Hull

I recognise the Board’s request that better data should be available after a prisoner is released to understand the progress resettlement strategies are making. I can reassure the Board that HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) collects data to track offender’s accommodation and employment status for both custodial and community sentences, from the point of release and throughout community supervision. Performance measures were included in the frameworks for both prisons and probation for 2019/20 and the latest data was published on 30 July 2020. For prisons these assess the status of accommodation on the first night of release and employment six weeks after release and can be found in the Annual Prison Performance Ratings - https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/prison-performance-ratings-2019-to-2020. For probation these assess employment and accommodation at termination of supervision, which are published as part of the Community Performance quarterly statistics - https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/community-performance-quarterly-update-to-march-2020. It is a contractual requirement for the CRC provider to carry out the annual survey of offenders under their supervision. This includes those on licence post release and is used to determine whether an offender had an overall positive experience. Additional measures are being considered for future probation frameworks. In the meantime, HMPPS is encouraging prisons and probation providers to work together more effectively and is now providing monthly data to them to support this action. It is promising to note that the Board recognises that there has already been improved collaboration between HMP/YOI Hull and its external resettlement providers and I look forward to this continuing.

It is unfortunate and regrettable that prisoners’ property continues to be an issue. As the Board will be aware, the development of the new Prisoners’ Property Policy Framework involved a large project undertaken in summer 2019. Following the conclusion of the project, HMPPS has worked closely with stakeholders to consult on proposed changes to the policy. Discussions ahead of consultation with IMB members began with the IMB Secretariat in late February 2020, who proposed meetings take place with Board members in April. In light of the pressures placed on Boards by Covid-19, HMPPS agreed with the IMB Secretariat to pause this consultation until August and September. This work is now moving forward again and the feedback received from IMB members at these meetings will then be considered alongside the comments received earlier this year from other stakeholders, with the intention that the revised draft policy framework will be circulated for wider consultation at the end of 2020.
The new Prisoner Escort and Custody Service 4 Generation contract also began during August 2020 with a new fleet of vehicles which allow for an additional half box of consumable items to the limit of 7.5kg to be carried for each prisoner on top of the existing agreed volumetric limits. In addition to this, HMPPS is looking at what more can be done to encourage prisoners to send out or dispose of excess items to reduce the amount of property that cannot transfer with them. Steps are also being taken to ensure there is a consistent approach when prison staff forward on any excess items to prisoners at their new establishment after a transfer has taken place.
It should be noted that all prisoners, irrespective of the local incentive level, can have access to the permitted items listed under Part 1 of the National Facilities List set out in Annex C of the Incentives Policy Framework which went live in prisons on 13 January 2020. Governors can then choose to make additional items available from Part 2 of the list to those on the Standard and Enhanced levels or any additional levels introduced locally above Enhanced. Allowing prisons to determine locally what incentive level prisoners must be on to have access to these additional items provides them with the flexibility to tailor incentives to their local needs and challenges. Should a prisoner be subsequently transferred to another prison where items which they have earned are not permitted, the Incentives Policy Framework and Prison Service Instruction 12/2011 - Prisoners’ Property makes it clear that the prisoner would normally be allowed to retain these items unless it is considered a risk to good order, discipline, security, safety or would exceed volumetric control limits.
Regarding the concern that prisoners may not understand the property process when they arrive, HMP/YOI Hull’s local early days in custody arrangements have been reviewed recently and the processes are fully compliant with the published Covid-19 Exceptional Delivery Model (EDM) for Early Days in Custody. A key element of the review changes has been to reduce and simplify the level of written information so that it is accessible to all, irrespective of any learning disabilities, language barriers or any other vulnerabilities due to a critical time in an individual’s sentence. In addition, HMP/YOI Hull is currently considering ways to make more effective use of the in-house TV channel to emphasise the reception and induction information to provide updates in real time.

Ascertaining the educational levels of new receptions is a key element of the nationally commissioned Prison Education Framework (PEF) and improving the basic literacy and numeracy skills of these prisoners is a pre-requisite to access other educational and vocational activities at HMP/YOI Hull. The Board’s recognition that these basic skills courses are relevant to much of the prison’s population is welcomed and Novus, the local PEF provider, continues to work hard with the Head of Reducing Re-Offending and Learning and Skills Manager, on the Governor’s behalf, to make basic skills classes as accessible and interesting as practicable to learners. In addition, as the prison builds its recovery through Covid-19 and the EDMs it will seek to make the best use of the in-house TV channel and other opportunities to engage the population in educational and vocational classes.