Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of current prisoners would be included in the earned progression model and eligible for release after completing (a) half of their sentence instead of two thirds and (b) one third of their sentence instead of half on (i) the day immediately after the Sentencing Bill is brought into force and (ii) each of the next 27 subsequent days, broken down by offence.

Around 17,000 prisoners are entirely excluded from the release point changes being brought forward in the Sentencing Bill. We are working across agencies to prepare and plan for implementation of the changes, and this Government is committed to ensuring that measures impacting sentencing and release are introduced safely, transparently and in a way that protects the public.

This information is not held as release volumes for current prisoners will depend on whether they are subject to any ongoing criminal investigations or charges and therefore any additional sentences handed down by the Courts, and whether they are given added days for bad behaviour.

The Ministry of Justice routinely publishes Accredited Official Statistics on prisoner releases as part of the Offender Management Statistics Quarterly (OMSQ) publication.