Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of all recalls to prison have been fixed term recalls in each year since their introduction.

A fixed-term recall is one where an offender on licence is recalled for a 28 day period before being automatically re-released. It is available only to those offenders on licence who are not assessed as presenting a high risk of harm to the public. Offenders who are assessed as presenting a high risk of harm are not eligible to receive a fixed-term recall and will be given a standard recall, under which they can remain in custody, potentially, until the end of their sentence. They will be released before the end of their sentence only if the Parole Board or Secretary of State is satisfied they no longer need to be detained to protect the public.

The statutory provisions for fixed-term recalls were included in the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 and commenced in July 2008. The provisions were amended by the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 and commenced in December 2012. The amendments were designed to provide offender managers with additional flexibility to determine whether a fixed-term recall was the appropriate way to respond to an offender’s breach of his licence conditions, notwithstanding that he had been given a fixed-term recall on a previous occasion.

This Government is introducing a new test, in the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill, which must be applied to determine the type of recall given to an offender and to decide whether to re-release a recalled offender. The new test will ensure that any offender who has abused a fixed-term recall previously and persistently and wilfully refused to comply with his licence conditions will not receive a further fixed-term recall. The test will guide offender managers, so that all relevant considerations are taken into account before a decision is taken on the type of recall appropriate to deal with the breach of licence conditions. It will also ensure that a fixed-term recall is given only where we can be satisfied that the offender can be effectively managed when released after 28 days.

The proportion of all recalls to prison that were fixed term given in the calendar years from 2008 is as follows:

¹ denotes data that has not been published. It has been taken from a live database and as such, it is subject to change.

² the proportion of recalls which were FTRs in 2008 reflects that the FTR was available only from July 2008.