Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 5 November 2025 to Question 85902 on Prisoners, for what reason he did not provide an estimate of the number of prisoners detained beyond their release date in 2024-25.

The Ministry of Justice is taking robust action to prevent release inaccuracies. Releases inaccuracy has been increasing for several years and are another symptom of the prison system crisis inherited by this Government.

On 11 November, the Deputy Prime Minister announced a five-point action plan setting out initial steps which includes strengthening release checks across prisons and an independent inquiry will report its recommendations to prevent further inaccuracies.

A joint protocol between HMPPS and NPCC is in place, to ensure effective and timely communication between partner agencies when an individual is released in error to rearrest them as quickly as possible.

The Government is determined to fix release inaccuracies and ensure the public is properly protected.

The data requested comes from internal management information and is therefore not fully Quality Assured and does not meet the standard required for public consumption.