Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people released under the End of Custody Supervised Licence scheme have been (a) recalled, (b) released homeless, (c) died under supervision and (d) committed a serious further offence (i) since the scheme was first implemented, and (ii) in the most recent period for which data is available.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
On 31 October 2024, we published a full set of data showing the number of prisoners released on End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/end-of-custody-supervised-licence-ecsl-detailed-data.
Recall data is published quarterly and data on deaths and homelessness are published annually. We are working to ensure further updates are provided in due course.
The disclosure of Serious Further Offences (SFO) conviction figures beyond 31 March 2023 is prohibited by the Statistics and Registration Services (SRS) Act 2007 and the Pre-release Access to Official Statistics Order 2008. SFO conviction figures form a subset of data on general SFO figures intended for future publication.
Overall, SFOs are rare. Fewer than 0.5% of offenders under statutory supervision are convicted of SFOs. Nonetheless, every single SFO is taken extremely seriously, and in all cases a review is carried out to identify any improvements that need to be made in the management of future cases.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many of the prisoners who were given early release on 10 September had been imprisoned for a second or subsequent offence.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Data on SDS40 releases forms a subset of data intended for future publication.
Offenders released under SDS40 will be subject to the same set of strict licence conditions that would apply had they been released at a 50% automatic release point and will be liable to recall to prison if they do not comply with these conditions or are judged to be a risk to public safety.
Prison release planning has been reviewed and adapted to account for recent changes. Prison, probation staff and support providers are working hard to ensure those being released early have all necessary available support. This includes temporary accommodation for those at risk of homelessness, access to employment and benefits, and continuity of mental health and substance misuse provision.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to ensure that people on early prison release have (a) housing, (b) employment and (c) sufficient probation provision to support them.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
Individuals released through the Standard Determinate Sentence changes, known as SDS40, and at risk of homelessness can be referred to HMPPS’s Community Accommodation Service Tier 3 (CAS3), which can provide up to 12-weeks temporary accommodation. We are working closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government and the Welsh Government to mitigate any impact on Local Authorities, as well as taking practical steps to minimise the chances that individuals are released homeless. This includes ensuring data is shared with the 49 Strategic Housing Specialists based in prisons and the Probation-based Homeless Prevention Teams to make sure plans are in place for those who need accommodation support.
We are also working closely with the Department of Work and Pensions to ensure that prisons and Jobcentres are prepared to support temporarily higher volumes of prisoners approaching release. We will collectively ensure that relevant staff in prisons and Jobcentres have the right data on prisoners who are being released and will provide guidance and regular communications to those staff, so they are aware of what actions to take. This will ensure that prisoners are supported on release in the community with provision of bank accounts and ID, referrals to work programmes on release, arranging employment pre-release, and timely access to benefits where appropriate.
It is vital there is sufficient probation capacity to manage these individuals upon release. The move to SDS40 gives probation staff more time to prepare and plan for release, compared to the previous government’s End of Supervised Licence Scheme meaning there will be more resilience in the system. We are also onboarding 1,000 new trainee probation officers by March 2025.
Once released, offenders will be subject to the same set of strict licence conditions that would apply had they been released at a 50% automatic release point and will be liable to recall to prison if they do not comply with these conditions or are judged to be a risk to public safety. These could include electronic monitoring, alcohol tags, and exclusion zones.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners in HMP Lewes were (a) released as street homeless and (b) released and recalled (i) once and (ii) multiple times in each of the last six months.
Answered by Edward Argar
We are unable to provide data on street homelessness beyond 31 March 2023 as that data is a subset of data due for future publication and releasing it at this time would breach official statistics publication rules, as outlined in the Code of Practice for Statistics. Data for the latest six-month period, October 2022-March 2023, is available is provided in table 1 below.
Table 1: Number not housed on the first night of release from HMP Lewes, with an accommodation status at release recorded as Homeless - Rough Sleeping by month of release, October 2022 to March 2023.
Month of Release | Number |
October | 9 |
November | 10 |
December | 11 |
January | 4 |
February | 10 |
March | 9 |
Total | 53 |
Notes:
1. These figures are drawn from administrative data systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent.
2. Data is consistent with metric CU150 Housed on the first night of custodial release, contained within the latest Performance Ratings publication, 2022-2023: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/prison-performance-ratings-2022-to-2023
3. In order to be counted in measure CU150, the release event must be found in both Prison-NOMIS and nDelius. Unmatched release events are excluded. (I.e., the figures provided might not include all cases).
4. Release events with a missing or obsolete status are treated as "negative" in this measure, as are release events with multiple statuses.
Data source: National Delius and Prison NOMIS
We are unable to provide data on releases and recall of offenders beyond 31 December 2023 as that data is a subset of data due for future publication and releasing it at this time would breach official statistics publication rules, as outlined in the Code of Practice for Statistics. Data for the latest six-month period, July 2023 - December 2023, is available is provided in table 2 below.
Table 2: The number of first-time releases from HMP Lewes from July- December 2023, and subsequent recalls by 31 December 2023
Month of release | Number of releases | Number of offenders recalled once | Number of offenders recalled more than once |
July | 47 | 17 | * |
August | 45 | 16 | 6 |
September | 42 | 11 | * |
October | 52 | 18 | 3 |
November | 49 | 10 | * |
December | 43 | 10 | 0 |
Notes:
1. Offenders are counted once in each month of release. There could be a handful of offenders counted twice across different months where they were released for the first time on different sentences.
2. Recalls are counted from date of release up to 31 December 2023. Where further recalls have occurred beyond 31 December 2023, these recalls are not included.
3. Given releases in later months have a shorter time for recalls to occur, direct comparisons across months are biased. The months have different lengths of time for recalls to occur.
4. Disclosure control: An asterisk (*) has been used to suppress values of one or two. This is to prevent the disclosure of individual information. Further suppression may be applied where needed.
5. Data quality: The figures in these tables have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
Data source: P-NOMIS and Public Protection Unit Database (PPUD)
We know that having a safe place to stay helps cut crime which is why we are investing in our transitional accommodation service so prison leavers can have a guaranteed 12 weeks of basic, temporary accommodation to provide a stable base on release.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South and South Bedfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information his Department holds on the number and proportion of prisoners that were released under the End of Custody Supervised License scheme who were homeless upon their release from prison in each month since October 2023.
Answered by Edward Argar
End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) began in October 2023. Analysis of its use will be based on at least one year’s worth of data and published in line with the same approach we take for other statistical releases such as deaths of offenders in the community. We cannot provide any breakdowns of the ECSL cohort ahead of publication because they would give an early indication of that cohort and hence these statistics.
Release under ECSL follows the same planning and arrangements as release at the normal automatic release point and that includes making suitable arrangements for accommodation.
We know that having a safe place to stay helps cut crime which is why we are investing in our ground-breaking transitional accommodation service so prison leavers can have a guaranteed 12 weeks of basic, temporary accommodation to provide a stable base on release.
His Majesty’s Prisons and Probation Service has a statutory duty in England to refer someone at risk of homelessness to a local authority for assistance and we have worked closely with DLUHC on the design and delivery of its Accommodation for Ex-Offenders scheme.
In 2022/23, 86% of prisoners were accommodated on first night of release, up from 80% in 2019/20.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information his Department holds on the number and proportion of prisoners that were released under the End of Custody Supervised License scheme who were homeless upon their release from prison.
Answered by Edward Argar
End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) began in October 2023. Analysis of its use will be based on at least one year’s worth of data and published in line with the same approach we take for other statistical releases such as deaths of offenders in the community.
Release under ECSL follows the same planning and arrangements as release at the normal automatic release point and that includes making suitable arrangements for accommodation.
We know that having a safe place to stay helps cut crime which is why we are investing in our transitional accommodation service so prison leavers can have a guaranteed 12 weeks of basic, temporary accommodation to provide a stable base on release.
Prisons and Probation have a statutory duty to refer someone at risk of homelessness to a local authority for assistance and we have worked closely with DLUHC on the design and delivery of their Accommodation for Ex-Offenders scheme.
In 2022/23, 86% of prisoners were accommodated on first night of release, up from 80% in 2019/20.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South and South Bedfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the reoffending rate was for people convicted of murder in each year since 2005.
Answered by Edward Argar
Between 2011/12 and 2021/22, the overall proven reoffending rate decreased from 31.3% to 25.2%. As shown in the attached table, the most recent data shows that reoffending rates for both murderers and rapists are at their lowest levels since 2005. In particular, the proportion of rapists who reoffend has fallen from 10.2% in 2005/06 to 5.3% in 2021/22.
We are taking action to drive down the reoffending rate for all offenders by investing in a wide range of rehabilitative interventions to get them into skills training, work, and stable accommodation. Since 2021, we’ve rolled out Employment Hubs and Prison Employment Leads in all resettlement prisons and are delivering our temporary accommodation service for all prisoners at risk of homelessness.
The full information requested can be found in the attached table.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South and South Bedfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the reoffending rate was for people convicted of rape in each year since 2005.
Answered by Edward Argar
Between 2011/12 and 2021/22, the overall proven reoffending rate decreased from 31.3% to 25.2%. As shown in the attached table, the most recent data shows that reoffending rates for both murderers and rapists are at their lowest levels since 2005. In particular, the proportion of rapists who reoffend has fallen from 10.2% in 2005/06 to 5.3% in 2021/22.
We are taking action to drive down the reoffending rate for all offenders by investing in a wide range of rehabilitative interventions to get them into skills training, work, and stable accommodation. Since 2021, we’ve rolled out Employment Hubs and Prison Employment Leads in all resettlement prisons and are delivering our temporary accommodation service for all prisoners at risk of homelessness.
The full information requested can be found in the attached table.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Community Accommodation Service Tier 3 programme in ensuring prison leavers find settled accommodation following up to 12 weeks of temporary accommodation.
Answered by Edward Argar
HMPPS Community Accommodation Service (CAS) provides transitional accommodation via three tiers of support, each focused on a different cohort. CAS3 was launched in July 2021, providing up to 12 weeks’ guaranteed accommodation on release for those leaving prison at risk of homelessness, with support to move on to settled accommodation. Initially implemented in five probation regions (Yorkshire and the Humber; North West; Greater Manchester; East of England; and Kent, Surrey and Sussex), the service was rolled out to Wales in June 2022. From April 2023, the CAS3 service was operating in all probation regions in England and Wales. By January 2023, the proportion of offenders housed on the first night of their release from custody was 7.6 percentage points higher in CAS3 regions versus non-CAS3 regions.
We are undertaking an evaluation of the impact of CAS3 on offenders’ obtaining settled accommodation and employment, and on re-offending outcomes. The report is due to be published in the autumn.
The National Audit Office’s report “Improving resettlement support for prison leavers to reduce reoffending”, published in May 2023, looks at the impact of CAS3 on accommodation outcomes during the period up to February 2023. It can be accessed via the following link:
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to ensure people leaving prison have settled accommodation upon release.
Answered by Edward Argar
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is committed to preventing homelessness and works closely with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and the Welsh Government to do so. Prisons and probation have a statutory duty to refer someone at risk of homelessness to a local authority for assistance, and we have worked closely with DLUHC on the design and delivery of their Accommodation for Ex-Offenders scheme. We have set up a Cross-Whitehall Accommodation Board, attended by officials from MoJ, HMPPS, Welsh Government and DLUHC, to ensure collaboration across policy and operational areas. In the year to March 2023, 86% of prison leavers were in accommodation on their first night of release from custody (excluding cases where the status was unknown). This is up from 80% in 2019-20, the year immediately before our accommodation investments began.
In July 2021, we launched our groundbreaking Community Accommodation Service Tier-3 in five probation regions, to guarantee up to 12-weeks temporary accommodation to prison leavers subject to probation supervision who are at risk of homelessness on release, including those released under the End of Custody Supervised Licence measure. From April 2023, the service was expanded across all probation regions in England and Wales and continues to bring new beds online as the service embeds. By January 2023, the proportion of offenders housed on the first night of their release from custody was 7.6 percentage points higher in CAS3 regions versus non-CAS3 regions.