Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will replace Community Payback with a scheme where people who receive community sentences work in industries with labour shortages.

Community Payback requires offenders to undertake rigorous and constructive work which benefits the communities they have harmed. Community Payback projects across England and Wales provide valuable support for charities, community groups and local authorities on a daily basis. Through £93m of investment, we are increasing the impact that Community Payback can have on local communities and spaces by ramping up the hours delivered to up to 8 million hours a year.

Whilst Community Payback can add value to the work undertaken by public bodies and voluntary organisations, it should not replace paid employment or infringe the ILO forced labour convention.

However, Community Payback does have an important role to play in developing work ready skills, providing practical training opportunities and improving long term employment prospects.

As part of our investment, we are working to improve our education, training and employment provision in order to better target identified skills gaps. This approach should support offenders so that they are well placed to fill critical labour gaps.