Reoffending Rates 2021-12-14
2021-12-14
TAGS
Response quality
Questions & Answers
Q1
Partial Answer
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Context
The question arises from the government's efforts to address reoffending and keep communities safe.
What progress his Department has made on reducing reoffending rates?
This Government are tackling the drivers of reoffending to keep our communities safer. That includes the investment of £70 million this year to keep prison leavers off the streets and £80 million for substance misuse treatment services.
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Assessment & feedback
Specific progress in reducing reoffending rates not provided, only funding details given
Response accuracy
Q2
Partial Answer
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Context
The question follows up on the initial query about reducing reoffending rates, focusing on rehabilitation programs.
Will he confirm that some of that £70 million will go to schemes that rehabilitate, offering long-term opportunities in both employment and housing?
We are investing £183 million in the expansion of electronic monitoring, which includes £90 million to fund and promote innovation, including in respect of drugs and tags. We are also working carefully on prisoner passports, which are all about resettlement, to make sure that we reduce prisoner and offender homelessness, and there is a big push to encourage them to work with local businesses to get them into work.
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Assessment & feedback
Specific confirmation of rehabilitation schemes not given, only general investment details provided
Response accuracy
Q3
Direct Answer
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Context
The question pertains to the government's efforts in reducing reoffending rates through education and employment.
Does the Deputy Prime Minister agree that education and employment are key drivers in getting reoffending down? Will he outline to the House the progress made in the prisons strategy White Paper?
I thank my hon. Friend for that, as he is absolutely right: those are two core drivers of reoffending. So in the White Paper we set out plans to deliver a prisoner education service that will focus not only on the big challenges we see with inmates on numeracy and literacy, but on encouraging vocational qualifications—a step up during their course in prison. We will be driving better outcomes on work by implementing dedicated employment advisers in prisons and a digital tool to match prisoners to jobs on release.
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Q4
Partial Answer
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Context
The question highlights the importance of pre-sentence reports for preventing reoffending.
One way of preventing reoffending would be to make sure that appropriate sentences are imposed in the first place. What is the Minister doing to ensure that pre-sentence reports are available before prisoners are jailed or given alternative community sentences?
I do not see these things as binary opposites; we need to see robust punishment and robust deterrence. I am disappointed that Opposition Members voted against the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, which would end automatic release at the halfway point. In answer to the hon. Lady's question, let me say that we are looking at all the other drivers: drugs rehabilitation and, in particular, drugs recovery wings in prisons; vocational educational training; and, crucially, providing hope and the chance to get inmates into work, be it during their time in prison or while they are on licence.
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Assessment & feedback
Detailed measures for pre-sentence reports not addressed
Voting Record Criticism
Response accuracy
Q5
Partial Answer
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Context
The question focuses on the support provided to veterans who have fallen into crime.
What will be done to help veterans in particular, given their higher risk of mental health issues and addiction?
The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right on this. A proportion of people are, in effect, mentally unwell and then trip up into prison, and we know that veterans are among them. That is why I have been liaising with the Health Secretary to look at mental health care and provision, in the community and for those who go into prison, to make sure that we can tailor what happens to them during their sentence to try to give them a better chance to get the support they need.
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Assessment & feedback
Specific measures not detailed, only general liaison mentioned
Response accuracy
Q6
Direct Answer
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Context
The question addresses the importance of early assessment of prisoners to address mental health and addiction issues.
Does he agree that one key factor here is early assessment of prisoners when they come into prison to make sure that we pick up issues of mental health, lack of literacy and drug addiction?
My hon. Friend the Chair of the Justice Committee is absolutely right; it is important that on early admission into prison we evaluate all the different factors—the level of numeracy and literacy, the level of addiction, whether the offender has a qualification and the mental health issues—to make sure that the offender's time in prison takes them forward in each of those regards and that we then, with the prisoner passports, link up the support they will get on release. That is the way we will drive down reoffending, give offenders a second chance, if they want to take it, to turn their lives around, and ultimately protect the public.
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Q7
Partial Answer
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Context
The question highlights the inadequacy of the justice system in protecting and supporting domestic abuse victims.
The Sentencing Council says that most domestic abuse perpetrators will receive a sentence unlikely to reduce reoffending. Coercive and domestic abuse is a hidden pandemic, getting worse every day. Labour has a plan ready to go to protect and support victims. When will this Government act?
First, I associate myself with the hon. Lady's comments about my hon. Friend the Member for Burton (Kate Griffiths) and her experience. She showed incredible courage. The hon. Lady asked when we started to act. We did that when we came into government—We have tripled the amount of support for victims during our tenure. We will invest £150 million this year. On top of that critical support for the independent sexual violence advisers and the independent domestic violence advisers, we have also published a victims law consultation, which, for the first time, will make victims' experience central to the functioning of the criminal justice system.
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Assessment & feedback
Specific timeline or detailed plan not provided, only funding details given
Response accuracy