Select committee: Justice Committee
Recommendation 9
3rd Report: Coronavirus (COVID-19): The impact on probation services
Published 20 Jul 2020
Paragraph 56
Addressed to Ministry of Justice
Justice Committee Coronavirus (COVID-19): The impact on prison, probation and court systems All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
Accommodation is an important resettlement need for prison leavers, and we welcome the work that the Ministry of Justice and HMPPS have done during the pandemic to ensure that prison leavers have the best access to accommodation as possible. We are also pleased to hear that scheme to support individuals leaving prison has been extended to the 31 July. Given that Covid-19 is an ongoing situation, we recommend that the Ministry of Justice and HMPPS continue to keep this scheme under review to ensure that the housing needs or prison leavers continue to be met. Additionally, we recommend that the Ministry set out their what work is being done in the longer term to address the housing needs of prisoners on release from custody and prevent homelessness.Accommodation is an important resettlement need for prison leavers, and we welcome the work that the Ministry of Justice and HMPPS have done during the pandemic to ensure that prison leavers have the best access to accommodation as possible. We are also pleased to hear that scheme to support individuals leaving prison has been extended to the 31 July. Given that Covid-19 is an ongoing situation, we recommend that the Ministry of Justice and HMPPS continue to keep this scheme under review to ensure that the housing needs or prison leavers continue to be met. Additionally, we recommend that the Ministry set out their what work is being done in the longer term to address the housing needs of prisoners on release from custody and prevent homelessness.
From: Justice Committee, 3rd Report: Coronavirus (COVID-19): The impact on probation services (HC 461), paragraph 56, 20 July 2020
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 2 October 2020 (deadline 20 September 2020).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government welcomes the Committee's findings and sets out, recommendation by recommendation, how it is adapting probation services during the pandemic and moving towards the new model for probation from June 2021.
- On remote supervision, the National Probation Service "accepts that face to face contact with many service users is an essential way of working", and plans a "blended" approach to future supervision, with detail in an updated Target Operating Model to be published in February 2021.
- On unpaid work backlogs, CRCs have been asked to set out plans to return to "100% pre-Covid-19 capacity for delivery by the end of the year"; the government says there will be no return to pre-Covid delivery of unpaid work and accredited programmes until social distancing restrictions are fully relaxed.
- On the Discharge Grant, the government says "there are no decisions to increase" it during this period, but "options are being considered for its future" and it will keep the Committee updated.
- On the transition to the new model, it says the decision to end the Probation Delivery Partner competition was "based on robust plans", with an annexed timeline including CRC contracts ending in June 2021 and the final Target Operating Model published in February 2021.