Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the letter sent in response to Question 6758, answered on 16 July 2015, what offences were committed by the 291 prisoners in the violence against the person category released on temporary licence on 25 December 2014.

We have tightened the rules on temporary release, particularly in relation to those with a serious offending history and, in 2014, the number of breaches of temporary release fell by 39%. This is the lowest failure rate since 2002. Release on Temporary Licence is not automatic. Release must be justified in terms of the offender’s sentence plan and particular care is taken in considering applications for temporary release at Christmas. Last year, 98% of prisoners remained in prison on Christmas Day.

The offences committed by the 291 prisoners with a principal offence in the violence against the person category of offences, and who were on temporary release on 25 December 2014, were as follows:

Data sources and quality

The figures in these tables have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing. An asterisk (*) has been used to denote where there are 5 or fewer prisoners. This is to prevent the disclosure of individual information. Further disclosure control may be completed where this alone is not sufficient.