Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions he has had with the Home Secretary on the sharing of information between the two Departments to inform decisions on recall following breach of licence conditions.

Probation services supervise offenders on licence and, if offenders breach their conditions, the Offender Manager will assess their level of risk and, if the conclusion is that the offender cannot be safely managed in the community, will recall the offender to prison. Officials in the Public Protection Casework Section in HM Prisons and Probation Service (HMPPS) will then formally revoke the offender’s licence. Public protection is our priority.

HMPPS engagement about information sharing is primarily with the Police as it is the Chief Constable of each police force who is responsible for operational policing decisions. Police officers will sometimes receive or obtain information about an offender on licence which is relevant for the purposes of determining whether the offender has breached his licence conditions. I have asked my officials to work with the Police to ensure that police officers have a sound understanding of the system of licensed supervision and of the importance of sharing information with probation services as soon as possible whenever an offender on licence comes to their attention.