Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government what was the average tariff length imposed for murder in (1) 2022, and (2) 2023.

Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The average (mean) tariff for murderers (excluding whole life cases) sentenced in 2022 was 257 months and in 2023 it was 266 months.

Data sources and quality -

Note that the tariff length is the time between date of sentencing and tariff expiry date and does not take into account any time spent on remand. The figures do not include whole-life orders. The numbers are subject to revision as more data become available; any changes in the numbers since the last publication of this information is as a result of more sentencing data becoming available.

The data have come from administrative IT systems which, as with some large-scale recording systems, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing and may be amended as part of data cleansing or updates.

The figures are rounded to the nearest whole number.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of people serving an imprisonment for public protection sentence (1) were directed to remain in closed conditions, (2) received a recommendation for transfer to open conditions, and (3) were directed to be released at their first Parole Board hearing, in each year since 2005.

Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The Parole Board publishes performance data annually. The period of time it covers is a financial year, 1 April to 31 March. Therefore, data is provided for a) 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022 and b) 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023.

The release outcomes are for all releases, whether following paper review or oral hearing and regardless of the number of parole reviews/hearings the prisoner has had. The Parole Board do not currently hold data for the number of life sentenced prisoners released at their first Parole Board hearing.

The release outcomes are for all releases, whether following paper review or oral hearing, and regardless of the number of parole reviews/hearings the prisoner has had. The Parole Board does not currently hold data for the number of IPP sentenced prisoners released at their first Parole Board hearing.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of people serving a life sentence (1) were directed to remain in closed conditions, (2) received a recommendation for transfer to open conditions, and (3) were directed to be released at their first Parole Board hearing, in (a) 2022, and (b) 2023.

Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The Parole Board publishes performance data annually. The period of time it covers is a financial year, 1 April to 31 March. Therefore, data is provided for a) 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022 and b) 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023.

The release outcomes are for all releases, whether following paper review or oral hearing and regardless of the number of parole reviews/hearings the prisoner has had. The Parole Board do not currently hold data for the number of life sentenced prisoners released at their first Parole Board hearing.

The release outcomes are for all releases, whether following paper review or oral hearing, and regardless of the number of parole reviews/hearings the prisoner has had. The Parole Board does not currently hold data for the number of IPP sentenced prisoners released at their first Parole Board hearing.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many people are currently in prison serving a sentence of imprisonment for public protection who have been held for 15 years or more beyond their original tariff, broken down by the exact number of years over tariff.

Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The mean time that unreleased prisoners serving an indeterminate sentence (that is, a life or an Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentence) spent over tariff was 121 months, as of 30 September 2024. These prisoners are spending time beyond tariff because the Parole Board did not deem them safe to release.

Table 1 shows a breakdown of unreleased prisoners serving IPP sentences that are 15 years over tariff, as of 30 September 2024.

It is right that the IPP sentence was abolished, and this Government is determined that those serving the sentence get the support and opportunities they need to make further progress towards a safe and sustainable release.

We published the updated IPP Action Plan on 15 November, which puts a stronger emphasis on effective frontline delivery in our prisons. We are ensuring that prisoners serving IPP sentences have robust and effective sentence plans, which they are actively engaging with, and that they are in the correct prison to access the right interventions and rehabilitative services.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many additional months beyond tariff people serving an indeterminate sentence are held on average.

Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The mean time that unreleased prisoners serving an indeterminate sentence (that is, a life or an Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentence) spent over tariff was 121 months, as of 30 September 2024. These prisoners are spending time beyond tariff because the Parole Board did not deem them safe to release.

Table 1 shows a breakdown of unreleased prisoners serving IPP sentences that are 15 years over tariff, as of 30 September 2024.

It is right that the IPP sentence was abolished, and this Government is determined that those serving the sentence get the support and opportunities they need to make further progress towards a safe and sustainable release.

We published the updated IPP Action Plan on 15 November, which puts a stronger emphasis on effective frontline delivery in our prisons. We are ensuring that prisoners serving IPP sentences have robust and effective sentence plans, which they are actively engaging with, and that they are in the correct prison to access the right interventions and rehabilitative services.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many people in prison were in custody on remand for longer than (1) six months, (2) one year, and (3) two years, on (a) 31 December 2022, (b) 31 December 2023, and (c) up to the current date.

Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

Information relating to the time spent on custodial remand is not centrally held by the Ministry of Justice. To obtain the data to answer this question would involve a manual interrogation of court records which would result in a disproportionate cost to the Department.