Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners were released on temporary licence from each category of prison in the most recent twelve month period for which figures are available.

Public protection is our priority. All offenders must meet strict criteria and pass a full risk assessment before being considered for Release on temporary licence (ROTL). ROTL is used to prepare prisoners for their eventual release from custody and helps with finding work and stable accommodation, and to build and maintain family ties, all of which helps reduce reoffending.

The table below shows the number of prisoners released on temporary licence in England and Wales during 2017 by category of prison from which they were released. Prisons have been categorised by their predominant function as at January 2014. Some prisons will have a dual function, but will only be counted under their predominant function. For example, some category A prisons also have a local function and are counted under the "category A" heading although they will hold prisoners of all categories. The prisoner released from the category A prison was a category D prisoner and the prisoners released from category B prisons were category C prisoners.

(1) “Other prisons” includes those prisons with a predominant function of YOI, Female prison, Local prison or NOMS IRC.