Asked by: Lady Hermon (Independent - North Down)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on what date he plans to visit Northern Ireland to confirm the appointment of new Queen's Counsel.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Lord Chancellor will consider the recommended appointments in due course.
Asked by: Lady Hermon (Independent - North Down)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners serving an indeterminate sentence of imprisonment for public protection have been freed by the Parole Board in each of the last two years; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The latest published first release statistics for prisoners serving Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences are provided in the table below.
2015 | 2016 | Q1 & 2 2017 |
562 | 576 | 315 |
The Ministry of Justice publishes quarterly data on IPP sentences as part of the Offender Management Statistics:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/offender-management-statistics-quarterly
The release of IPP sentence prisoners is solely a matter for the Independent Parole Board, based on a thorough assessment of risk. The Board will direct the release of these prisoners only if it is satisfied that the levels of risk posed to the general public are reduced enough to be safely managed in the community under supervision by the National Probation Service and its partner agencies.
Public protection is our priority and no changes have been made to the IPP release test. All IPP prisoners will continue to be rigorously assessed by the Independent Parole Board as to whether they are safe to be released.