Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of sexual assaults committed by prison escapees since 2010.

We are unable to answer this question as the required detail may not be on the prison NOMIS system in all cases. To obtain a robust estimate would require linking to and checking police records for all prisoners in scope to identify whether they have committed a sexual offence (or sexual offences). This would therefore constitute a disproportionate cost.

The vast majority of escapes were recaptured by police either immediately or within a matter of hours and there are no cases of prison escapees remaining at large. Offenders who break the law will be punished – including extra time in jail when appropriate.