Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to mitigate the potential impact of fixed term recalls of 28 days on levels of violence against women and children.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The Government inherited a justice system in crisis. If our prisons run out of space, we would risk the safety of thousands of victims and the wider public. The measure being introduced excludes anyone sentenced to more than 4 years, anyone who has committed a serious further offence and anyone subject to Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) levels 2 and 3. These multi agency arrangements will apply to certain sexual and violent offenders, including many domestic abusers. This will ensure these types of offenders can continue to receive longer recall periods where appropriate. We will be setting out further details of exemptions and safeguards when we put the Statutory Instrument before parliament. However, without this measure, we would run out of prison places by November 2025.

All offenders are subject to robust licence conditions on release, such as tagging, curfew, protective orders and exclusion zones. They may be recalled again for breach of those conditions.