Source · Select Committees · Justice Committee
Recommendation 1
1
Rejected
Prison overcrowding and staff vacancies severely undermine the ability of prisons to deliver rehabilitation
Conclusion
We recognise the Government’s efforts to increase transparency around prison capacity, and its action towards ending the capacity crisis. However, the evidence we received demonstrates that the current level of overcrowding, in combination with a high number of staff vacancies, is having a profound impact on the ability of prisons to deliver rehabilitation. These failures risk undermining the very purpose of imprisonment, to reduce reoffending. (Conclusion, Paragraph 22)
Government Response Summary
The government rejects expanding the Annual Statement on Prison Capacity to include rehabilitation measures, stating it would be beyond its remit. It highlights that much of the requested information is already published through other reports and officials are considering further accountability on purposeful activity.
Government Response
Rejected
HM Government
Rejected
1. The purpose of the Annual Statement on Prison Capacity is to fulfil the Government’s commitment to improve transparency and accountability on prison population forecasts and capacity planning and to ensure that decisions on prison demand and supply are in the balance. 2. Expanding the scope to include rehabilitation measures, such as purposeful activity, family contact, and progression planning, would move the statement beyond its intended remit. 3. Much of the information requested on rehabilitation is already published through other channels, including the HMPPS Annual Report and the annual Prison Performance Ratings report. Furthermore, officials are already considering what further accountability on progress to improving purposeful activity could look like.