Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that prisoners know about, and have effective access to, release on temporary licence.

Instructions issued in 2015 require each prison governor to make available to prisoners information on the sort of release on temporary licence (ROTL) opportunities available locally and how prisoners can access them.

The evidence shows that temporary release from prison can help ensure offenders do not return to crime when they leave prison, and compliance rates stand at well over 99%. We want to maintain improvements made to ROTL recently while allowing governors greater discretion so that prisoners get the skills and training they need.