Source · Select Committees · Justice Committee
Recommendation 24
24
Deferred
Paragraph: 138
Community Accommodation Service Tier-2's bed capacity requires assessment for sufficiency.
Conclusion
The Community Accommodation Service Tier-2 plays an important role in supporting the courts and prisons in making the best use of custody by providing an address for people on bail or licence who have no suitable accommodation. The Ministry of Justice should conduct an assessment of whether the 550 beds currently contracted through the Service is sufficient to meet the requirements of its core user groups, including the extent to which the absence of available accommodation may be an underlying contributory factor in defendants being remanded to custody.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government accepted the recommendation in principle but responded by discussing the use of video technology in remand hearings and committed to considering research to ensure remote technologies do not adversely impact remand hearings or custodial remand rates, rather than assessing CAS-2 bed sufficiency.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
138
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government · verbatim extract
Deferred
We accept this recommendation. The demand for Community Accommodation Service Tier-2 (CAS-2) accommodation is reviewed monthly to monitor occupancy levels and formally twice a year as part of a review of the property portfolio to assess capacity in relation to demand. The review is conducted jointly between HMPPS and Nacro, who provide the service. To meet projected demand and help mitigate the potential for people to be remanded to custody because of a lack of bed spaces, the contract with Nacro has already been expanded by 100 bed spaces and resources are in place to further expand, targeting a further 200 spaces by April 2024. This would bring the contract to a total of 850 beds, which is subject to the availability of suitable properties. Part of our outreach work on electronic monitoring (see recommendation 18 and 20) includes identifying any barriers to remanding an individual on bail. We are continuing to explore to what extent the lack of accommodation is raised in feedback as a barrier to remand.
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