Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which offences prisoners serving a sentence of 12 months or less had committed (a) on the latest date for which information is held and (b) during the latest year for which information is held.

Since 2010, offenders are more likely to go to prison and for longer. Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for our independent judiciary, taking account of all the circumstances of each case.

Latest available information on the number of prisoners serving an immediate custodial sentence of 12 months or less, by offence group, in England and Wales can be viewed in the attached table.

The Government has recognised the unacceptably high level of re-offending among offenders receiving short custodial sentences and has responded with provisions in the Offender Rehabilitation Act 2014, which for the first time requires all those serving custodial sentences to be subject to 12 months of supervision following their release. This means that every sentenced offender leaving prison will spend at least 12 months under supervision (during which time they will be liable to be sent back to prison if they breach their conditions) where previously around 45,000 have been released each year with no statutory oversight.

These new statutory requirements have been combined with a significant new approach to rehabilitation under which Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) – which bring together the best of the public, private and voluntary sectors – are working in new and innovative ways to tackle re-offending and will be paid according to the results they achieve.