Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what guidance his Department has published on when a person with an end of custody supervised licence should be recalled to prison.

Public protection is our priority. Offenders released early on ECSL are subject to a standard supervision licence which is designed to enable the Probation Service to manage the risk that offenders may pose on release from prison and to safeguard public protection. The recall process is the same for those released on ECSL and other standard releases.

The decision to recall an offender on licensed supervision is taken on the professional advice of senior probation staff following consideration of safe alternatives to recall. Where offenders are recalled, it is because they present a risk of serious harm to the public and the controls available are no longer sufficient to keep the public safe. These individuals will remain in prison for only as long as necessary to protect the public. Guidance on the recall of offenders to prison is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/recall-review-and-re-release-of-recalled-prisoners.