Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Indeterminate Sentence for Public Protection for prisoners imprisoned prior to 2012.

The IPP sentence was abolished in late 2012 by the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act. This did not apply retrospectively as the Government at the time took the view it would not be right to alter sentences that had been lawfully imposed having regard to an assessment of dangerousness; re-sentencing these offenders would undermine public protection and result in high risk prisoners being released into the community, thereby exposing the public to considerable risk of serious harm. Therefore, those who received an IPP sentence will continue to serve their IPP sentence.

Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) remains committed to supporting the progression of all serving the IPP sentence, whether in prison or in the community. There has been a substantial reduction in the number of IPP prisoners who have never been released, from over 6,000 in 2012 to 1,784 at the end of March 2021.