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Written Question
Prisoners' Release
Monday 23rd December 2024

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There was an issue with a repealed Breach of Restraining Order offence which meant that some offenders were released in error in the first tranche because they were incorrectly sentenced.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.


Written Question
Prisoners on Remand
Friday 20th December 2024

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.


Written Question
Prisoners on Remand
Friday 20th December 2024

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.


Written Question
Crime Prevention
Wednesday 18th December 2024

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.


Written Question
Courts: Opening Hours
Wednesday 18th December 2024

Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on what date she signed the concordat on court sitting days.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The former Lord Chancellor reached an agreement with the judiciary on the Concordat in June 2024. The former Lord Chancellor sent the initial Concordat proposal to the Lady Chief Justice and the Senior President of the Tribunals on 5th June. The Lady Chief Justice and the Senior President of the Tribunals responded on 12th June, and the former Lord Chancellor sent a final letter of response, concluding the process, on 28th June 2024.

Since then, the current Lord Chancellor increased the allocation by an additional 500 Crown Court sitting days in September, and on 17 December announced further funding for up to an additional 2,000 Crown Court days, bringing the Crown Court allocation to up to 2,500 days beyond that originally agreed through the Concordat. This brings the total to 108,500, the highest level since financial year 2015/16.


Written Question
Offenders: Electronic Tagging
Wednesday 27th November 2024

Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) arrests, (b) charges and (c) convictions have been made using data from the Acquisitive Crime GPS tagging programme in each year since its introduction.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Between 12 April 2021 and 15 November 2024, there were 213 charges and 152 convictions using the data from the Acquisitive Crime project.

The Department does not hold data on the dates of these charges and convictions or on the number of arrests, this data is held by individual police forces.

The objective of this project is not solely to catch and convict individuals for further offences, but to deter them from committing crime and reduce long term reoffending, by ensuring probation officers can continuously monitor offenders’ whereabouts at all times. The first robust evaluation of the effectiveness of this project will be published next year.


Written Question
Offenders: Electronic Tagging
Thursday 21st November 2024

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 with convictions related to alcohol use have been subject to an alcohol monitoring tag (a) on release from prison and (b) as part of a community sentence in each year since its introduction.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The number of individuals subject to an alcohol monitoring tag on release from prison and as part of a community sentence can be found here: Electronic Monitoring Statistics Annual Publication, March 2024 - GOV.UK.

We are unable to produce data on the proportion of offenders with convictions related to alcohol use have been subject to an alcohol monitoring tag.


Written Question
Offenders: Electronic Tagging
Thursday 21st November 2024

Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment she has made of the potential barriers to successful prosecution using information from the Acquisitive Crime GPS tagging programme.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The effectiveness of the acquisitive crime project is currently subject to robust evaluation and conclusions will be made available following the publication of the upcoming process and impact evaluations. It is not possible to provide any information prior to the impact evaluation being published.


Written Question
Offenders: Electronic Tagging
Thursday 21st November 2024

Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of Acquisitive Crime GPS tagging programme.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The effectiveness of the acquisitive crime project is currently subject to robust evaluation and conclusions will be made available following the publication of the upcoming process and impact evaluations. It is not possible to provide any information prior to the impact evaluation being published.


Written Question
Independent Sentencing Review
Tuesday 19th November 2024

Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether her Department has provided guidance to the Independent Sentencing Review 2024 to 2025 on (a) when and (b) how evidence should be collected from third parties.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

This Government has delivered on a manifesto commitment to bring sentencing up to date and ensure the framework is consistent, by launching an Independent Review of Sentencing on 22 October 2024.

The Review will be guided by the Terms of Reference published on 21 October 2024. In developing their recommendations, the independent Chair and panel will consider how to collect and publish evidence.

The Department has not provided guidance, and it will be up to the independent Review, with the expectation that views of a diverse range of stakeholders, including the public, will be important.

The Review has published an eight-week Call for Evidence to gather evidence from all those with an interest, closing early January 2025. The Review is estimated to run for 6 months and should submit its findings in full by Spring 2025. Following the publication of the report, and recommendations, the Government intends to respond to the Review.

The Ministry of Justice has allocated funding for the Independent Sentencing Review; it will be for the Review to consider how it meets its Terms of Reference, including if it wishes to commission primary research.