Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to his Department's press release of 19 January 2021 on prison leavers, what the evidential basis was for his conclusion that offenders were around 50 per cent more likely to break the law again if released without somewhere to stay.

In January 2021, we announced a £70 million investment to reduce crime and improve public safety by tackling these key drivers of reoffending. We are investing £50 million to enhance the department’s Approved Premises, provide temporary accommodation to prison leavers at risk of homelessness, and enhance resettlement support for prisoners before and after release. A further £20 million of funding has been allocated for the Prison Leavers Project that will test innovative ways to reduce reoffending by addressing the challenges people face when they are leaving prison. Statutory accounts will be submitted in due course.

Accommodation circumstances for offenders are reported annually as official statistics. Data for the period 01 April 2021 to 31 March 2022 will be published in July 2022 in the Community Performance Annual report. In line with the Code of Practice for Statistics, access to these statistics before their public release is limited to those involved in the production of the statistics and the preparation of the release, and for quality assurance and operational purposes.

The thematic inspection report by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation on Accommodation and support for adult offenders showed that prison leavers without stable accommodation are almost 50 per cent more likely to reoffend. The report was released in July 2020 and can be accessed via the following link: https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprobation/inspections/accommodationthematic/.