Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 26
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)
We asked MoJ how it would protect against unsafe spaces being reopened to provide increased prison capacity. MoJ told us it has clear safety standards for cells that it would never go below, and HMPPS added that these standards are “absolute” and it would not bend these to improve overall capacity.65 Both MoJ and HMPPS told us there will always be space to accommodate prisoners without compromising safety.66 MoJ conceded that the ongoing lack of “headroom” is making remedial works across the prison estate more difficult as HMPPS is not able to close parts of prisons for refurbishment.67 MoJ told us it has contingencies in place , such as rapid deployment cells, and HMPPS told us about 57 Q11; C&AG’s Report, para 1.12 58 C&AG’s Report, para 3.9–3.10 59 Qq 3, 80 60 Qq 3, 97, 99 61 Ministry of Justice, Population bulletin: monthly March 2023 62 C&AG’s Report, para 3.18 63 Qq 95, 96, 123 64 Qq 96, 113 65 Q99 66 Qq 90, 100, 102, 116 67 Q99 16 Resettlement support for prison leavers Operation Safeguard, where police cells can be used as a short-term contingency to relieve pressure locally. However MoJ explained that these emergency solutions will ultimately cost the taxpayer more per head than traditional prison accommodation.68
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.