Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps is her Department taking to fund voluntary community sector organisations to support people leaving prison as part of her Sentencing Review.

I recognise the valuable role of the thousands of voluntary organisations that work in partnership with probation to provide vital support to people serving their sentence in prison, in the community and people returning to the community after prison.

The Government has welcomed the findings and recommendations of the Rt Hon David Gauke’s Independent Sentencing Review. This includes specific recommendations on increasing the role of the third sector in supporting offenders in the community. My Department is exploring the best approach to implementing these recommendations as part of the wider programme of reform that we are taking forward to implement the Sentencing Review. We will look to work with the Third Sector on these recommendations.

These reforms are backed by significant investment of up to £700 million in the Probation Service by the final year of the Spending Review. We are currently finalising the allocations process to set internal budgets for the spending period, including how this probation settlement will be spent.