Skip to main content

Offenders: Employment

Volume 481: debated on Tuesday 28 October 2008

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many and what proportion of released prisoners found (a) full-time employment and (b) placements in work-based training programmes within six months of completing their sentence in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. (229289)

The total number of prisoners who have education, training or employment (ETE) secured upon release are shown in table 1 for each of the last five years.

Further data, recording those persons entering and sustaining employment/training four weeks following commencement, for both offenders released on licence and those serving community orders is shown in table 2. It is not possible to separately identify those that had a custodial sentence without incurring disproportionate cost.

There is no recorded data relating to employment or training placements sustained after four weeks.

Table 1: The total number of prisoners who have education, training or employment (ETE) secured on release for each of the last five years

Employment on discharge

Education and training on discharge

KPI outturn employment

KPI outturn employment

KPI outturn training and education

2003-04

35,530

2004-05

41,146

2005-06

42,879

2006-07

40,573

2007-08

24,340

9,622

27.0

10.7

Notes: 1. KPI outturn for 2003-04 based on an end year resettlement survey. 2. Outcomes up to and including 2006-07 include those who attended Freshstart appointments at Jobcentre Plus, 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. Prisoners attending counted as half a point. Data showing have already been calculated as half a point. 3. Between 2003-04 and 2006-07 there was one measure for number of prisoners released into employment, training and education. 4. For 2007-08, the resettlement measure is expressed separately for employment, training and education. There are separate targets for the proportion of prisoners who have employment, and the proportion who have training and education upon release. Job Centre Plus data no longer included in the KPI from 2007-08.

Table 2: Data, recording those persons entering and sustaining employment/training four weeks following commencement, for both offenders released on licence and those serving community orders

2006-07

2007-08

Job entries

All persons supervised by Probation Service England and Wales total

19,926

22,006

Employment sustained for four weeks

All persons supervised by Probation Service England and Wales total

14,248

16,823

Notes: 1. Data were not recorded prior to 2006-07. 2. Latest available full year data.