Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many armed forces veterans are currently serving a custodial sentence.

Since January 2015, Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service has actively been recording service in the Armed Forces as part of the screening process for newly received prisoners into custody.

A breakdown of experimental statistics published in October 2019 indicates that as of 30 June 2019, there were 1,833 prisoners serving a custodial sentence in England and Wales that have declared they have been a member of the armed services.

The department is due to release the next estimate of the total number of ex-armed services in October 2020 which will include data as of 30 June 2020.

The Ministry of Justice remains committed to encouraging people in the criminal justice system to declare service in the Armed Forces, as early as possible or at any point whist serving their sentence. This enables them to access the support available, whether that is in custody or the community.