HC Deb 29 March 1973 vol 853 cc1505-6
5. Mr. Norman Lamont

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether, as requested by the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders and the Howard League, he will increase the discharge amount given to a discharged prisoner.

Mr. Carlisle

Account will be taken of these suggestions when the existing arrangements are reviewed later this year.

Mr. Lamont

Could not this suggestion be adopted with little cost and to great advantage, since the allowance has not been adjusted since 1964? Is it not the case that very few prisoners have accommodation arranged for them in advance of leaving prison, and that those who do not often get caught in a vicious circle, for they cannot get social security benefit without giving an accommodation address and they cannot get an accommodation address because they cannot afford the down payment of rent? Should not official policy facilitate adjustment to the outside world, rather than increase the pressures which can lead only to the road back to jail?

Mr. Carlisle

I agree with the latter part of my hon. Friend's question. We should do all we can to ease back into society those who are at the end of their prison sentences. On the question of rent, as well as the discharge grant there is power to make an advance payment of rent of up to £4 to the person who provides accommodation for a homeless ex-prisoner. These matters will be reviewed later this year.

Mr. Thomas Cox

In view of the point made by the hon. Member for Kingston-upon-Thames (Mr. Norman Lamont) is it not clear that the important question concerns the amount of money which must be paid for furnished accommodation? I am pleased that the Minister is to consider this matter, but will he bear in mind that £4 will not find accommodation in London or any other part of the country?

Mr. Carlisle

The £4 is an advance payment to the landlady. The purpose of the discharge grant, as such, is merely to tide a person over following his immediate release from prison, but, as I said, the existing arrangements are to be reviewed later this year.

Mr. Kenneth Lewis

Some of these discharged prisoners live in "halfway houses", of which there is one in my constituency. Will my hon. and learned Friend say what arrangements are being made to ensure that those who live in these houses, if they are in remote areas, have the opportunity of seeking jobs, are given the opportunity to know where vacancies exist, and are financially able to seek the work that they undoubtedly need?

Mr. Carlisle

I think I am right in saying that the hostel to which my hon. Friend refers also provides sheltered workshops. Certainly those who go to a normal discharge hostel have everything done for them that can be done to help them to obtain employment and accommodation.

Mrs. Shirley Williams

I am sure that the Minister recognises that while the number of hostel places has increased slightly the number of places in Rowton Houses and their equivalent has dropped dramatically in the last couple of years. Will he therefore consider not only increasing the release grant but also the possibility of informing a social security office in the area to which the prisoner intends to go, so that that office can make the man advances until he finds accommodation? Will he also consider the question of insurance stamps, which stand in the way of many men getting employment, so that, as the hon. Member for Kingston-upon-Thames (Mr. Norman Lamont) said, they are driven back all too quickly to crime?

Mr. Carlisle

The hon. Member has asked a fair number of questions. As for probation after-care hostels, I think I am right in saying that the voluntary bodies are providing more places—now at the rate of 200 places a year. The discharge grant does not directly affect this, but the Home Office has increased the weekly payment made towards places in these hostels. I shall consider the other matter raised by the hon. Lady but I must repeat that the discharge grant is merely a lump sum payment to tide a person over until he can apply in the normal way for whatever benefits he may be entitled to.