Call for Evidence

The Justice Committee invites written submissions of no more than 3000 words by 23:59 on 17 January 2025 addressing any or all of the following questions:

Section 1: Reoffending – measuring the problem

1. What are the levels of reoffending in England and Wales, and how has this changed over time?

     a)What are the different approaches to measuring reoffending?

     b)How does reoffending in England and Wales compare to other countries?

Section 2: Rehabilitation in prisons

2. What is the regime offer in different types of prisons?

     a)How does this differ for the following cohorts:

            i.Female prisoners

            ii.Remand prisoners

            iii.IPP prisoners

            iv.Those in the youth custody estate

     b) Does the regime offer encompass the principles of individual desistance, and to what extent could it?

3.What impact does custody have on prisoner health and wellbeing, and how effective is provision for this in prison in promoting rehabilitation?

     a) What role does trauma-informed practice have on the delivery of purposeful activities in prisons?

4. What is the current offer of training and education available in prisons and is it sufficient?

     a) How does this differ for those on the youth custody estate?

5.To what extent are prisoners given enough time out of cell to engage in purposeful activity?

     a) What impact does contracting and staffing have on the delivery of purposeful activities in prisons?

6. How do current prison population constraints affect the availability and quality of rehabilitation programmes?

7. To what extent do prison buildings and their maintenance facilitate or hinder rehabilitation?

8. What examples of best practice within the prison service are there in promoting rehabilitation?

Section 3 – resettlement services and alternatives to custody

9. To what extent does the Probation Service have the capacity to support effective resettlement pre and post release?

10. How does joint working between services happen so that ex-offenders receive the support they need post-release?

    a) Is there sufficient data sharing between services?

    b) What role does trauma-informed practice play in the delivery of these services?

11. How effective is support provided to ex-offenders on release such as homelessness prevention, employment opportunities and health and wellbeing services?

    a) Do these services encompass the principles of individual desistance, and to what extent could it?

12. What impact do licence recall conditions have on promoting resettlement?

13. What role should non-custodial sentences have in promoting rehabilitation?

     a) What impact would an increase in the use of non-custodial sentences have on resettlement services?

     b) What, if any, changes to community sentencing should be introduced if the Sentencing Review recommends a move away from short custodial sentences?

14. What examples of best practice are there for effective resettlement?

Important information about making a submission 

Please read this section before making a submission. This information is particularly important for people making written submissions in an individual capacity, and about their own lived experience.  

Written evidence must address the terms of reference as set out above, but please note that submissions do not have to address every point. Guidance on giving evidence to a select committee of the House of Commons is available here.  

How your submission will be treated   

The Committee has discretion over which submissions it accepts as evidence, and which of those it then publishes on its website. If your submission is accepted by the Committee, it will usually be published online. It will then be available permanently for anyone to view and may be found online by using search engines. It cannot be changed or removed. If you have included your name or any personal information in your submission, that will normally be published too. Please consider how much personal information you want or need to share. Your contact details will never be published.  

Anonymisation   

Decisions about publishing evidence anonymously are made by the Committee. If you would like to ask the Committee to accept your submission anonymously (meaning it will be published but without your name) please tick the box when you make your submission. This lets the Committee know what you would like but the final decision will be taken by the Committee.  

If you would like to request that your submission be published anonymously, then you are responsible for ensuring you cannot be identified from your submission. Please make sure you have not included information that would allow someone to work out who you are.   

We may anonymise or redact some of your submission if it is published, even where you have not requested this.   

Confidential submissions   

The Committee may decide to accept evidence on a confidential basis. Confidential submissions remain available to the Committee but are not published or referred to in public.   

If you would like to ask the Committee to accept your submission confidentially, please tick the box when you make your submission. This lets the Committee know what you would like but the final decision will be taken by the Committee.  

We may treat submissions confidentially, even where you have not requested this.   

Legal cases  

We can’t publish submissions that mention ongoing legal cases. Please do not include details of an ongoing case, or details that are likely to be the subject of future proceedings, in your submission.  

Individual cases  

In line with the general practice of select committees the Justice Committee is not able to take up individual cases. If you would like political support or advice you may wish to contact your local Member of Parliament.