Source · Select Committees · Justice Committee
Recommendation 38
38
Accepted
Set out differentiated New Futures Network strategy for female prisons, including progress and employment data
Recommendation
The New Futures Network has the potential to increase job opportunities for women upon release from prison. However, given the small size of the female estate and the likelihood that women will be placed far from home, it is unclear how the New Futures Network will adapt to address this specific need. The Ministry of Justice should set out how their New Futures Network strategy for female prisons differs to that for the male estate, taking into consideration the specific challenges that are present in the female estate. Additionally, the Ministry of Justice should set out what progress has been made in developing the New Futures Network and how success is being measured, including the number of women who have been placed into employment since it became operational. (Paragraph 201) Resettlement
Government Response Summary
The government committed to embedding pre-release teams in all women's prisons to provide specific support services including finance and debt, and aims to commence additional specialist accommodation and debt support for women by autumn.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
We accept this recommendation. Under the resettlement approach, all women’s prisons will have an embedded pre-release team based in the prison. The embedded pre-release teams will provide pre-release support not currently available via Commissioned Rehabilitative Services (CRS) including Finance, Benefit and Debt services to the people in prison. Probation Practitioners will work with Women in Prison, Prison Offender Managers (POMs), Pre-Release teams and CRS providers to assess need and support continuity of care. They will build on progress made in prison and support engagement post release with services. A Mentoring service is available via CRS women’s services for those who struggle to maintain engagement in the community. This includes engagement with personal well- being and health services. The RECONNECT service supports those who have engaged with treatment in prison to continue treatment post release in the community. In the pre-release phase, CRS providers will deliver resettlement and pre-release interventions to support sentence management activities completed by the Probation Practitioner and pre-release staff in the prison. The CRS contracts are designed to support sentenced women and those subject to Probation supervision in the community to address the needs linked to their offending and to achieve the stability they need to do so. Those services which are delivered pre-release, the Accommodation, Personal Wellbeing (mentoring through the gate) and Women’s contracts, will continue post- release and attendance at appointments with CRS Suppliers will be part of mandatory Licence appointments. This continuity of support is a key element of the CRS provision. All eligible cases will receive support prior to release and for accommodation this will be delivered by suppliers based in the areas to which they will return. CRS Accommodation Suppliers will be based in the women’s prisons within the geographical area they cover. For people being released to areas outside this geography, this support will be delivered via visits or by phone/video rather than by staff based in the prison. Women on remand are supported to meet their immediate resettlement needs and prepare for release by Probation pre-release staff in prisons. We have committed to supplementing the existing support from Probation staff with access to specialist accommodation support, which will include help to address tenancy issues; and finance and debt support for all women on remand or sentenced in custody. We aim to have commenced this additional provision by the autumn of this year.