Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate his department has made of the rate of recidivism for individuals charged with crimes involving the production of cannabis for each year between 2010 to 2018.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Please see the relevant tables attached. Note in the data that reoffending is measured using a one-year follow-up period and a further six month waiting period. Rates are, therefore, only available for cohorts up until January to March 2017.
For those whose offences are linked to cannabis usage, NHS England and Local Health Boards in Wales, who are responsible for commissioning substance misuse services in prisons, offer a broad range of services to address substance misuse. It is for health providers to decide the appropriate treatment on a case by case basis.
Further, for prisons in England the updated April 2018 NHS England Substance Misuse Service Specification for prisons sets out evidence-based services that should be commissioned to address the health and justice needs of prisoners, including the prevention of re-offending.
Those convicted of possession, production or supply of cannabis may also be suitable for an accredited offending behaviour programme or similar intervention which addresses needs related to an individual’s offending, for example attitudes, thinking and behaviour.
In addition, we are addressing some of the barriers to rehabilitation through the Education and Employment strategy we published last May. For example, we are giving governors local power and control, enabling them to commission education provision that leads to work; through the New Futures Network (NFN), we are engaging with employers to take on ex-prisoners; and we have consulted on proposals to increase the opportunities available to prisoners to gain experience in real workplaces through Release On Temporary Licence.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate his Department has made of the rate of recidivism for individuals charged with crimes involving the possession of cannabis for each year between 2010 to 2018.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Please see the relevant tables attached. Note in the data that reoffending is measured using a one-year follow-up period and a further six month waiting period. Rates are, therefore, only available for cohorts up until January to March 2017.
For those whose offences are linked to cannabis usage, NHS England and Local Health Boards in Wales, who are responsible for commissioning substance misuse services in prisons, offer a broad range of services to address substance misuse. It is for health providers to decide the appropriate treatment on a case by case basis.
Further, for prisons in England the updated April 2018 NHS England Substance Misuse Service Specification for prisons sets out evidence-based services that should be commissioned to address the health and justice needs of prisoners, including the prevention of re-offending.
Those convicted of possession, production or supply of cannabis may also be suitable for an accredited offending behaviour programme or similar intervention which addresses needs related to an individual’s offending, for example attitudes, thinking and behaviour.
In addition, we are addressing some of the barriers to rehabilitation through the Education and Employment strategy we published last May. For example, we are giving governors local power and control, enabling them to commission education provision that leads to work; through the New Futures Network (NFN), we are engaging with employers to take on ex-prisoners; and we have consulted on proposals to increase the opportunities available to prisoners to gain experience in real workplaces through Release On Temporary Licence.
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the number of female offenders who have been unable to enter employment upon leaving prison.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We know that of those released in the 2011/12 tax year, a higher proportion of female offenders were claiming out-of-work benefits both before and after their caution/conviction or prison sentence, than male offenders.
The proportion of women claiming out-of-work benefits in the month before receiving a conviction/caution or prison sentence was 53%, which increases by two percentage points to 55% one month after a conviction/caution or release from prison.
We are aware of a number of barriers that prevent women from entering employment on release from prison and are working to address these issues.
Last May, we published the Education and Employment strategy which aims to set each prisoner on a path to employment, with prison education and work geared towards employment on release from the outset.
Our strategy includes a range of initiatives to support this ambition. For example, we are empowering governors to commission education provision that leads to work, we are encouraging employers to take on ex-prisoners via the New Futures Network (NFN) and we have consulted governors and employers on proposals to increase the opportunities available to prisoners to gain experience in real workplaces through ROTL.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent estimate he has made of the proportion of offenders who are in paid work at the time of being sent to prison.
Answered by Rory Stewart
We collect data on the pre-imprisonment status employment status of individuals within 72 hours of them entering custody using the Basic Custody Screening Tool (BCS). For the period 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2018, these figures are set out in the table below:
BCS Q B4.12: Were you working before you came to custody? | Count of Assessments | Percentage |
Employed | 22177 | 21.77% |
Unemployed | 61586 | 60.44% |
Unavailable for work | 10797 | 10.60% |
Retired | 1168 | 1.15% |
Self-employed | 6161 | 6.05% |
Count: | 101889 | 100.00% |
It should be noted that these figures are compiled from information the prisoners have provided the assessor to enter into the BCS, and include not only prisoners sentenced in respect of a criminal offence, but also those received into custody on remand. Given the information is provided by the prisoners themselves and is not assessed, there will always be a margin of error in the figures. A proportion of prisoners will enter custody multiple times each year and may provide different answers to these questions over time.
Reoffending is costing society approximately £15 billion a year. Effective rehabilitation needs prisoners to be willing to commit to change, take advice, learn new skills and take opportunities to work. For those individuals willing to engage, the prison system must deliver. That is why we launched the Education and Employment strategy to create a system where each prisoner is set on a path to employment from the outset. We are empowering governors to commission education provision that leads to work, we are engaging with employers to take on ex-prisoners via the New Futures Network (NFN) and have consulted on proposals to increase the opportunities available to prisoners to gain experience in real workplaces through ROTL.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessments they have undertaken to identify the critical skills that UK-based businesses need; and what steps they are taking to ensure that the UK workforce has those skills.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The department recently conducted the latest Employer Skills Survey, which provides robust assessments of skills shortages across the UK by region and by sector. The results of this survey will be published by the end of summer 2018. The department also holds responsibility for ‘Working Futures 2014 to 2024’, which provides labour market projections. A summary of this report is attached and the full report is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/513801/Working_Futures_final_evidence_report.pdf.
In addition, we are establishing Skills Advisory Panels (SAPs), which bring together local representatives including business, training providers and tertiary education to make sure that the local provision of skills, and the delivery of skills policy in local areas, meets and responds to changing employer needs. Along with SAPs, we hold frequent meetings with businesses from across sectors to ensure we adapt our programmes to meet their needs.
We are working with employers to jointly design and deliver policies and programmes, which will make the skills system more responsive to employer needs, while giving individuals the skills they need to succeed. This includes making apprenticeships longer, better, with more off-the job training and proper end point assessments; and developing T Levels to offer a high quality and rigorous technical alternative to academic education. The National Colleges and Institutes of Technology will provide higher level technical skills needs. The department is developing a new National Retraining Scheme, an ambitious, far-reaching programme, which will give adults the skills they need to thrive and support employers to adapt as the economy changes.
We established The Careers & Enterprise Company (the Company) to connect schools and colleges with employers to offer young people meaningful encounters with the world of work. Since 2015, the Company’s Enterprise Adviser Network has recruited over 2000 Enterprise Advisers. These senior business volunteers work with individual schools or colleges providing strategic guidance on their careers plans in order to open young people’s eyes to opportunities and raise their aspirations.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government (1) how many, and (2) what percentage of offenders in England and Wales completing custodial sentences of greater than 12 months are in (a) full-time training, and (b) full-time employment three months after leaving custody, in the last year.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
We do not currently hold the data as requested.
Based on matched MOJ-DWP data on the proportion of working age adult offenders released from prison in 2011/12 who were in P45 employment one year after release we know that there is no difference in P45 employment rates over a one year period for those serving sentences of fewer or greater than 12 months.
For those serving custodial sentences of fewer than 12 months;
And for those serving custodial sentences of greater than 12 months;
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 and we don’t have a split in this rate for length of sentence served.
Securing employment after a sentence has a positive impact on rates of reoffending. Offenders who found P45 employment in the twelve months after release from prison had one year re-offending rates that were 6-9 percentage points lower than similar offenders who did not find employment.
That is why we have launched the Education and Employment Strategy. The strategy will create a system in which each prisoner is set on a path to employment from the outset, with prison education and work geared towards employment on release.
Our strategy includes a range of initiatives to support this ambition. For example, we will empower governors to commission education provision that leads to work, we will engage and persuade employers to take on ex-prisoners via the New Futures Network (NFN) and we will consult governors and employers on proposals to increase the opportunities available to prisoners to gain experience in real workplaces through Release On Temporary Licence.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government (1) how many, and (2) what percentage of offenders in England and Wales completing a custodial sentence of 12 months or fewer are in (a) full-time training, and (b) full-time employment three months after leaving custody, in the last year.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
We do not currently hold the data as requested.
Based on matched MOJ-DWP data on the proportion of working age adult offenders released from prison in 2011/12 who were in P45 employment one year after release we know that there is no difference in P45 employment rates over a one year period for those serving sentences of fewer or greater than 12 months.
For those serving custodial sentences of fewer than 12 months;
And for those serving custodial sentences of greater than 12 months;
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 and we don’t have a split in this rate for length of sentence served.
Securing employment after a sentence has a positive impact on rates of reoffending. Offenders who found P45 employment in the twelve months after release from prison had one year re-offending rates that were 6-9 percentage points lower than similar offenders who did not find employment.
That is why we have launched the Education and Employment Strategy. The strategy will create a system in which each prisoner is set on a path to employment from the outset, with prison education and work geared towards employment on release.
Our strategy includes a range of initiatives to support this ambition. For example, we will empower governors to commission education provision that leads to work, we will engage and persuade employers to take on ex-prisoners via the New Futures Network (NFN) and we will consult governors and employers on proposals to increase the opportunities available to prisoners to gain experience in real workplaces through Release On Temporary Licence.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much additional funding he plans to allocate to prison governors after April 2019 as a result of the procurement powers conferred on governors in relation to education and employment.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The recent Education and Employment Strategy set out our vision for more partnerships between prisons and employers. The New Futures Network will provide a dedicated team to support governors in this, with experts placed in every geographical prison group in a phased roll-out across England and Wales. Under the new education commissioning arrangements, budgets will be delegated to governors rather than being held centrally as is currently the case. This will help enable governors to decide their prison’s curriculum, how it is organised and who delivers it. This will help prisons build effective partnerships with employers, delivering training that matches their requirements.
Budgets for 2019-20 have not yet been agreed, so it is not possible to quantify how much the devolved education budgets will add to the funds already controlled locally by prison governors.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of ex-offenders who (a) worked and (b) did not work in prison industries are in P45 employment one year after release from prison
Answered by Rory Stewart
We do not currently record the data as requested. We are working with HM Revenue and Customs to enable us to capture this information in the future.
A joint exercise was carried between MoJ, HMRC and DWP in 2013 to analyse the links between employment, benefits and reoffending (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/304411/experimental-statistics.pdf). This found that only 17% of adults released from prison were in P45 employment at point of release. This analysis did not, however, establish whether or not the prisoners worked whilst in custody.
Reoffending is costing society approximately £15 billion a year. Effective rehabilitation needs prisoners to be willing to commit to change, take advice, learn new skills and take opportunities to work. For those individuals willing to engage, the prison system must deliver.
That is why we launched the Education and Employment strategy to create a system where each prisoner is set on a path to employment from the outset. We will empower governors to commission education provision that leads to work, we will engage and persuade employers to take on ex-prisoners via the New Futures Network (NFN) and we will consult on proposals to increase the opportunities available to prisoners to gain experience in real workplaces through Release on Temporary Licence (ROTL).
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate his Department has made of the number of staff who will be employed by the New Futures Network on 1 April 2018.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The staffing structure of the New Futures Network (NFN) will be determined by budget planning for the 2018/19 financial year and engagement with relevant trade unions. No final decision has been reached on this issue at this point.