Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 12 October 2016 to Question 41032, how many prisoners convicted of murder had previously been released on temporary licence over a Christmas period; and, in each such case, how many times each of those prisoners had previously been released at Christmas.

Records going back to 2002 but excluding 2009 and 2010 show that, of the 61 prisoners referred to in the reply to Question 41032, this was the first release at Christmas in 40 cases, the second such release in 13 cases and the third such release in 8 cases. Data on releases during 2009 and 2010 are not available because of disruption in the supply of data due to the migration from one reporting system to another.