Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people in prison serving an Imprisonment for Public Protection sentence (1) enrolled on, and (2) completed, an offending behaviour course after the expiry of their tariff period in each of the last five years.

We have responded to your request in line with the statistical definition of offending behaviour programmes (OBP) used in the HMPPS Annual Digest and HMPPS Offender Equality Report. Therefore, Sexual Offender Treatment Programmes and Substance Misuse Programmes have been excluded.

National data on all prisoner enrolments (starts) and completions in prison-delivered accredited OBPs are collected and published annually.

The latest available statistics are from April 2019 to March 2020 and were published this month. This data will include some individuals who may have attended more than one accredited programme over time. The available national data does not provide further break-down by those currently in custody or by sentence type to be able to identify who accessed a programme after the expiry of their tariff period. However, data-gathering and further analysis has been able to provide some of the information requested in line with the statistical definition which are primarily for general, domestic violence and violence related offending behaviour programmes. The accredited programmes data was matched with the National Offender Management Information System to obtain data on tariff expiry and this process achieved a 90% match rate of records between the two sources.

The table attached provides the number of indeterminate sentenced prisoners serving a life sentence, and those serving an Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentence who (a) enrolled on and (b) completed a general or violence offending behaviour course after the expiry of their tariff.

The Government’s primary responsibility is to protect the public. Accredited programmes aim to protect the public and reduce reoffending and are part of a range of rehabilitation and risk reduction opportunities available. In recent years, there has been a reinvestment from shorter, moderate intensity programmes in favour of longer, higher intensity programmes. HM Prison and Probation Service remains committed to supporting the progression of those serving IPP and life sentences in custody, so that the Parole Board may direct their release, or as the case may be, re-release, as soon as it is safe to do so.