Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether her Department made an assessment of the potential impact of the early prisoner release scheme on the probation service.

Amending the automatic release point for eligible Standard Determinate Sentences to 40% (SDS40) has allowed us to end more challenging measures like End of Custody Supervised Licence and move to a more transparent system.

SDS40 will result in some offenders being released earlier from custody. This change will lead to longer periods on licence in the community, which will incur additional costs to the Probation Service and Electronic Monitoring Service. Additionally, there will be increased demand for services provided to offenders in the community, such as substance misuse services. The impact of this will be managed carefully to ensure the Probation Service has time to prepare and plan for release.

Further information on impact on the Probation Service is set out in the published Impact Assessment available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukia/2024/117/pdfs/ukia_20240117_en.pdf