Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners are unlawfully at large having escaped since June 2010 from escorts conducted under the Prison Escort and Custody Services contract where the prisoner had not previously been received into NOMS' custody; and of what offence those prisoners had been convicted or charged.

Procedures governing the escort of prisoners are constantly under review to help reduce the risk of escape. In the four year period between April 2010 and March 2014 41 prisoners escaped from Prison Escort and Custody Services (PECS) supervision either from escort or at court. This compares to 62 escapes from PECS supervision in the 4 year period prior to April 2010.

It is not possible to answer this specific question as data is not available to distinguish those prisoners unlawfully at large who had not previously been received into the custody of NOMS at the time of the escape.