Reoffending Rates 2024-05-14
2024-05-14
TAGS
Response quality
Questions & Answers
Q1
Partial Answer
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Context
The question arises from the government's efforts to reduce reoffending and improve ex-offender rehabilitation. The MP is concerned about the effectiveness of current measures in place.
What steps he is taking to reduce reoffending. Clearly, providing safe and secure accommodation for ex-offenders when they leave prison is the first and most important part of getting them on the path to rebuilding their lives. What action is my right hon. and learned Friend taking to ensure that that happens, so that people are not tempted to reoffend?
Reducing reoffending is a core mission of these Ministers and this Government. That is why we have prioritised accommodation for prison leavers and why we have invested heavily in employment, with prison employment leads and employment hubs in every resettlement prison. Crucially, the plan is working: in the two years to March 2023, the proportion of prison leavers in employment six months post release more than doubled. No one in this House has done more than my hon. Friend to look after the plight of people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. I am proud to say that the proportion of offenders in homes for their first night post release is 86%. That is because we have rolled out 12 weeks of guaranteed community accommodation.
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Assessment & feedback
Specific actions and timelines not provided, statistics given but no concrete commitments on future steps.
Response accuracy
Q2
Partial Answer
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Context
The question arises from the government's efforts to reduce reoffending and improve ex-offender rehabilitation. The MP is concerned about the effectiveness of current measures in place.
Clearly, providing safe and secure accommodation for ex-offenders when they leave prison is the first and most important part of getting them on the path to rebuilding their lives. What action is my right hon. and learned Friend taking to ensure that that happens, so that people are not tempted to reoffend?
No one in this House has done more than my hon. Friend to look after the plight of people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. I am proud to say that the proportion of offenders in homes for their first night post release is 86%. That is because we have rolled out 12 weeks of guaranteed community accommodation.
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Assessment & feedback
Specific actions and timelines not provided, statistics given but no concrete commitments on future steps.
Response accuracy
Q3
Partial Answer
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Context
The question addresses the issue of illicit substances and prescription drugs entering prisons, which can exacerbate substance abuse issues for prisoners. The MP is concerned about these factors hindering rehabilitation efforts.
Does the Secretary of State agree that reoffending rates would reduce further if we had a more concentrated attack on the illicit substances that continue to go into prisons, as well as the massive use of prescription drugs, which many people in prisons tell me are causing problems for people close to release?
The hon. Gentleman raises an excellent point, and he is right. The reoffending rate is worth focusing on: in 2010 it was around 31%, and now it is 25%. The reason for that is a combination of focusing on accommodation, as we have just discussed, and employment so that people have a stake in society, as well as tackling substance abuse. We are looking at technology with great focus, to ensure that people can be treated for their substance addition on the inside by the very clinicians who will treat them on the outside.
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Assessment & feedback
Specific actions and timelines not provided, statistics given but no concrete commitments on future steps.
Response accuracy