My right honourable friend the Minister of State (David Hanson) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

I am today announcing that the Government intend to re-tender the contract for the Bail Accommodation and Support Service.

The primary aim of the Bail Accommodation and Support Service is to provide accommodation and support services to enable the courts and prison governors to make greater use of conditional bail and early release on home detention curfew, in appropriate cases. The scheme allows defendants without an appropriate address, who would otherwise have been granted bail by the courts, to be bailed. It helps to ensure that prison is reserved for people who really need to be there, not people who the courts judge to be suitable for bail or who prison governors judge may be placed on home detention curfew.

The core requirement of the current BASS contract is to make suitable accommodation available at relatively short notice; to seek to ensure that service users comply with the conditions of their orders or licences; and, where necessary, to be able to deliver access to a range of accommodation and life skills support services. 

The current contract commenced on 18 June 2007 for an initial period of three years: 

to date over 3,300 people have been placed in the service; and

on a daily basis there are over 400 service users managed within the scheme.

I welcome views on how we can further strengthen this service to improve compliance with orders and licences and reduce reoffending.