Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many offences were committed by prisoners on temporary release in the last 12 months.

In the year April 2018 to March 2019 (the latest year for which the relevant data is available) there were 18 recorded temporary release failures where the reason given was “alleged offending”. These are not necessarily proven offences, prisons are required to record any instance where a prisoner is arrested for an offence allegedly committed whist on ROTL.

Of these 18 incidents, only one took place whilst the prisoner was on work-related temporary release. The alleged offence was “shoplifting”, not a violent offence.

There were 376,343 temporary releases in 2018 and the evidence shows the vast majority of prisoners given temporary release abide by the conditions attached to the licence, with the compliance rate standing at well over 99%. Non-compliance is, and will continue to be, dealt with robustly.