Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which prisons use the Basic Custody Screening Tool; and if he will place in the Library a copy of the data collected by that too in the last 12 months with personally identifiable information removed.

We have an established network of resettlement prisons which are used to facilitate the transition from custody into the community, to enable Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) to work with those prisoners returning to their local area. The Basic Custody Screening Tool (BCST) is completed in all of these resettlement prisons at the beginning of a prisoner’s custodial sentence. It is not completed in non-resettlement prisons. A list of resettlement prisons is attached.

From the BCST records held centrally, removal of personally identifiable information could only be carried out at disproportionate cost. As you will appreciate it would not be appropriate to release the raw data as recorded, given the potential sensitivity of those records and indeed the regulations of the Data Protection Act.

List of resettlement prisons in England and Wales