§ 60. Mr. Dribergasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the average amount of money given from public funds on discharge to prisoners who are without other means; if he is aware that, besides finding accommodation immediately after discharge, many prisoners have to visit three local offices of Government Departments, sometimes considerable distances apart, before they 249W can obtain either employment or any further funds; and if he will seek to simplify this procedure.
§ Mr. BrookeApart from small sums to cover subsistence during the journey to their home, most payments which prisoners receive from public funds on their discharge are made by the National Assistance Board. The amount which prisoners receive from the Board depends upon their circumstances. Much of the procedure for assisting prisoners on discharge is under active review following the recent report of my Advisory Council on the Treatment of Offenders on the Organisation of After-Care. Among other things, the report recommended that National Assistance, where it is due, should be paid to the offender before he is discharged, and the Board has agreed to give sympathetic consideration to this proposal.