Prison Job Clubs (Hansard, 24 October 1994)

§ Mr. Michael Forsyth

Responsibility for these matters has been delegated to the director general of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from Derek Lewis to Ms Joan Ruddock, dated 24 October 1994: The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Questions on the number and percentage of released prisoners who have found jobs as a result of the work of prison job clubs, and on what assessment has been made of the effectiveness of prison job clubs, as compared with those outside prisons. Information on the number and percentage of released prisoners who have found jobs as a result of the work of prison job clubs is not collected centrally at present and there are currently no plans to do so. Figures have, however, been obtained from the Employment Service in respect of the job clubs at Holloway and Pentonville Prisons covering the months of April to August this year. They show that, of the 27 prisoners who used the Holloway job club 12 (45 per cent.) found jobs. At Pentonville 46 prisoners used the job club and 30 (66 per cent.) found jobs. These figures compare with a rate of approximately 45 per cent. for job clubs in the community. The Prison Service has made no comparative assessment of the effectiveness of prison job clubs. However, following their establishment in 1991 with assistance from the Employment Service of job clubs in the two London prisons mentioned earlier, the Employment Service carried out its own evaluation. This concluded that prison job clubs can provide effective help in getting jobs for people nearing release from prison. On that basis the Prison Service has, together with the Employment Service and other organisations, continued to develop further jobsearch assistance for prisoners. Increasing the number of establishments operating prison job clubs to at least eleven by next April is one of a number of initiatives aimed at this. This is in keeping with the commitment in the Prison Service's "Statement of Purpose, Visions, Goals and Values" to help prisoners prepare for their release into the community.