Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) women and (b) men were recalled to custody in each of the last three years as a result of (i) breach of licence conditions on release following a custodial sentence of over 12 months and (ii) breach of conditions during post-release supervision following a custodial sentence of under 12 months.

The breakdown of the number of women and men serving determinate sentences that were recalled to custody as a result of breach of licence conditions on release:

(1) The figures provided are for women and men recalled in each full year from 2015 to 2017. The figures do not include indeterminate sentenced offenders but may include offenders recalled more than once across multiple years or within years. The figures in these tables have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large-scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

Offenders serving a custodial period of less than 12 months became subject to supervision and licence conditions as a result of the commencement of the Offender Rehabilitation Act 2014 (ORA) provisions in February 2015. Prior to this, these offenders were released unconditionally.

The breakdown of the number of women and men serving indeterminate sentences that were recalled to custody as a result of breach of licence conditions on release:

(2) The figures provided are for women and men recalled in each full year from 2015 to 2017 and may include offenders recalled more than once across multiple years or within years. The figures in these tables have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large-scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

As more offenders are reaching their minimum tariff dates, the number of first-time IPP releases continues to rise year on year, and there are consequently ever greater numbers of offenders on an IPP licence in the community. Correspondingly, and as is to be expected, the number of offenders on an IPP licence who are recalled to custody also continues to rise.

Public protection is our priority and offenders on licence must comply with a strict set of conditions. If any offender breaches his licence conditions, s/he is liable to be recalled immediately to prison.

(3) ^{Further recall figures are available in published statistics https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-management-statistics}