Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners have been granted early parole in each of the last five years; and how many prisoners granted early parole subsequently committed (a) violent and (b) sexual offences in each of the last five years.

We have interpreted “early parole” to mean a release direction made by the Parole Board once a prisoner serving a parole-eligible sentence has completed the minimum custodial term (tariff) set at the point of sentence and so becomes eligible for release.

The information on how many prisoners have been granted parole can be found at: The Parole Board for England & Wales Annual Report 2024/25 - GOV.UK.

We have interpreted ‘subsequently committed (a) violent and (b) sexual offence’ as those qualifying offences under the Probation Serious Further Offence (SFO) Procedures as set out in Annex A of the SFO Policy Framework: Probation Service Serious Further Offence procedures Policy Framework - GOV.UK.

The table below sets out the total number of convictions for a) violent offence or b) a sexual offence, where the offender was released by the Parole Board (either from an indeterminate sentence, an extended sentence or following a recall to custody) and where cases were notified to HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) between 1 April 2018 and 31 March 2023.

1. Figures are based on conviction data that was produced on 30 September 2024.

2. Data are based on the year the notification of the SFO was received by HMPPS and not the date of conviction.

3. Violent and sexual offences are defined by the Serious Further Offences Policy Framework and do not include all violent or sexual offences. The list can be accessed at annex A via the following link Serious_Further_Offences_2024.ods

4. The number of SFO cases released by the Parole Board include those released from indeterminate sentences, extended sentences for public protection and those released following a recall to custody.

5. SFO cases don’t necessarily come from the general Parole Board releases. If the Parole Board released people in 2022/23, it does not mean the 2022/23 SFO cases came from those Parole Board releases.

6. Provisional figures are subject to change as outstanding cases are concluded at court.

7. Data Sources and Quality. We have drawn these figures from administrative IT systems which, as with some large-scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

Figures are published based on the date of SFO notification (ie, when the offender was charged with an SFO) as received by the National SFO Team in HMPPS. The lag between the date of publication and the conviction figures is to allow time for most cases to complete the criminal justice process. Conviction Figures for 2023/2024 will be published on 30 October 2025.

SFOs are incredibly rare, with fewer than 0.5% of offenders supervised by the Probation Service going on to commit serious further offences but each one is investigated fully so we can take action where necessary.