Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to help promote support groups that provide training for employment for former prisoners.

We are committed to breaking the cycle of re-offending, by better supporting prisons to link with employers and the voluntary sector to get more people with convictions into work. We know that finding employment after release reduces the chances of re-offending significantly - by up to nine percentage points.

HM Prison & Probation Service, through its Creating Future Opportunities programme, offers tailored support for ex-offenders to secure employment, training and education opportunities, so that they are able to make a positive new start on release. This includes promoting the use of voluntary and community sector enterprise (VCSE) organisations as contributors to this work. Employment Advisory Board members also have the opportunity link up with offenders after release, to interview and potentially recruit offenders.

In addition, Clinks, the national infrastructure charity dedicated to supporting voluntary organisations working with people in the criminal justice system, has been awarded a further four years of grant funding to support small and medium VCSE organisations in the criminal justice system. This includes many of our delivery partners in prisons and probation who provide ex-offenders with training and employment support.