Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what data his Department holds on the number of pre-sentence reports requested by the judiciary in each year since 2015.

Data for this is available using the figures published in table 4.24 of the Offender Management Statistics Quarterly bulletin, which can be found in the document linked below:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/981217/Probation_2020.ods.

While the decision of whether to order a pre-sentence report (PSR) is up to the discretion of the judiciary, we recognise their importance and are working to improve their quality, targeting and timeliness.

The Department is leading on a pilot that is currently running in 15 magistrates’ courts across England and Wales. The pilot is encouraging the earlier identification of cases that would benefit from a PSR, and providing additional training and support to build the capacity of PSR writers to further improve the quality of their reports. The pilot also requires that short format written reports are produced for three priority cohorts generally understood to have more complex needs, namely female offenders, young adult offenders and offenders at risk of custody. Whilst the majority of these cases may need a more comprehensive report, that may result in probation requesting an adjournment, a screening tool has been introduced to ensure that the reports on these cohorts are proportionate to the complexity of the individual case, rather than a fuller report when it is not necessary.