Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of (a) male and (b) female prisoners released from HMP Durham were released into homelessness in each month since April 2016.

This information requested is shown in the attached table.

Our reforms to probation are designed to encourage long-term rehabilitation and ultimately reduce reoffending – and the first step in this is ensuring that everyone leaving prison has access to secure and stable accommodation. We are improving support for offenders leaving prison with a £22 million investment in through-the-gate services which will help to strengthen ties with key partners, including the third sector, local authorities and the police.

At the same time we are 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 their release.