Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of people leaving prison immediately entered employment in each of the last three years.

We do not hold data on the proportion of people leaving prison that have immediately entered employment in each of the last three years.

Matched MOJ-DWP data indicates that only 17% of those released from custody in 2011/12 were in P45 employment one year after release. More recent data from 2014/15 indicates that at a national level 26.5% of prisoners were entering employment upon release, but this data was self-reported. Supporting offenders into meaningful employment is a vital part of the Government’s approach to tackling reoffending and a key reason for the upcoming publication of the Employment and Education strategy. We are developing new datasets so that employment, education and accommodation on release can be measured and monitored accurately in the future.

The Employment and Education strategy will link skills and training in prison to employment on release. It will also continue to drive innovative employment programmes like the Prisoner Apprenticeship Pathway, where prisoners will receive high quality, employer-led training and work experience in custody that leads to a guaranteed apprenticeship on release, and the New Futures Network (NFN), that will support empowered governors to broker relationships between prisons and employers more effectively. Initiatives like these, coupled with work to incentivise employers to work with ex-offenders, will all help ensure offenders have the best chance of securing employment immediately on release.