Dear Mr Stacey,

Request for information

Thank you for your email of the 7^th April 2009, in which you asked for information regarding resettlement provision in prisons from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). Please accept my apologies for the delay in replying to you.

The information you requested was:-

a) details of the organisations that provide resettlement provision
     in each of the public prisons in England and Wales

b) details of the organisations that provide resettlement provision
     in each of the private prisons in England and Wales

Your request has been passed to me because I have responsibility for answering requests which relate to the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) which includes the Prison and Probation Services and has been handled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

The answers to your questions are:-

a) Please find attached a document containing a list of organisations that provide resettlement provision by area.

The organisations identified are working with the Prison Service to support the resettlement of prisoners across the pathways that were identified by the Social Exclusion Unit report of 2002 to reduce re-offending: Accommodation, Children and Families; Finance, Benefit and Debt; Education Training and Employment; Health; Attitudes, Behaviour and Thinking; Drugs and Alcohol.

Not all of the resettlement work undertaken in prisons is financed by the Prison Service, for example the Legal Services Commission funds work on Finance, Benefit and Debt and Education Training and Employment is funded by Offender Learning and Skills.

In addition, prisoner's resettlement needs will be met by statutory services such as local Primary Care Trusts, Job Centre Plus and Social Services, which might include housing provision. Also, there are many voluntary organisations working with the Prison Service providing resettlement opportunities for prisoners, this is often by local arrangement and there is no centrally held list of these.

b) This information requested is not held centrally but falls under the management of the offices of the Directors of Offender Management which only came into existence on 1 April 2009. The information is currently not available from this source and cannot be provided other than going to each of the Private Prisons in England & Wales which do not come under the jurisdiction of the FOI Act..

As part of our obligations under the FOIA, the Ministry of Justice has an independent review process. If you are dissatisfied with this decision, you may write to request an internal review. The internal review will be carried out by someone who did not make the original decision, and they will re-assess how the Department handled the original request.

If you wish to request an internal review, please write or send an email to the Data Access and Compliance Unit within two months of the date of this letter, at the following address:

Data Access and Compliance Unit

Information Directorate

Ministry of Justice

1^st Floor, Zone 1C

Post point 1.41

102 Petty France

London

SW1H 9AJ

e-mail: [email address]

If you remain dissatisfied after an internal review decision, you have the right to apply to the Information Commissioner's Office under Section 50 of the FOIA. You can contact the Information Commissioner's Office at the following address:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Internet: https://www.ico.gov.uk/Global/contact_us.aspx

Yours sincerely

Dave Norris

Case Officer