§ 20. Dr. PalmerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will take steps to improve the record of prisons as institutions of effective rehabilitation. [633]
§ Beverley HughesThe Government are committed to ensuring the effective execution of the sentences of the courts so as to reduce reoffending and protect the public. The Prison Service, in conjunction with other criminal justice agencies, has a target of reducing the rate of reconvictions of all offenders punished by imprisonment or by community supervision by 5 per cent. by April 2004 compared to the predicted rate. The Service is investing an additional £31 million in the period 2001–02, £30 million in 2002–03 and £71 million in 2003–04, from the Spending Review 2000 on work on basic skills, drugs, offending behaviour programmes and resettlement to help achieve this objective.