Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has evidence that tents have been given to prisoners on release in (a) South Wales and (b) Yorkshire in the last 12 months.

We do not hold the data requested as it is not our policy to issue tents to service users. Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) and the National Probation Service (NPS) are required to facilitate access to housing and support services for the offenders that they are managing. This includes working together with local partners to help offenders find accommodation and supporting them to maintain their accommodation as part of a package of support tailored to meet their individual needs. 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. Alongside this investment we have introduced a new Through the Gate specification which will ensure that CRCs complete specific tasks, including to help every prisoner to secure and maintain settled accommodation. 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. Contracts have now been awarded in the three areas and, following a mobilisation period, we expect services to commence in Summer of this year. This is a concrete step in our commitment to tackling rough sleeping.