Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 14 January 2016 to Question 21530, how many serving prisoners were not in prison on 25 December 2015; what offences were committed by each such offender; and how many such offences were in which category of violent offences against the person.

Public protection is our priority. All offenders must meet strict criteria and pass a full-risk assessment before being considered for Release on temporary licence (ROTL).

ROTL is used to prepare prisoners for their eventual release from custody and helps them build and maintain family ties, which is proven to help reduce reoffending. Consideration will therefore be given to allowing eligible prisoners to take ROTL that coincides with family celebrations and religious holidays of particular significance, including Christmas.

The number of failures of temporary release in 2015 fell by 32% to 162. The failure rate, at 49 per 100,000 releases, is the lowest since 2002.

Records indicate that, on 25 December 2015, 973 prisoners were in the community having been released on temporary licence (ROTL). The table below shows the principal offence for which these prisoners were serving a sentence by offence category and, within the “violence against the person” category, by offence.