Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 19 June 2020 to Question 58798 on Prisoners' Release: Homelessness, whether his Department has a long-term plan to address the lack of accommodation for prison leavers; and if he will make a statement.

It is vital that everyone leaving prison has somewhere stable and secure to live. This provides a platform for ex-offenders to be able to access the services and support needed to turn their backs on crime for good. In a series of measures, the Government has demonstrated its commitment to addressing that need.

Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) and the National Probation Service (NPS) are required to facilitate access to housing for the offenders under their supervision. This includes working together with local partners to help offenders find and maintain accommodation as part of a package of support tailored to meet their individual needs.

We have invested an extra £22 million per annum over the remaining life of the CRC contracts to ensure that CRCs deliver an enhanced “Through-the-Gate” service for offenders leaving prison. Alongside this investment we have introduced a new “Through-the-Gate” specification which will ensure that CRCs complete specific tasks, including helping every prisoner to secure and maintain settled accommodation.

In addition, through the Government’s Rough Sleeping Strategy we are investing up to £6.4 million in a pilot scheme to support individuals released from three prisons: Bristol, Leeds and Pentonville. Services have been in operation within all three areas since last summer, with the first individuals now being supported into accommodation following release. When the pilot has been evaluated, we will analyse the lessons learned and this will inform future provision of accommodation for all ex-offenders.

HMPPS are well underway to developing an Accommodation Framework that sets out their responsibilities, their partners responsibilities and a framework for how to build on success and work together with partners to ensure that offenders are able to access and maintain settled accommodation.

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Government has decided that, because of public health and public protection considerations, there is a need to provide accommodation for a larger cohort of prison leavers. While this scheme is an immediate response to support prison leavers at risk of homelessness during this period, we are keen to utilise the learning gathered from it to help develop longer-term improvements. We will draw on that learning as we develop and roll out our wider reforms to probation services.