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Seventy-Eighth Report - Resettlement support for prison leavers

Public Accounts Committee HC 1329 Published 11 November 2023
Report Status
Government responded
Conclusions & Recommendations
27 items (18 recs)
Government Response
AI assessment · 25 of 27 classified
Accepted 23
Deferred 2
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Recommendations

18 results
3 Accepted

Set out additional steps and targets to retain experienced probation staff within 18 months.

Recommendation
We are concerned that HMPPS is not doing enough to retain the experienced probation workers needed to safely manage its large and increasing caseload. Staff shortages and high caseloads are negatively affecting resettlement support for prison leavers. In 2021–22, 8% … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government agrees, stating HMPPS will implement additional steps over the next 12-18 months, including continuing its retention strategy, refreshing career pathways, and building on the Prison Officer Alumni scheme. HMPPS has set a target for a year-on-year decrease in staff leaving the organisation from 2022-23 to 2024-2025.
HM Treasury
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4 Accepted

Set out plans for quality outcomes from rehabilitative services and future commissioning lessons.

Recommendation
HMPPS is still not getting all the basics right when commissioning resettlement services. HMPPS works with Commissioned Rehabilitative Services (CRS) providers from the private and voluntary sectors who provide tailored support to offenders in areas such as accommodation, employment and … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government has improved the CRS Dynamic Framework, introduced a grant process, made specific contract changes (e.g., digital referral tool, women's services, finance support), and commissioned an evaluation (June 2023-March 2025) to inform future services.
HM Treasury
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5 Accepted

Set out plan for evaluating current resettlement initiatives to inform future spending reviews.

Recommendation
It is vital that HMPPS understands more about what works best if it is to get the best outcomes from its limited funds for prisoner resettlement work. Although it received £550 million in the 2021 Spending Review to reduce reoffending, … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government has detailed evaluation plans in place, expecting impact evaluations by summer 2024 and early outcomes data for specific initiatives by autumn 2024, with findings informing future spending reviews.
HM Treasury
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7 Accepted

Inconsistent delivery of prison resettlement services undermines effective support for prison leavers.

Recommendation
HMPPS told us one of its biggest concerns is whether it can consistently deliver its vision for probation services across all corners of England and Wales.13 In 2022–23, an HMPPS review found 14 out of 27 key events in the … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government accepted the recommendation and committed to agreeing a plan by May 2024 to ensure consistent resettlement services, aiming for an adequate service by April 2025, driven by new Area Executive Director roles. HMPPS will provide an action plan to the Committee within six months.
HM Treasury
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10 Accepted

Continuity of drug treatment for prison leavers remains consistently low after release.

Recommendation
The continuity of prison leavers’ drug treatment in the community has remained low for many years. In 2021–22, 37% of prison leavers in England with a substance misuse treatment referral were engaged in community-based treatment three weeks after release (38.1% … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government accepted the recommendation and committed to developing a proposal by Summer 2024, in collaboration with DHSC, to identify and address critical gaps in substance misuse treatment metrics. This proposal, including plans to fill gaps and routine publication of metrics, will be agreed by the Cross-Government Reducing Reoffending Board.
HM Treasury
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11 Accepted

Cross-Government Reducing Reoffending Board lacks clear departmental roles and governance for substance misuse.

Recommendation
Substance misuse is the only area where the Cross-Government Reducing Reoffending Board—made up of senior representatives from 12 central government bodies, and with a remit to identify opportunities to reduce reoffending—has not set out the main departments which have a … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government accepted the recommendation, committing to developing a proposal by Summer 2024 with the Department for Health and Social Care to identify and address critical gaps in substance misuse metrics and define success. This will be reported through cross-government governance and published routinely via the Drugs Strategy Annual Report.
HM Treasury
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12 Accepted

Inconsistent outcome measures for prisoners with substance misuse needs hinder effective evaluation.

Recommendation
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 … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government agrees that more can be done to clearly define success in substance misuse outcomes and commits that the MoJ and DHSC will develop a proposal by Summer 2024 to address critical gaps in current metrics and outline plans to fill them, with these metrics to be routinely published.
HM Treasury
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13 Accepted

Significant staff shortages in probation and prison services undermine essential resettlement work.

Recommendation
When speaking about the recent decline in the quality of resettlement services, HMPPS told us that it needs “good staffing levels to deliver the best services”.28 Although the number of probation officers increased following the service’s unification in June 2021, … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government agrees and states HMPPS will take several additional steps over the next 12-18 months to retain and incentivise experienced staff. These actions include refreshing career pathways, creating a Probation Alumni scheme by January 2024, piloting a prison officer transfer scheme, continuing a brand campaign, and promoting the Probation Pathway initiative, with a target to decrease staff attrition year-on-year.
HM Treasury
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14 Accepted

Excessive workload pressures on probation staff contribute to high turnover and recruitment challenges.

Recommendation
MoJ explained that people join the prison and probation services to make a difference but HMPPS told us that staff who are leaving “consistently” blame workload pressures which leave them feeling unable to do a good job.30 HMPPS’s audit of … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government accepted the recommendation, outlining several specific actions HMPPS will take over 12-18 months to retain and incentivise staff, including refreshing career pathways, developing alumni and transfer schemes, and setting a target for year-on-year retention improvement by 2024-2025.
HM Treasury
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15 Accepted

HMPPS prioritises staff investment through pay and development to improve probation officer retention.

Recommendation
HMPPS told us it is seeking to improve the conditions of service for existing staff to assist with staff retention. It has implemented a new three-year pay deal and increased its focus on staff development and wellbeing. We asked whether … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government accepted the recommendation, detailing a multi-faceted plan by HMPPS over the next 12-18 months to retain and incentivise experienced staff through initiatives like refreshing career pathways, developing alumni and transfer schemes, continuing brand campaigns, and setting a retention improvement target by 2024-2025.
HM Treasury
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17 Accepted

HMPPS's commissioning process remains complex and bureaucratic for voluntary sector organisations.

Recommendation
We asked HMPPS what it had done to remove potential barriers to entry for small and voluntary sector organisations. HMPPS told us it “worked hard” to remove barriers. For example, it reduced the IT standards CRS providers must demonstrate in … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government accepted the recommendation and stated it's implemented, outlining several steps HMPPS has taken or will take. These include applying lessons learned to future commissioning, improving the CRS Dynamic Framework for VSCEs, introducing a grant process, and commissioning an evaluation whose findings will inform future service changes by March 2025.
HM Treasury
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18 Accepted

HMPPS monitors CRS providers on process measures, neglecting systematic monitoring of outcomes.

Recommendation
HMPPS holds CRS providers to account against two administrative measures (their timeliness in holding appointments and their production of action plans for service users) but does not systematically monitor all providers’ activities or offenders’ outcomes.41 In written evidence to us … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government accepted the recommendation, stating it is implemented and HMPPS is reviewing its approach to ensuring good quality outcomes and evidence. HMPPS has already enhanced its digital referral tool, made contract changes, and is committed to gathering and analysing better evidence on outcomes, assessing options for improved data collection.
HM Treasury
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19 Accepted

Poor quality probation referrals severely hinder effectiveness of CRS resettlement support for prison leavers.

Recommendation
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’ … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government accepted the recommendation, stating it is implemented and HMPPS has already enhanced its digital referral tool and made contract changes. HMPPS is also reviewing its approach to outcomes, committed to gathering better evidence, and assessing options for improved data collection.
HM Treasury
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21 Accepted

HMPPS lacks a mature evidence base for new investment impacts and evaluation plans.

Recommendation
Good evaluation practice emphasises the importance of understanding how a new intervention is expected to achieve the intended outcomes and the need to plan evaluation at the design stage before implementing it.48 But the NAO found that HMPPS does not … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government accepted the recommendation, stating it is implemented, with detailed evaluation plans now in place for HMPPS investments. Impact evaluations are expected to be complete by Summer 2024, and interim findings from outcomes data will inform early findings by Autumn 2024, with continuous development of the evidence base to guide future investment decisions.
HM Treasury
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22 Accepted

Long-term accommodation outcomes for prison leavers remain challenging despite HMPPS investments.

Recommendation
MoJ told us it is working with HMPPS to better understand what works best on accommodation support for prison leavers.52 Outcomes have remained stable in recent years despite HMPPS’ investments, with 76% of prison leavers from April 2022 to February … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government agrees and states that detailed evaluation plans are now in place to assess the effectiveness of HMPPS investment in resettlement, with impact evaluations expected to be complete and findings available by summer 2024 to inform future planning. For some initiatives, findings will be available beyond 2024, with interim findings provided by autumn 2024.
HM Treasury
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23 Accepted

HMPPS lacks robust impact evaluations for employment initiatives, making causality of outcomes unclear.

Recommendation
HMPPS told us it is proud of the progress made on employment support initiatives with 25% of prison leavers from April 2022 to February 2023 employed after six months, compared with 17% in 2021–22.57 But HMPPS’s plans to evaluate its … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government agrees and states that detailed evaluation plans are now in place to assess the effectiveness of HMPPS investment in resettlement, with impact evaluations expected to be complete and findings available by summer 2024 to inform future planning. For some initiatives, findings will be available beyond 2024, with interim findings provided by autumn 2024.
HM Treasury
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25 Deferred

MoJ's prison capacity expansion plans face significant funding and inflationary challenges.

Recommendation
MoJ told us it has multiple options to increase prison capacity, including building new prisons and refurbishing the existing estate. MoJ told us it plans to increase prisoner capacity by 20,000 places at a cost of £3.8 billion, but it … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government accepted the recommendation in principle and committed to responding to the Committee by May 2024 with projections for prison population, new prisons, and resettlement demand. They will also publish a new independently scrutinised annual statement on prison capacity, future demand, and build pipeline.
HM Treasury
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27 Deferred

Probation Service faces significant increase in demand for resettlement services

Recommendation
As these additional prisoners progress through their sentences, there will be higher demand for resettlement services. MoJ’s central estimate in its recent modelling work on forecast volumes of prison leavers starting their supervision in the community shows that, while projections … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government agrees and will respond to the Committee by May 2024 with projections for the prison population and demand for resettlement services. They will also publish a new annual statement on prison capacity and update on prison build, and HMPPS will provide further information after the annual statement is published, additionally committing to 'consider' the demand for resettlement services alongside the NAO's recommendation for a long-term strategy.
HM Treasury
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Conclusions (9)

Observations and findings
2 Conclusion Accepted
We are concerned that government is not doing enough to support prisoners with substance misuse needs before they are released. Despite the previous Committee’s recommendations in 2017, HMPPS and NHS England have been slow to improve the collection and sharing of prison leavers’ data, limiting their ability to provide appropriate …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees and states MoJ and DHSC will develop a proposal for metrics to measure end-to-end success in treating substance misuse, which will be agreed by the Cross-Government Reducing Reoffending Board and published routinely.
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6 Conclusion Accepted
Unprecedented pressures on the prison estate threaten the quality of resettlement services today and in the future. The prison estate is under “exceptional” pressure to meet current demands on capacity. At the end of March 2023, the prison population was at around 99% (84,400) of safe capacity (85,500). MoJ forecasts …
Government Response Summary
The government will publish a new annual statement on prison capacity, demand, and build (announced Oct 2023), and HMPPS will then write to the Committee with the requested projections and further information within six months.
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1 Conclusion Accepted
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and HM Prison & Probation Service (HMPPS) about the resettlement support provided for prison leavers.1
Government Response Summary
The government has created Area Executive Director roles (Oct 2023) to improve collaboration and will agree a plan to enhance short-term resettlement performance for all adult prison leavers by April 2025, committing to provide the Committee with an action plan within six months.
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8 Conclusion Accepted
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 …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees and states HMPPS is planning a programme of work, including assessment and evidence synthesis, to understand disparities in resettlement outcomes for different groups. This analysis, focusing on protected characteristics, will be delivered by April 2025.
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9 Conclusion
In 2017 this Committee recommended that HMPPS and NHS England (NHSE) improve information-sharing arrangements between health, prison and probation staff following concerns that healthcare records do not follow patients as they enter or leave prisons.18 The NAO found that HMPPS and NHSE have been slow to improve the collection and …
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16 Conclusion Accepted
Probation staff can draw on specialist support from Commissioned Rehabilitative Services (CRS) providers from the private and voluntary sectors to help support the resettlement of prison leavers. HMPPS issued 110 contracts to CRS providers ready for ‘day one’ of the new unified probation service in June 2021, covering accommodation; employment, …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees and states HMPPS is reviewing its approach to ensuring good outcomes, highlighting actions taken such as digital referral tool enhancements, working with providers, and making contract changes to expand support. HMPPS also commits to gathering and using better evidence on outcomes in the future.
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20 Conclusion
In the 2021 Spending Review, MoJ secured £550 million over three years to reduce reoffending. MoJ allocated this funding to HMPPS, with £484 million assigned to support adult offenders. However, this funding is subject to change as MoJ considers the potential impacts of the government’s Efficiency and Savings Review.46 MoJ …
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24 Conclusion Accepted
MoJ told us several times that the prison estate is under “exceptional” pressure to meet current demands on capacity.60 At the end of March 2023, the prison population was at around 99% (84,400) of safe capacity (85,500).61 While projections are uncertain, the MoJ expects significant increases in the prison population …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the committee's observation and commits to providing projections for the prison population, plans for six new prisons, and resettlement service demand. They will also publish an annual statement on prison capacity, future demand, and a scrutinised build pipeline.
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26 Conclusion Accepted
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 …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the committee's observation and commits to providing updated prison population projections, plans for six new prisons, and resettlement service demand. They will also publish an annual statement on prison capacity, future demand, and a scrutinised build pipeline.
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