PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Prisoners' Release: Mothers (24 October 2017)

Families can play a significant role in supporting an offender and positive family relationships are an important factor in reducing reoffending.

We have given prison governors the budget and flexibility to spend their resources as they see fit to help prisoners establish or maintain important family and significant other ties. A new contract for family services across the female estate was awarded in early October 2017. This will allow women’s prisons to work closely with a single professional family services provider, to develop innovative services including those to support mothers in preparing for their release.

We are also enabling better communication between families and facilitating organised and constructive family days alongside courses and programmes to promote parenting and family engagement.

Community Rehabilitation Companies are responsible for through the gate provision, which includes resettlement support for male and female offenders on release. We recognise that improvements need to be made to current services, and are working with providers to consider further action that we might take.