Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 12
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 ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
We asked MoJ and HMPPS about how successful outcomes for prisoners with substance misuse needs are measured. HMPPS told us there is range of things that could 18 Committee of Public Accounts, Mental health in prisons, Eighth Report of Session 2017–19, HC 400, 13 December 2017 19 C&AG’s Report, para 22 20 Q63; C&AG’s Report, para 2.12 21 C&AG’s Report, para 2.12 22 Q63 23 C&AG’s Report, para 1.24 24 Qq 64–67; C&AG’s Report, para 3.7 25 Qq 69–70 26 C&AG’s Report, para 3.13 Resettlement support for prison leavers 11 be measured and that HMPPS and clinicians would “all measure slightly different things”. For example, while MoJ told us that DHSC evaluates different types of intervention and what is successful in helping people to stop substance misuse, HMPPS told us its primary interest is potential harm to the public and whether a prison leaver reoffends.27 Staffing pressures
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.