Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on prison leavers' ability to obtain housing and employment of having a criminal record.

Having a safe and suitable home gives people with an offending history a stable platform from which to access health services, hold down a job and reduce the likelihood of them reoffending. We are working together with Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to deliver a joint strategy to improve access to housing in England for those being released from prison. Concurrently, we are working with the Welsh Government to improve housing outcomes in Wales for those released from prison.

Supporting offenders into meaningful employment is a vital part of the Government’s approach to tackling reoffending. Offenders who found P45 employment in the twelve months after release from prison had one-year re-offending rates that were 6-9 percentage points lower than similar offenders who did not find employment. The New Futures Network will support empowered governors to broker relationships between prisons and employers more effectively. These, plus initiatives to incentivise employers to work with ex-offenders, will all help ensure offenders have the best chance of securing employment immediately on release.