Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the relationship, if any, of the rate of reoffending with the availability of a place for prisoners to stay upon release.

The number of prison leavers housed upon release from prison in 2021-22 was 43,521 and this represents 86.8% of the total number of prison leavers for the period where the destination is known*. This is an improvement of approximately 6.6 percentage points on 2019-20.

*Cases are not included when the accommodation status is unknown (for a reason other than awaiting assessment) or provided by the Home Office Immigration Enforcement Service.

Prison leavers without settled accommodation are 50% more likely to reoffend than those who have stable accommodation. A settled place to live is key to reducing reoffending, cutting crime and protecting the public. Probation practitioners are better able to robustly supervise an offender and protect the public when they know where they are living. The government is committed to end rough sleeping and tackling offender homelessness. Our Prisons Strategy White Paper set out our plans to reduce reoffending, including improving prison leavers’ access to accommodation. This includes expanding nationally the transitional Community Accommodation Service Tier 3 (CAS3) to all probation regions, so that prison leavers who would otherwise be at risk of homelessness, can access temporary accommodation for up to 12 weeks.