Martin Vickers has questioned the Secretary of State for Justice, Chris Grayling, on what the Government is doing to reduce ex-prisoner reoffending, and also what the Government's stance is on extending supervision.
Martin asked:
"What steps he is taking to reduce the number of crimes committed by ex-prisoners."
The Minister responded, indicating the Government's new approach to reducing reoffending:
"Despite investment, reoffending rates remain stubbornly high. We are fundamentally reforming rehabilitation services by opening up the market to new providers and incentivising them to focus relentlessly on reducing reoffending. For the first time in recent history virtually every offender released from custody will receive statutory supervision and rehabilitation and mentoring in the community. We remain on track to deliver these key reforms early in the new year."
Martin then asked Mr Grayling what assessments the Government has made on extending supervision to those who had served less than one year:
"I thank my right hon. Friend for his reply. Notwithstanding the fact that I hope he would agree with my constituents that there are cases where offenders should remain in prison for considerably longer, what assessments has he made of the effect of extending supervision to the group of offenders who leave prison having served less than 12 months?"
Mr Grayling replied, announcing that such prisoners would, from 2015, receive 12 months of mentoring following their release from prison?:
"As was said earlier, this is the key part of the reform we are pushing through. There was a group of people who were literally left to walk the streets with £46 in their pockets, and not surprisingly the majority of them reoffended very quickly. From 2015 all of those people will receive a 12-month period of mentoring, support and supervision after prison to try to turn their lives around, and we know from trials in different parts of the country that this can make a real difference to the level of reoffending."