Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 8
Seventy-Eighth Report - Resettlement support for prison leavers
Published 11 Nov 2023
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Improving resettlement support for prison leavers All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
HMPPS and MoJ monitor how outcomes for prison leavers vary between groups. For example, in 2021–22: 8% of female prison leavers were employed after six months compared with 18% of male prison leavers; 11% of black or black British prison leavers were employed after six months compared with 18% of white prison leavers. HMPPS has not performed analysis to identify the causes of this variation and accepts that it is an area it needs to develop further.16 HMPPS gave us examples of how it is working to tailor services to meet individual needs, such as a specialist project in the north west working with individuals who have autism and Anawim, a women’s centre in Birmingham where probation staff are co-located with other relevant support services.17 8 C&AG’s Report, para 3.2 9 IPL0004 10 C&AG’s Report, para 1.7 11 At the end of March 2023, 119 prisons in England and Wales held around 84,400 prisoners (Ministry of Justice, Population bulletin: monthly March 2023) 12 Qq 29, 40, 117 13 Q5 14 C&AG’s Report, para 2.8 15 Q38 16 Q11; C&AG’s Report, para 1.13 17 Qq 21, 23 10 Resettlement support for prison leavers Support for offenders with substance misuse needs
From: Public Accounts Committee, Seventy-Eighth Report - Resettlement support for prison leavers (HC 1329), 11 November 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 14 February 2024 (deadline 11 January 2024).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government says it agrees with each of the Committee's recommendations on resettlement support for prison leavers, giving target dates for several of them.
- On inequalities, HMPPS is planning a programme of work to understand disparities in resettlement outcomes, and says that "By April 2025" it will deliver this analysis across prioritised thematic areas.
- On an action plan, HMPPS will "respond to the Committee by the six-month deadline" and says its plan will aim for "an adequate and consistent resettlement service" for all prison leavers by April 2025.
- On substance misuse, MoJ and the Department of Health and Social Care will develop a proposal on metrics, and the government says it will publish these metrics routinely, with a target implementation date of summer 2024.
- On evaluation, impact evaluations are "expected to be complete" by summer 2024, though findings on impact for some initiatives will only be available beyond 2024.