Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average length of time served in prison was by (a) men and (b) women sentenced for attempted murder for those that were released from prison in each of the last five years.

The tables attached give the mean and median average period spent in custody by males and females sentenced to imprisonment for attempted murder and released from prison in 2014 to 2018 inclusive.

We have been clear that serious violent and sexual offenders must serve sentences that truly reflect the severity of the crime – helping to protect the public and giving victims confidence that justice has been served. We have therefore introduced legislation – the Release of Prisoners (Alteration of Relevant Proportion of Sentence) Order 2020 – which comes into force on 1 April 2020. From that date, anyone given a standard determinate sentence of 7 years or more for the most serious sexual or violent offences, including attempted murder, will be required to spend two-thirds – rather than half – of that sentence in prison.