Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of Serious Further Offence's committed by region in each year since 2010.

The table attached sets out the total number of offenders who committed (that is, who were convicted of) a serious further offence (SFO), by region, while under supervision or within 28 days of completing supervision, for notifications submitted to NOMS/HMPPS between 1 April 2009 and 31 March 2021.

No data on SFOs was collected centrally prior to 2010 – meaning the extent of the issue from 2000-2010 is unknown and not publicly available. Publication of the data each year from 2010 was introduced to improve accountability and transparency and ensure that learnings can be implemented to protect the public.

The most recently published figures show the Probation Service supervise 172,253 offenders in the community and, on average, fewer than 0.5% of offenders go on to commit serious further offences. Each one is investigated fully so we can take action where necessary. We have injected extra funding of more than £155 million a year into the Probation Service to deliver tougher supervision, reduce caseloads and recruit thousands more staff to keep the public safer.