Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their strategy for ensuring public safety and efficacious offender management in respect of hyper-prolific offenders.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
For the most persistent and problematic offenders in the community, Integrated Offender Management has received a 3-year investment of up to £30 million to ensure those that commit burglary, robbery and theft offences receive robust cross-agency supervision by Police and Probation, and to commission services that will seek to support and address risks and needs of this cohort. We are also piloting three Intensive Supervision Courts which aim to target the root cause of offending behaviour through supervision and interventions delivered by a multi-agency team, overseen by a single judge who will regularly review each participant’s progress.
The courts have a wide range of options to deal with this group of offenders and relevant previous convictions are a statutory aggravating factor which the courts must consider at the point of sentencing. While custody will often be appropriate for these offenders, and in fact is the most common sentence given to prolific offenders, it is right that our courts have the ability to pass an appropriate sentence based on the case in front of them. Robust research has shown lower reoffending rates for sentences served in the community when compared to short custodial sentences.
Through the Better Outcomes through Linked Data (BOLD) programme, we are also taking steps to understand better which factors are most important in leading to reduced reoffending for prolific offenders, in order to help us target our approach for this cohort.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he expects to receive the report of HM Chief Inspector of Probation’s thematic review of probation recall culture and practice.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The report of the Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) thematic review titled 'A thematic review of probation recall culture and practice' was published in November 2020. This was the second part of the review which the Secretary of State had asked the Chief Inspector of Probation to undertake, following the conviction of Joseph McCann for a series of sexual offences committed in 2019. A link to the report is here: A thematic review of probation recall culture and practice (justiceinspectorates.gov.uk).
In December 2023, following a commission by the Secretary of State to the Inspectorate in response to the Justice Select Committee IPP inquiry report, HMIP published a report titled ‘A thematic inspection of imprisonment for public protection (IPP) recall decisions’. A link to this report is here: A thematic inspection of imprisonment for public protection (IPP) recall decisions (justiceinspectorates.gov.uk).
In both reports, the Inspectorate found that the Probation Service were taking proportionate and necessary decisions to recall offenders on licence for public protection.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of the prison population is on a Fixed Term Recall to custody.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
As at 31 December 2023, 0.3% of the prison population were on a fixed-term recall to custody. These figures have been drawn from the Public Protection Unit Database held by His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service. As with any large scale recording systems, the figures are subject to possible errors with data migration and processing.
From January to September 2023, 4,889 fixed term recalls were issued. Figures for the last quarter of 2023 will be published in April.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Fixed Term Recalls there were in 2023.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
As at 31 December 2023, 0.3% of the prison population were on a fixed-term recall to custody. These figures have been drawn from the Public Protection Unit Database held by His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service. As with any large scale recording systems, the figures are subject to possible errors with data migration and processing.
From January to September 2023, 4,889 fixed term recalls were issued. Figures for the last quarter of 2023 will be published in April.
Asked by: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon Central)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many offenders who went on to commit a serious further offence were classified as (a) high risk, (b) medium risk and (c) low risk in each year since 2010.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The table below sets out the total number of convictions, where an offender subject to probation supervision was charged with a serious further offence (SFO), which resulted subsequently in a conviction for an SFO, for all cases notified to what is now HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) between 1 January 2010 and 31 March 2022, listed by their highest classification of risk of serious harm during the period of supervision for the index sentence (though not necessarily the classification at the point they were charged with the SFO).
Year | Highest risk of serious harm during the index sentence | |||
| Very High / High | Medium | Low | Unknown |
2010 | 100 | 128 | 34 | 12 |
2011 | 93 | 129 | 25 | 23 |
2012 | 117 | 92 | 25 | 29 |
2013 | 107 | 104 | 25 | 27 |
2014 | 124 | 97 | 17 | 24 |
2015 | 116 | 130 | 21 | 30 |
2016 | 148 | 119 | 31 | 11 |
2017 | 191 | 139 | 36 | 19 |
2018 | 137 | 141 | 33 | 17 |
2019 | 165 | 129 | 21 | 17 |
2020 | 154 | 104 | 23 | 12 |
2021 | 162 | 92 | 13 | 9 |
2022 (Jan-Mar) | 37 | 23 | 10 | 3 |
1. Time period for conviction data relates to the date of SFO notification to HMPPS not the date of conviction.
2. Index sentence refers to the sentencing disposal imposed by the court which led to probation services supervision of the offender.
3.The risk of serious harm relates to the highest risk of harm assessed during the period of supervision on the index sentence, not at the time of the SFO.
4.The data concerning unknown risk of harm, may relate to cases where a formal risk assessment had not been completed during the index sentence, or was not captured at the point of notification, and has not been updated within the database.
5. The data includes cases where the SFO was committed within 28 days of the end of the supervision period.
6. Conviction data also includes cases where the offender committed suicide or died prior to the trial, where the judicial process concluded that they were responsible.
7. The data has been updated and may differ to any original publication due to data cleansing, re-categorising and re-grouping. Data in the annual SFO bulletin is shown in financial years not calendar years as above.
8. Data Sources and Quality. We have drawn these figures from administrative IT systems which, as with some large-scale recording systems, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
Figures are published based on the date of SFO notification (charge) received by HMPPS. The lag between the date of publication and the conviction figures is to allow time for most cases to complete the criminal justice process. Figures for 2022/23 will be published in October 2024.
Serious further offences are incredibly rare, with fewer than 0.5% of offenders supervised by the Probation Service going on to commit serious further offences but each one is investigated fully so we can take action where necessary. We have also injected extra funding of more than £155 million a year into the Probation Service to deliver tougher supervision, reduce caseloads and recruit thousands more staff to keep the public safer.
Asked by: Rob Butler (Conservative - Aylesbury)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of trends in re-offending rates for people subject to a home detention curfew for the final part of their custodial sentence.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The proven reoffending rate for adults released from custody in 2017/18 and who reoffended within one year of their release was 47.6%. For offenders released on Home Detention Curfew (HDC), the reoffending rate was 23.0%.
The 2017/18 cohort has been chosen since this is the most recent cohort available where the reoffending data within a year (i.e. up to 2019) is not affected by the Covid 19 pandemic and associated court backlogs.
HDC has been operating well for over 20 years and provides a safe and effective way of managing the transition of suitable, lower-risk prisoners from custody to the community whilst maintaining restrictions on their liberty through the use of an electronically monitored curfew – ‘tagging’. Offenders released on HDC face strict eligibility requirements and a risk assessment process, which seek to select cases which are suitable because they can be safely managed in the community and have a lower likelihood of reoffending. We are seeking to expand the benefits of HDC for suitable prisoners whilst ensuring that public protection remains the overriding priority.
Jan. 25 2024
Source Page: Proven reoffending statistics: January to March 2022Found: reoffending data in the tables are presented in the following ways: •Number of offenders •Number of proven reoffenders
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many serious further offences were committed in each year between 2020 and 2023; and how many and what proportion of the perpetrators of those offences were (i) under community supervision, (ii) on a determinate prison sentence, (iii) on a life sentence and (iv) imprisoned for public protection.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The table below sets out the total number of convictions, where an offender subject to probation supervision was charged with a serious further offence (SFO), which resulted subsequently in a conviction, for all cases notified to HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) between 1 January 2020 and 31 March 2022.
Index Sentence | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 (Jan-Dame Margaret HodgeMar only) | |||
| Number | % | Number | % | Number | % |
Community Supervision | 117 | 40% | 99 | 36% | 29 | 40% |
Determinate Prison Sentence | 168 | 57% | 158 | 57% | 38 | 52% |
Life Licence | 2 | 1% | 6 | 2% | 1 | 1% |
IPP | 6 | 2% | 13 | 5% | 5 | 7% |
Total | 293 | 276 | 73 | |||
1. Time period for conviction data relates to the date of SFO notification to HMPPS not the date of conviction.
2. Index sentence refers to the sentencing disposal imposed by the court which led to probation services supervision of the offender.
3. The Index sentence refers to the first qualifying index sentence, in cases where offenders are supervised on multiple sentences.
4. The data includes cases where the SFO was committed within 28 days of the end of the supervision period.
5. Conviction data also includes cases where the offender committed suicide or died prior to the trial, where the judicial process concluded that they were responsible.
7. Data Sources and Quality. We have drawn these figures from administrative IT systems which, as with some large-scale recording systems, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
Figures are published based on the date of SFO notification (charge) received by HMPPS. The lag between the date of publication and the conviction figures is to allow time for most cases to complete the criminal justice process. Figures for 2022/23 will be published in October 2024.
Serious further offences are incredibly rare, with fewer than 0.5% of offenders supervised by the Probation Service going on to commit serious further offences, but each one is investigated fully so we can take action where necessary. We have also injected extra funding of more than £155 million a year into the Probation Service to deliver tougher supervision, reduce caseloads and recruit thousands more staff to keep the public safer.
Oct. 21 2010
Source Page: Tables showing (a) offences per 100 offenders, (b) offences per 100 reoffenders and (c) severe offences per 100 offenders, for male offenders with each number of previous offences subject to (i) court orders and (ii) custodial sentences of any length for each group of offence for 2008 and (a) offences per 100 offenders, (b) offences per 100 reoffenders and (c) severe offences per 100 offenders, for male offenders with each number of previous offences subject to (iii) custodial sentences of 12 months or less for each group of offence for 2008. 9 p.Found: Tables showing (a) offences per 100 offenders, (b) offences per 100 reoffenders and (c) severe offences
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many serious further offences were committed in each year since 2020-21.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Figures on the number of serious further offences committed (convictions) up to 2021/22 are published annually, which can be accessed at the following link. Serious_Further_Offences_bulletin_2023.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk). Figures for 2022/23 will be published in October 2024.
Figures are published based on the date of SFO notification (charge) received by HMPPS. The lag between the date of publication and the conviction figures is to allow time for most cases to complete the criminal justice process.
Figures for the number of serious further offence reviews completed by the probation Service are published annually, which can be accessed at the following link. Serious_Further_Offences_bulletin_2023.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk). The review figures are available by financial year up to 31 March 2023.
Serious further offences are incredibly rare, with fewer than 0.5% of offenders supervised by the Probation Service going on to commit serious further offences but each one is investigated fully so we can take action where necessary. We have also injected extra funding of more than £155 million a year into the Probation Service to deliver tougher supervision, reduce caseloads and recruit thousands more staff to keep the public safer.