Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 19
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)
HMPPS audited 28 of its highest-value CRS contracts between June and September 2022, which identified ineffective early performance against service standards and contractual requirements. HMPPS rated the quality of the Probation Service’s referrals to CRS providers as ‘amber/red’ or ‘red’ in 25 contracts (89%), with problems including a lack of clarity on the reasons for referrals, missing information on individuals’ risks, and gaps in information on individuals’ personal circumstances.43 In its written submission to us, St Mungo’s told us that chasing up poor quality referrals created additional unplanned workloads for providers and left them with “unrealistically short timeframes” to support prison leavers.44 HMPPS also rated the sufficiency of CRS providers’ delivery to address 36 C&AG’s Report, para 1.3 37 Q15 38 C&AG’s Report, para 1.4 39 Qq 49–55 40 IPL0006 41 C&AG’s Report, para 13, 1.27 42 IPL0002 43 C&AG’s Report, para 1.28 44 IPL0002 Resettlement support for prison leavers 13 offenders’ needs as ‘amber/red’ or ‘red’ in 19 contracts (68%) and the quality of CRS providers’ communication with probation staff as ‘amber/red’ or ‘red’ in 13 contracts (46%). However, HMPPS found a more positive picture across the CRS contracts for women’s services, where services took account of women’s specific needs and were supported by clear records of activity and progress.45 45 C&AG’s Report, paras 1.28–1.29 14 Resettlement support for prison leavers 2 A challenging future for resettlement services Getting the best outcomes
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.