Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on what date the last of the prisoners who were released in error in September 2024 under the SDS40 early release scheme returned to prison.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
All of the 37 people released in error, because of being incorrectly sentenced for breaching restraining orders under outdated legislation, were returned to custody.
The last of the 37 prisoners was returned to custody on 28 September 2024.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to her oral contribution on 10 September 2024, Official Report, column 690, whether probation directors have contracted hotel accommodation for prisoners released under the SDS40 scheme since 10 September 2024.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Data on SDS40 releases forms a subset of data intended for future publication.
The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice confirmed to the House on 10 September that Probation Directors could arrange for the temporary use of hotels, where required, and I can confirm that in a small number of cases hotels have been used.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of the total numbers of prisoners released early under the SDS40 release scheme have not had accommodation to go to on day of release since 10 September 2024.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Data on SDS40 releases forms a subset of data intended for future publication.
The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice confirmed to the House on 10 September that Probation Directors could arrange for the temporary use of hotels, where required, and I can confirm that in a small number of cases hotels have been used.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of the prisoners released at the 40 percent of sentence point under her SDS40 early release scheme, have subsequently been accused of committing a further offence since 20 September 2024.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
On 25 July, the Lord Chancellor announced that around 5,500 offenders will be released, in two tranches, in September and October. Further detail is set out in the Impact Assessment.
Data on further offences of SDS40 releases forms a subset of data intended for future publication.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners have been released with 40% of sentence served under her Department's early release scheme since 10 September 2024.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
On 25 July, the Lord Chancellor announced that around 5,500 offenders will be released, in two tranches, in September and October. Further detail is set out in the Impact Assessment.
Data on further offences of SDS40 releases forms a subset of data intended for future publication.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners have been released in error under her Department's early release scheme since 10 September 2024.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
All of the 37 people released in error because of being incorrectly sentenced for breaching restraining orders under outdated legislation are now back in custody.
Data on releases in error since 10 September 2024 forms a subset of data intended for future publication.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of prisoners released at 40% of sentence point under her Department's early release scheme have been recalled to prison since 10 September 2024.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Data on SDS40 releases, including number of recalls, forms a subset of data intended for future publication.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what percentage of her Department's (a) ordinary and (b) named day written parliamentary questions were answered within the required timeframes between 12 July and 12 September 2024.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of Written Parliamentary Questions (PQs) and the Department remains committed to providing the highest level of service.
During the period requested, the Ministry of Justice answered 207 Written PQs. Including both Commons and Lords Ordinary Written PQs, 96% were answered within the required timeframes in this period. 91% of Named Day Written PQs were answered within the required timeframes in this period.
Please note that these figures have been pulled from the Ministry of Justice’s internal data and may not be a fully accurate representation of the Department’s timeliness.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate she has made of the number of prison places made available in the adult male estate as a result of the prisoner early release scheme.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The modelled estimates for the number of prison places made available in the adult male estate as a result of this change were published in the Impact Assessment for the Statutory Instrument to Amend the Standard Determinate Sentence Automatic Release Point.
This can be found at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukia/2024/117/pdfs/ukia_20240117_en.pdf. Further statistics will be published in due course.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate she has made of the number and proportion of prisoners who will be released having served 40% of their sentences who will not have stable accommodation to be released to.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Individuals released through the Standard Determinate Sentence changes, known as SDS40, and at risk of homelessness can be referred to HMPPS’s Community Accommodation Service, which can provide up to 12-weeks temporary accommodation.
The Chief Probation Officer wrote to all Local Authority Chief Executives on 02 August sharing early data on the total volume of expected prison releases for SDS40 cases and this was followed up by a meeting with all Local Authorities. This provided a high-level estimate of the potential volumes of releases by Local Authority. The indicative figure provided was that there would be c400 individuals who were at risk of homelessness; however, through assessment and intervention by Probation, we are expecting that number will now be significantly lower.
We are working closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government and the Welsh Government to mitigate any impact on Local Authorities, as well as taking practical steps to minimise the chances that individuals are released homeless. This includes ensuring data is shared with the 49 Strategic Housing Specialists based in prisons and the Probation-based Homeless Prevention Teams to make sure plans are in place for those who need accommodation support.
We expect the vast majority to be supported by this provision, but should there not be enough, the Lord Chancellor has authorised probation directors to make use of alternative arrangements, including budget hotels, as a temporary measure for the cases that we will see in the next few weeks.