Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how the (a) proposed earned progression model and (b) consequential increase in tagging will operate for people released from prison without suitable accommodation.

The Sentencing Bill will introduce a new earned progression model which will see offenders enter a period of intensive supervision once they are released from custody. We are providing probation with wider powers to ensure they can continue to effectively manage offenders in the community with the level of supervision tailored according to their risk and the type of crime they committed.

Alongside the progression model, we will also introduce a presumption that prison leavers will be electronically monitored to ensure they are closely monitored in the community. This will result in thousands more offenders tagged, to manage risk and increase protection for victims. The Probation Service will, however, retain the ability to exercise its professional judgement to ensure that only those who are suitable receive a tag based on an individual’s risk and circumstances including accommodation status.

HMPPS delivers a transitional accommodation service, known as Community Accommodation Service – Tier 3 (CAS-3) which supports prison leavers who are at risk of being released from prison homeless and will be subject to probation supervision upon release by providing up to 12 weeks of temporary accommodation. We are expanding our community accommodation service to support prison leavers at risk of homelessness while additionally we are increasing the probation annual budget to expand our community accommodation service for those at risk of homelessness, as well as tagging and monitoring tens of thousands more offenders in the community.