offenders who have settled accommodation on release from custody. The latest information can be found in the ‘Community Performance Quarterly Management Information Release: update to June 2018’ on Gov.uk at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/community-performance-quarterly-mi-update-to-june-2018
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were (a) released from each prison and (b) recorded as homeless on release from each prison in each of the last five years.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The exact information could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost, but we have closely related data, detailed below.
It is vital that everyone leaving prison has somewhere safe and secure to live. Having somewhere stable to live acts as a platform for ex-offenders to be able to access the services and support needed to turn their back on crime for good. Published statistics for 2017/18 showing the accommodation status for all offenders can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/community-performance-quarterly-mi-update-to-march-2018
Published statistics on releases by prison can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/offender-management-statistics-quarterly
As part of the Government initiative to reduce and ultimately eliminate rough sleeping across England, we are investing up to £6.4 million over two years in a pilot scheme to help ex-offenders into accommodation from three prisons, namely Bristol, Pentonville and Leeds. The pilots will focus on male prisoners who have served shorter sentences, who have been identified as having a risk of homelessness. We have launched our Invitation to Tender, to secure suppliers in the three pilot areas. This is a concrete step in our commitment to tackling rough sleeping.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many meetings he has held with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government to discuss homelessness of ex-offenders.
Answered by Rory Stewart
It is vital that everyone leaving prison has somewhere safe, stable and secure to live. Overcoming the many barriers offenders face to securing suitable accommodation is something that Ministry of Justice cannot do in isolation.
The Secretary of State for Justice and the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government are both members of the cross-Government Rough Sleeping and Homelessness Taskforce and the Reducing Reoffending Board. Homelessness of ex-offenders is a key issue that is discussed at these meetings.
Through this work, we are investing up to £6.4m in a joint pilot scheme to support individuals released from three prisons, namely Bristol, Leeds and Pentonville. We have now launched our Invitation to Tender, to secure suppliers in the three pilot areas. This is a concrete step in our commitment to tackling rough sleeping.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether offences of shop theft of goods worth £200 or less are classified summary-only crimes since the introduction of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Section 176 of the Anti-Social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014 inserted into the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980 a deeming provision (section 22A) whereby shop theft of goods worth £200 or less (‘low-value shoplifting’) is treated as a summary only offence unless the accused elects to be tried by a judge and jury.