Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference HM Inspectorate of Probation' report entitled A thematic inspection of imprisonment for public protection (IPP) recall decisions, published in December 2023, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing fixed-term recalls for some people on IPP sentences.

In her December 2023 report, the then Chief Inspector of Probation suggested exploring options that may allow more prompt release of IPPs including using Fixed Term Recall (FTR), to reduce the uncertainty and despair felt by many after recall.

This Government is taking action to curtail IPP licence periods and provide for automatic licence termination in specific circumstances to give rehabilitated people the opportunity to move on with their lives, while continuing to make sure the public are protected from the most serious offenders, through multiple measures included in the Victims and Prisoners Bill.

Case law dictates that to recall an indeterminate sentence prisoner there must be a causal connection to the original offending so you cannot recall an indeterminate sentence offender unless you consider there is a risk similar to the one when they committed the index offence. Based on this, the government believes it is very unlikely that an IPP prisoner would meet the test to be considered for FTR i.e. that they would not be a serious risk to the public if re-released after 14 or 28 days.

Instead, the Government has tabled amendments to the Victims and Prisoners Bill which will enable the Secretary of State to release a recalled IPP offender following Risk Assessed Recall Review (RARR) without the need for a Parole review when he considers it is in the interests of justice to do so.