Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 6 June 2016 to Question 38441, what average rate people serving sentences of imprisonment for public protection have served over their tariff.

The tariff period is the minimum amount of time that prisoners serving indeterminate sentences of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) must serve for the purposes of punishment and deterrence. Release is then a matter for the Independent Parole Board. The Parole Board will recommend release only once they are satisfied that prisoners’ risks have been reduced to a level that can be safely managed in the community.

For those IPP prisoners who are beyond their tariff date the average period served post-tariff, rounded to the nearest year, is 4 years. This figure excludes IPP prisoners who have been released and subsequently recalled to custody.