Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of her policy to change the automatic release point to 40% for certain standard determinate sentences on reoffending rates.

Prisoners released on SDS40 will be subject to licence and liable to recall to prison if they do not comply or are judged a risk to public safety. Reoffending rates are published regularly on an annual and quarterly basis. The most recent rates are available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/proven-reoffending-statistics.

A critical element of reducing reoffending is ensuring offenders leaving prison can access the support they need to resettle effectively into the community. There are clear processes in place to ensure all releases are carefully managed by Prison and Probation staff. An offender’s resettlement needs are assessed on their arrival into the prison estate, with appropriate provision arranged in advance of release. When the release date is changed, as is the case with SDS40, this provision is realigned to that new release date.

As with any offender being released, where victims are receiving the services of the Victim Contact Scheme (VCS) or the Victim Notification Scheme (VNS), they will be informed about the release of an offender.