5.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: March 2021 5.2 The department welcomes and agrees with the Committee’s recommendation on the need for a strategic approach to the complex issue of reoffending. As noted in its recent update to the Committee on progress on Transforming Rehabilitation, the COVID-19 period affected its plans to publish a strategy in the summer 2020. Nonetheless, the department outlined its ambition to reduce reoffending in the recent Smarter Approach to Sentencing White Paper, through a cross-government strategic approach that focuses on ensuring individuals have a job, a home and medical treatment. The department has committed to publishing an update on this work in due course, and to write to the Committee with further details before the end of 2020. 5.3 This work will build upon the strong cross-government working that has been in place during the COVID-19 period, particularly with the Department for Work and Pensions and the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government to provide benefits and accommodation support to prison leavers. The department also continues to work closely with health partners to ensure individuals receive treatment for drug addiction and support with mental health issues. 5.4 It will also dovetail with the department’s long-term estates strategy which, as well as setting out a blueprint for further expansion of the prison estate, will include proposals for how prisons can be designed to best support rehabilitation and reducing reoffending. As part of this, the department will learn from the work at Wellingborough (to be named HMP Five Wells) and Glen Parva and ensure that evaluation is embedded into its prison build programme so it can assess what technologies and interventions work best to improve prisoner outcomes