Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to review the sentencing of those currently in the prison system serving a sentence of Imprisonment for Public Protection.

Following their inquiry into the continued existence of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences, the Justice Select Committee (JSC) published their report which included a recommendation that the Government conduct a resentencing exercise of all remaining IPP sentences. The Government is carefully considering all the recommendations in the JSC report and will respond shortly.

The Government is focused on the successful rehabilitation of IPP prisoners and is working jointly with the Parole Board to realise this goal via the IPP Action Plan. This approach is working; the number of IPP prisoners who have never been released stood at 1,437 in September 2022, down from over 6,000 at its peak in 2012. The JSC also recommended that HMPPS review and update the IPP Action Plan; this work is now underway.