The Bishop of Gloucester received the following written answers on 30th January 2024:
The Lord Bishop of Gloucester asked His Majesty’s Government how many, and what proportion of, people reoffended within one year of release from prison by accommodation status at (1) release, and (2) three months post-release, in each of the last three years.
Lord Bellamy (Con, Ministry of Justice): I enclose details of the number and proportion of people who reoffended within one year of release from prison, broken down by their accommodation status at release, for 2020/21 and 2021/22 – the two years for which this information is available. The equivalent information broken down by accommodation status three months post-release could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
A settled place to live is key to reducing reoffending, cutting crime and protecting the public. Our Prisons Strategy White Paper set out our plans to reduce reoffending, including improving prison leavers’ access to accommodation.
The Lord Bishop of Gloucester asked His Majesty’s Government what proportion of people released from prison went on to reoffend, what number of reoffences were committed on average, what was the total number of reoffences, and what was the total number of reoffenders by custodial sentence length for (1) men, and (2) women, for the most recent year that figures are available.
Lord Bellamy: This Government is committed to tackling the causes of reoffending to keep our communities safe. Between 2010/11 and 2020/21, the overall proven reoffending rate decreased from 31.6% to 24.4%.
Helping prison leavers to secure accommodation, employment, and substance misuse treatment on release is essential for rehabilitation and can significantly reduce their likelihood of reoffending. We are therefore investing in a range of interventions including delivering our temporary accommodation service so that prison-leavers have a stable base on release, offering more offenders the chance to work in prison and expanding the number of Incentivised Substance-Free Living wings so that we can support prisoners off drugs and into recovery.
Further, we are seeking to introduce a presumption against short sentences which we know have significantly higher reoffending rates than suspended and community sentences.
The answer can be found in the tables below.
Table 1: Reoffending rate, number of reoffences and average number of reoffences per reoffender for offenders released from custody, male and female (adult), April 2020 – March 2021.
| April 2020 – March 2021 | |
| Female offenders | |
| Proportion of offenders who reoffend (%) | 44.1% |
| Average number of reoffences per reoffender | 5.89 |
| Number of reoffences | 8,686 |
| Male offenders | |
| Proportion of offenders who reoffend (%) | 37.5% |
| Average number of reoffences per reoffender | 4.46 |
| Number of reoffences | 72,549 |
| All adult offenders | |
| Proportion of offenders who reoffend (%) | 38.0% |
| Average number of reoffences per reoffender | 4.58 |
| Number of reoffences | 81,235 |
Table 2: Number of reoffenders by custodial sentence length, male (adult), April 2020 – March 2021
| April 2020 – March 2021 | |
| Less than or equal to 6 months | |
| Number of reoffenders | 8,902 |
| More than 6 months to less than 12 months | |
| Number of reoffenders | 2,170 |
| 12 months to less than 2 years | |
| Number of reoffenders | 2,176 |
| 2 years to less than 4 years | |
| Number of reoffenders | 1,995 |
| 4 years to 10 years | |
| Number of reoffenders | 958 |
| More than 10 years | |
| Number of reoffenders | 38 |
| Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) | |
| Number of reoffenders | 13 |
| Mandatory Life (MLP) | |
| Number of reoffenders | 8 |
| Other Life [Note 1] | |
| Number of reoffenders | 6 |
| All male adult reoffenders | |
| Number of reoffenders | 16,266 |
Table 3: Number of reoffenders by custodial sentence length, female (adult), April 2020 – March 2021
| April 2020 – March 2021 | ||
| Less than or equal to 6 months | ||
| Number of reoffenders | 1,056 | |
| More than 6 months to less than 12 months | ||
| Number of reoffenders | 212 | |
| 12 months to less than 2 years | ||
| Number of reoffenders | 113 | |
| 2 years to less than 4 years | ||
| Number of reoffenders | 79 | |
| 4 years to 10 years | ||
| Number of reoffenders | 14 | |
| More than 10 years | ||
| Number of reoffenders | 0 | |
| Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) | ||
| Number of reoffenders | 0 | |
| Mandatory Life (MLP) | ||
| Number of reoffenders | 0 | |
| Other Life [Note 1] | ||
| Number of reoffenders | 0 | |
| All female adult reoffenders | ||
| Number of reoffenders | 1,474 | |
[Note 1] ‘Other life’ category includes discretionary and automatic life sentences.
The Church of England in Parliament 
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