§ Ms ShipleyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what plans he has to extend treatment of sex offenders in prison; [45375]
(2) what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of treatment provided to convicted sex offenders. [45374]
§ Beverley HughesThe Prison Service provides five versions of the sex offender treatment programme, that have been independently accredited as likely to be effective in reducing reconviction: a core programme; an extended programme (for high risk sex offenders); an adapted programme (for sex offenders with learning difficulties); a booster (for those that have completed other versions of the programme and are nearing release); and rolling (for low risk sex offenders).
342WThe Service's present and coming targets for completions by prisoners of versions of the programme are 1,020 for the current year, 950 for 2002–03 and 1,240 for 2003–04.
Versions of the programme are currently delivered in 25 prisons; this is planned to rise to 27 prisons in 2002–03 and 28 in 2003–04.
The Prison Service studies rates of reconviction to assess the effectiveness of the programme. Matched cohorts of programme graduates and untreated offenders are compared.
Offenders included in the cohorts need to have completed their sentences and have been at liberty in the community for at least two years. It has therefore been possible to complete only one substantial study so far. In that, the treatment group was of 647 offenders treated between 1992 and 1996, and the comparison group 1,910 offenders. The study indicated reductions in treated group reconviction rates of between one and 10 per cent., depending on level of risk.
Many more studies will be needed over a much longer period before firm conclusions can safely be drawn about the efficacy of the programme. Independent assessments of aspects of the programme and of the reconviction studies will also be carried out.