Ministry of Justice written question – answered at on 25 February 2022.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of the proposal by Safe Homes for Women Leaving Prison on providing funding for a bespoke pathway to support women leaving prison into safe and secure accommodation; and if he will make a statement.
We know women released from prison face significant barriers to securing accommodation. Our vision is that no one who is subject to probation supervision is released from prison homeless.
Women on remand are supported to meet resettlement needs and prepare for release by Probation staff in prisons. We will supplement the existing support from Probation staff with access to specialist accommodation support for all women on remand or sentenced in custody by the summer of this year.
We currently provide a Community Accommodation Service (CAS3) in five probation regions and aim to expand this to all regions across England and Wales. This will ensure that there is sufficient temporary accommodation available for women under supervision from probation, who are released from prison at risk of homelessness.
In 2021, Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) introduced Housing Specialists in twenty prisons, including four women’s prisons namely HMP Styal, Bronzefield, Peterborough and New Hall. The role of these specialists is to support prisons and probation in their strategic response to reducing homelessness. This includes working in partnership internally across HMPPS and externally with Local Authorities, Police and Crime Commissioners and organisations contracted to provide specialist support, to develop or strengthen accommodation pathways on release from prison. We have committed to increase the number of Housing Specialists to 48 across England and Wales, including across the women’s estate.
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