Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for what reasons the abolition of section 225 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 was not applied retrospectively for prisoners serving sentences for imprisonment for public protection.

Generally, sentences already imposed are not substantively altered by subsequent legislation. The coalition government considered that it would not be right, or appropriate, to alter retrospectively sentences that had been lawfully imposed, particularly because in this case those sentences were imposed with public protection issues in mind. Consequently, once prisoners serving sentences of imprisonment for public protection have served their minimum term they are not released on licence until the Parole Board judges it safe to so.

The number of IPP prisoners has reduced over the past year. However, the Justice Secretary has asked the Chairman of the Parole Board to see what further improvements could be made in the approach to handling these offenders.

We continue to prioritise IPP prisoners for places on courses and provide other interventions to help them reduce their risk and progress towards release.