Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to support people leaving prison to move directly to employment on their release.

One year ago, our Education and Employment Strategy set out plans to transform the way prisoners develop the skills they need to secure employment on release.

Since then, we have introduced the New Futures Network (NFN), which brokers partnerships between prisons and employers in England and Wales. The Network places prisoners in jobs ahead of their release as well as facilitating Release On Temporary Licence (ROTL) placements, which offer continuity and can lead to immediate employment on release.

In addition, our new ROTL framework aims to increase the number of people these opportunities are available to by allowing more prisoners to access ROTL sooner and for longer.