Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department takes to ensure that recall decisions are (a) fair and (b) proportionate to public safety concerns.

The Government’s absolute focus is on public protection. Offenders on licence can be swiftly recalled to prison if they breach their licence conditions. The recall of an offender to custody is an important public protection measure, and successive thematic reviews conducted by HM Chief Inspector of Probation have found that the Probation Service is using recall appropriately.

Additionally, HMPPS has issued guidance to probation practitioners, to ensure all safe alternatives to recall are considered before a decision is taken to recall an offender.