Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many delays there have been in fitting sobriety tags longer than (a) one, (b) seven, (c) 14 and (d) 28 days in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The table below illustrates the proportional duration of fitting alcohol orders by month of order start date, from November 2023 to October 2024. This includes both AAMR tag and AML tag.
Up until May 2024, the electronic monitoring service was delivered by Capita. Serco took on the service on 1 May 2024. Provider performance was poor either side of the transfer and there has been a backlog of visits under Serco.
Ministers have been clear that Serco’s performance has been unacceptable and contractual penalties have been levied against them as a result.
Frequency Distribution of Durations of Tag Fit Time for Alcohol Tags by Month (November 2023 – October 2024)
| Days | |||||
Date | 1 day or less | 2 to 7 days | 8 to 14 days | 15 to 28 days | 28 days+ |
|
Nov 23 | 14% | 48% | 16% | 12% | 9% |
|
Dec 23 | 21% | 39% | 11% | 11% | 18% |
|
Jan 24 | 16% | 37% | 8% | 14% | 25% |
|
Feb 24 | 25% | 35% | 8% | 14% | 19% |
|
Mar 24 | 19% | 33% | 12% | 22% | 14% |
|
Apr 24 | 22% | 35% | 10% | 14% | 19% |
|
May 24 | 13% | 26% | 10% | 25% | 25% |
|
Jun 24 | 13% | 34% | 17% | 19% | 17% |
|
Jul 24 | 22% | 42% | 15% | 14% | 8% |
|
Aug 24 | 23% | 39% | 13% | 14% | 10% |
|
Sep 24 | 21% | 32% | 16% | 19% | 11% |
|
Oct 24 | 29% | 42% | 15% | 14% | 1% |
|
Proportion | 20% | 36% | 13% | 16% | 15% |
|
Notes
These figures are drawn from administrative data systems provided by contractors. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent.
These figures exclude those who had not had a tag fitted at the point the underlying files were generated. An individual subject to an AM order may not have a tag fitted for a number of reasons, including being recalled.
The tag fit time has been derived by subtracting the first date the data appears as tagged on the caseload file, as compared to the order start date. Where AMS is notified late of an order, the difference between the order start date and the date the tag is fitted is not an accurate reflection of contractor performance.
Data provided for the period November 2023 to October 2024 as this represents the latest available data.
Monitored individuals are unique individuals with a live EM order and with an alcohol device (AAMR or AML) fitted.
Alcohol monitoring cannot be used for those under 18.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the (a) recall and (b) reoffending rates are for offenders who have been released under the SDS40 scheme since September 2024.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The number of people who have been recalled or have reoffended following release under the early release measure (SDS40) forms a subset of prison releases data which is scheduled for future publication. In accordance with the requirements of the Code of Practice for Official Statistics, we may not give any early indication of the contents of this statistical report.
General reoffending rates are published regularly on an annual and quarterly basis. The most recent rates are available at the following link: www.gov.uk/government/collections/proven-reoffending-statistics.
General recall statistics are published regularly on a quarterly basis. The most recent statistics are available at the following link: www.gov.uk/government/collections/offender-management-statistics-quarterly.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 11 November 2024 to Question HL2063 on Prisoners' Release: Electronic Tagging, how many SDS40 prisoners requiring electronic tags were released without those tags; and what the average number of days was before those prisoners were fitted with tags.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
1,889 prisoners were released on day one of tranche 1 and 1,223 were released on day one of tranche 2 of SDS40 releases. All visits for the installation of tags for these offenders were completed by 4 November.
To provide the number of people who did not have a tag fitted following release under the early release measure (SDS40) may give an indication of the number of people released under SDS40 to date, which forms a subset of prison releases data which is scheduled for future publication.
In accordance with the requirements of the Code of Practice for Official Statistics, we may not give any early indication of the contents of this statistical report.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 11 November 2024 to Question HL2063 on Prisoners' Release: Electronic Tagging, how many visits for tag installation for SDS40 releases did not result in the offender being tagged.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
1,889 prisoners were released on day one of tranche 1 and 1,223 were released on day one of tranche 2 of SDS40 releases. All visits for the installation of tags for these offenders were completed by 4 November.
To provide the number of people who did not have a tag fitted following release under the early release measure (SDS40) may give an indication of the number of people released under SDS40 to date, which forms a subset of prison releases data which is scheduled for future publication.
In accordance with the requirements of the Code of Practice for Official Statistics, we may not give any early indication of the contents of this statistical report.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of offenders released from prison under the standard determinate sentence (SDS40) release scheme were (a) released in error and (b) subsequently recalled since September 2024.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
This Government inherited a criminal justice system on the brink of collapse and was therefore forced on 10 September 2024, to take the unavoidable step to move certain release points from 50% to 40%, with an initial tranche of eligible offenders released on this date, and a second tranche released on 22 October 2024.
There was an issue with a repealed Breach of Restraining Order offence which meant that some offenders were released in error in the first tranche because they were incorrectly sentenced. This affected 37 offenders and this specific cohort were all returned to custody. All prisoners in custody with this offence recorded against them were reviewed to ensure there were no further releases in error.
The number of people who have been recalled following release under the emergency measure (SDS40) forms a subset of prison releases data which is scheduled for future publication. In accordance with the requirements of the Code of Practice for Official Statistics, we may not give any early indication of the contents of these statistical reports.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 11 November 2024 to Question HL2063 on Prisoners' Release: Electronic Tagging, for what reason all SDS40 releases were not tagged before leaving prison.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
This Government inherited a criminal justice system on the brink of collapse, and as a result was forced to introduce the emergency SDS40 scheme which allows some individuals to be released 40% of the way through their custodial sentence rather than at 50%. Anyone released under SDS40 is subject to strict licence conditions, which can include electronic monitoring or curfews, and face being recalled to prison should they breach these conditions.
Serco had a backlog of visits to install tags and we were clear that their performance is currently below acceptable levels. We are having regular meetings to hold them to account and already imposing financial penalties given their performance to date and won’t hesitate to trigger relevant contractual penalties if they do not improve. Serco has prioritised the SDS40 releases requiring electronic monitoring and performance on the tranche 2 caseload was much improved. As of Monday 4 November, all visits to install tags for SDS40 cases had been completed. Where a tag was not fitted, a non-compliance notification was set to Probation to consider enforcement action.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many offenders released under the standard determinate sentence (SDS40) release scheme have re-offended since September 2024; and how many were not tagged when re-offending despite it being a condition of their SDS40 release.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The number of people who have reoffended following release under the early release measure (SDS40) forms a subset of prison releases data which is scheduled for future publication. In accordance with the requirements of the Code of Practice for Official Statistics, we may not give any early indication of the contents of this statistical report.
General reoffending rates are published regularly on an annual and quarterly basis. The most recent rates are available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/proven-reoffending-statistics.
Our initial operational insights suggested there was not a significant change to the use and application of recall since the implementation of the SDS change, however we will continue to monitor this. Serco prioritised the SDS40 releases requiring electronic monitoring and performance on the tranche 2 caseload was much improved.
As of 4 November, all visits to install tags for SDS40 Tranche 2 cases had been completed.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of prisoners are on remand for (a) summary, (b) either way and (c) indictable offences, by (i) the date of custody and (ii) offence type.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The requested information has been provided in the attached data table. To note that the ‘date of custody’ represented in this data is ‘30 September 2024’ (i.e. the individuals were in the remand prison population on this date) - this is in line with the most recent published prison population data available in the department’s offender management statistics.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate she has made of (a) the total number and (b) the percentage of prisoners on remand of the total prison population in each of the next five years.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Ministry of Justice published prison population projections for 2024-2029 on 5 December 2024, which are available here: Prison Population Projections: 2024 to 2029 - GOV.UK.
These include the number of people projected to be remanded into custody from September 2025 to September 2028. Under the central scenario, the projected total number and percentage of prisoners on remand over this period is as follows:
Date | Total | Remand | Percentage | |
Sep-24 | 86,966 | 17,662 | 20% | |
Sep-25 | 89,100 | 19,300 | 22% | |
Sep-26 | 93,500 | 20,200 | 22% | |
Sep-27 | 97,300 | 20,800 | 21% | |
Sep-28 | 99,800 | 21,300 | 21% | |
The prison population projections are published annually and projections for after September 2028 will be available in subsequent publications.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when she plans to publish the impact evaluation for the acquisitive crime project.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
We will publish the first impact evaluation of the Acquisitive Crime project next year. This will evaluate the effectiveness of compulsory, global positioning system (GPS) location monitoring at deterring burglars, robbers and thieves from reoffending and supporting police investigation and prosecutions.