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Written question asked by Claire Curtis-Thomas (Labour) on Thursday, 19 January 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 23 January 2006. It was answered by Fiona Mactaggart (Labour) on Wednesday, 1 February 2006 on behalf of the Home Office.

Prisons

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress has been made towards achieving his Department's targets for (a) holding prisoners closer to home and (b) developing opportunities for jobs and housing when prisoners are released.
Answer

There are currently no targets for the distance at which prisoners are held from their home address.Employment, training and education (ETE) outcomes for prisoners released before April 2005 can be separated only at disproportionate cost. Education training and employment (ETE) outcomes also include those who attended Freshstart appointments at Jobcentre Plus. Freshstart is the initiative whereby prisoners who do not have a job or training place to go to on release are linked into employment, training and benefits advice and support immediately after release. The Accommodation and ETE targets for 2004–05 and the recorded outcomes are given in the following table.

Number of discharges 2004–05 Number with accommodation Number with ETE Target Percentage target
Accommodation
85,685 66,888 — 64,765 +3.2
ETE
85,685 — 41,146 38,012 +7.6

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
45209; 442 c580-1W;442 c582W
Session
2005-06
Subjects
Employment Housing Prisoners Prisons Location Prisoners' release
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk