Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the Probation Service has issued tents to people leaving prison in the last six months.

It is not Government policy to provide tents to people being released from prison who are at risk of being homeless. Tents are not, and can never be, an acceptable housing solution. Overall responsibility for housing and homelessness lies with local authorities in both England and Wales. The Ministry of Justice shares the Prime Minister’s ambition to eradicate rough sleeping at the earliest opportunity.

Offenders supervised by the Probation Service who are at risk of being homeless on release from prison can be offered up to 12 weeks’ temporary accommodation as a backstop, where local authority provision has not been secured. H M Prison and Probation Service’s Community Accommodation Service Tier 3 (CAS3) offers up to 84 nights of temporary accommodation for eligible prison leavers who would otherwise be at risk of homelessness on their first night of release, where other suitable accommodation has not been secured. CAS3 provides a stable base on release, enabling people on probation to engage with treatment and support services, seek employment and meet their wider licence requirements, while supporting their progression towards settled accommodation. CAS3 complements, rather than replaces, local authorities’ statutory homelessness responsibilities.

Before release, prisons, the Probation Service, and local authorities work together through pre-release panels to assess housing need and secure appropriate accommodation before release. This is backed by a record £700 million investment in probation services. We are also training prisoners for work and partnering with hundreds of employers to help prison leavers move straight into jobs.