Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment his Department has made of the effect of overcrowding in prisons on rates of recidivism.

We are committed to ensuring offenders leaving prison have the tools they need to turn their backs on crime - reducing reoffending and ultimately keeping the public safe.

There is currently little evidence of a direct link between overcrowding and recidivism.

Evidence on what works to reduce reoffending suggests that having a job and a home on release from prison are key factors, among others. There is a concerted cross-government effort to reduce reoffending. We recently announced a National Partnership Agreement with DWP, which sets out how the departments will jointly drive rehabilitation and reduce reoffending. We also continue to work closely with our health and justice partners, and are collaborating with MHCLG and local authorities on our offender accommodation pilots. One year ago, we also published our Education and Employment strategy, which set out how we will transform our approach to ensure prisoners develop the skills they need to secure employment on release.

More examples of criminogenic needs that influence reoffending can be found at the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/305319/transforming-rehabilitation-evidence-summary-2nd-edition.pdf