Written questions by Johnson.

How many people serving imprisonment for public protection sentences were in Category (a) B, (b) C and (c) D prisons as of 31 December 2024.

Table 1 shows the number of prisoners serving Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences(1) held in predominant function Category B, C and D establishments(2), in England and Wales, as at 31 December 2024.Prison Category(2)Number of IPP Prisoners(1)Category B252Category C1,737Category D (Open)196Notes:1.The figures presented in these tables include both unreleased and recalled IPP prisoners.2. A number of prisons have multiple functions (e.g. a prison could have both "Reception" and "Category C" functions). For these prisons, the predominant function has been used.3. For more information see: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prisons-and-their-resettlement-providers.4. Data sources and quality: The figures in these tables have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing. Source: Prison NOMIS. It is right that the IPP sentence was abolished, and this Government is determined that those serving the sentence get all the support and opportunities they need to make further progress towards a safe and sustainable release, but not in a way that impacts public protection.On 15 November 2024, the Government published the updated IPP Action Plan, which puts a stronger emphasis on effective frontline delivery in our prisons. It will ensure that prisoners serving IPP sentences have robust and effective sentence plans, which they are actively engaging with, and that they are in the correct prison to access the right interventions and rehabilitative services.The IPP Action Plan and the commitment to deliver it have contributed to the overall reduction in the IPP population. The unreleased prison population fell from 1,227 in December 2023, to 1,045 in December 2024.The Government also acted swiftly to commence the IPP measures in the Victims and Prisoners Act, which led to the automatic termination of licence for 1,742 cases on 1 November 2024. We also commenced the new power to re-release recalled IPP offenders executively through Risk Assessed Recall Review (RARR).

How many volunteer support workers working in (a) prisons and (b) probation had criminal convictions in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

All support workers and volunteers in HM Prison & Probation Service are subject to vetting checks on entry, to protect the security and integrity of the organisation. This includes anyone recruited via our Lived Experience routes, such as Going Forward into Employment or Standard Plus. The vetting process includes review of any convictions that may lawfully be taken into account, in accordance with the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.To obtain the information requested, it would be necessary to undertake a manual search of individual records, and to make local checks. This could not be done without incurring disproportionate cost.

What the average cost is for processing (a) a fixed term and (b) an emergency recall to prison.

The process of recalling an offender to custody, whether for a fixed-term or in an emergency, involves activity and administration on the part of the Probation Service (which requests recall); officials in HM Prison and Probation Service (who revoke the offender’s licence), local police forces (which are responsible for returning the offender to prison custody) and then prisons’ reception and screening services. The costs to the bodies involved are not collated centrally. Consequently, there is no reliable basis on which to work out the average costs for either type of recall.

How many paid support workers working in (a) prisons and (b) probation had criminal convictions in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

All support workers and volunteers in HM Prison & Probation Service are subject to vetting checks on entry, to protect the security and integrity of the organisation. This includes anyone recruited via our Lived Experience routes, such as Going Forward into Employment or Standard Plus. The vetting process includes review of any convictions that may lawfully be taken into account, in accordance with the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.To obtain the information requested, it would be necessary to undertake a manual search of individual records, and to make local checks. This could not be done without incurring disproportionate cost.

How many people serving imprisonment for public protection sentences were (a) classified as Category A prisoners and (b) in Category A prisons on 11 March 2025.

Category A prisoners are those that are considered to pose the highest risk to the public, the Police or national security. High security establishments are designed to mitigate those risks and to prevent escape.Some Category B prisoners are held in high security prisons, though they are not treated as Category A prisoners. They are assessed as posing a high or very high risk to the public if held in other types of establishments. High security prisons also provide specific interventions that are only provided within these establishments and therefore IPP prisoners are there to receive the support required to progress or manage the continued risk that they pose. This Government is committed to ensuring those who can make progress through their sentence are supported to do so, but not in a way that impacts public protection.The information provided below is from the latest published snapshot for breakdowns of the prison population, as at 31 December 2024. More recent data cannot be provided because it could give an early indication of future Accredited Official Statistics.Table 1: Number of IPP (Imprisonment for Public Protection) prisoners(1) classified as Category A prisoners(2), as at 31st December 2024, in England and WalesNumber of Category A IPP prisoners(3)20Table 2: Number of IPP prisoners(1) held in predominant function Category A (High security) establishments(4), as at 31st December 2024, in England and WalesNumber of prisoners154 Notes:1.The figures presented in these tables include both unreleased and recalled IPP prisoners.2. The data presented in this table includes prisoners classified as Provisional category A.3. The figure presented in this table constitute a subset of the figure presented in Table 2.4. A number of prisons have multiple functions (e.g. a prison could have both "Reception" and "Category C" functions). For these prisons, the predominant function has been used.5. For more information see: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prisons-and-their-resettlement-providers.6. Data sources and quality: The figures in these tables have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing. Source: Prison NOMIS.

As at 26 February 2025, how many applications to the Criminal Cases Review Commission have been open for (a) over one year, (b) over two years, (c) over five years, (d) over ten years and (e) over fifteen years.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has provided the following information, which is unpublished management information and has not been subject to the same quality checks as Official Statistics which are published by the Ministry of Justice.As at 26 February 2025, the CCRC had 1,158 open cases. Of these 351 have been open for over one year, 152 have been open for over 2 years, 9 have been open for over 5 years and none have been open for over 10 or 15 years.

How many people serving Imprisonment for Public Protection sentences on licence in the community have taken their own lives in each year since 2005.

Table: Self-inflicted deaths of offenders serving an Imprisonment for Public Protection sentence supervised on licence in the community, financial year 2019/20 to 2023/24, England and Wales (1) (2) (3) 2019/202020/212021/222022/232023/24 (p)Total611974(p) The 2023/24 figures are provisional and may be updated in future publications to account for any changes or additions to the data since they were originally collected.(1) Apparent cause is as reported in annual returns (prior to 2020/21 only) or the national Delius case management system (nDelius), and has not been independently verified.(2) The reporting period for these statistics (financial year 1 April to 31 March) relates to when the death occurred.(3) A new set of death classifications was implemented on 1 April 2022 and, as such, figures for 2022/23 onwards are not comparable to those presented for previous years. The category of 'self-inflicted death' up to 31 March 2022 includes any death of a person who has apparently taken his or her own life, irrespective of intent. The category of 'self-inflicted death' from 1 April 2022 includes any death of a person at their own hand, including where intent is undetermined. This includes some drug poisonings (e.g. where a suicide note is found or the circumstances are suspicious) but not drug poisonings which appear to have been the accidental result of consumption for another purpose. Refer to the guide to deaths of offenders supervised in the community statistics for further details about the new set of classifications.Data Sources and QualityThe figures in this table have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.Source: National Delius case management system.Data is only provided from April 2019 as prior to this the data was collected via manual returns and identifying IPP offenders in this data would require a manual matching exercise of thousands of offender records. Therefore, information for the period before April 2019 could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the proposed deletion of the Gang Violence Matrix on (a) legal risks and (b) access to justice for affected people.

The now decommissioned Gang Violence Matrix (GVM) was an operational risk assessment tool used by the Metropolitan Police. The Metropolitan Police is the controller of this data and is operationally independent of Government.The Metropolitan Police has already extended the retention of the data for 12 months to enable persons seeking clarity on their inclusion on the GVM to exercise their Right of Access. Any individual who considers they may have been included on the GVM is entitled to submit a Subject Access Request to the Metropolitan Police by 13 February 2025. The Metropolitan Police advises the public of this on its website.As the GVM is a policing tool and matter, the Ministry of Justice has no input or remit in relation to its deletion.

How many people serving custodial sentences were convicted based on evidence from the Gang Violence Matrix.

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on offenders convicted and sentenced to immediate custody in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics.However, data held centrally does not include information on whether defendants were sentenced based on information obtained from the Gang Violence Matrix. This information may be held in court records, but to examine individual court records would be of disproportionate cost.

What estimate she has made of the number of people who have been (a) charged, (b) prosecuted and (c) incarcerated based on information obtained from the Gang Violence Matrix since 2011.

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on defendants prosecuted and sentenced to immediate custody in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics.However, data held centrally does not include information on whether defendants were prosecuted or sentence to immediate custody based on information obtained from the Gang Violence Matrix.This information may be held in court records but to examine individual court records would be of disproportionate costs.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of deleting the Gang Violence Matrix on the ability of wrongfully convicted people to appeal their convictions.

The now decommissioned Gang Violence Matrix was an operational risk assessment tool used by the Metropolitan Police. As a risk assessment tool, it was not used to provide evidence on which a person could be convicted. The deletion of the Gang Violence Matrix will not have any bearing on a person’s ability to appeal their convictions.In order to be convicted of an offence, evidence must be provided such that the court or jury is sure beyond reasonable doubt that the person committed the offence. There is the right to seek leave to appeal against conviction or sentence.If someone has had their application for permission to appeal refused, or had their conviction upheld on appeal, and they believe they have been wrongfully convicted, it remains open to them to apply to the Criminal Cases Review Commission.

What recent estimate she has made of the annual cost to the public purse of people serving imprisonment for public protection sentences.

It is right that the sentence was abolished. The Government is determined to make further progress towards a safe and sustainable release for those serving the IPP sentence, but not in a way that impacts public protection.For 2022/23, the average Overall Resource Expenditure cost per prisoner was £51,108. The annual cost for IPP prisoners is not collected or published.To improve the prospects of release for the unreleased cohort of IPP Prisoners, we published the updated IPP Action Plan on 15 November 2024. The Updated Plan puts stronger emphasis on effective frontline delivery in our prisons ensuring that those serving IPP sentences have a sentence plan tailored to their needs, and that they have access to the right interventions or services to address their offending behaviour.

How many people have been recalled to prison because of homelessness in each of the last 12 months.

Data on the number of offenders recalled to custody after becoming homeless are not held centrally and could only be supplied at disproportionate cost.Information about the number of IPP recalls is published in quarterly offender management statistics - Offender management statistics quarterly - GOV.UK.

How many people serving an IPP sentence have been recalled to prison because of homelessness in each of the last 12 months.

Data on the number of offenders recalled to custody after becoming homeless are not held centrally and could only be supplied at disproportionate cost.Information about the number of IPP recalls is published in quarterly offender management statistics - Offender management statistics quarterly - GOV.UK.

Pursuant to the Answer of 16 December 2024 to Question HL3055, Prisons: Repairs and Maintenance, whether the public sector will be allowed to bid for new contracts for the provision of maintenance services for prisons.

The Ministry of Justice will not be inviting public sector bids for the provision of maintenance services for prisons. A 2023 assessment undertaken in partnership with the Cabinet Office determined that a privatised solution was the preferred option for meeting prison maintenance service needs. This conclusion was approved by the previous administration.In the interests of expediting the desired improvements in prison maintenance services, the Government is currently running a competitive tender process for these new contracts in line with the recommendations made.

How many and what proportion of people serving an Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentence have been recalled to prison by (a) category and (b) reason for recall, in each of the past eight quarters.

Data on the number of offenders recalled to custody after becoming homeless are not held centrally and could only be supplied at disproportionate cost.Information about the number of IPP recalls is published in quarterly offender management statistics - Offender management statistics quarterly - GOV.UK.

How many and what proportion of people serving an Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentence have been recalled to prison due to criminal allegations made against them which did not result in further police action, in each of the past eight quarters.

Data on the number of offenders recalled to custody after becoming homeless are not held centrally and could only be supplied at disproportionate cost.Information about the number of IPP recalls is published in quarterly offender management statistics - Offender management statistics quarterly - GOV.UK.

Pursuant to the Answer of 29 November 2024 to Question 15952, on Prisoners, how many and what proportion of Parole Board recommendations on releasing (a) prisoners serving an Imprisonment for Public Protection sentence and (b) other prisoners were rejected by the Government in each of the last 12 months.

In the response to PQ 15952, it was explained that the transfer of an indeterminate sentence prisoner to open conditions is a decision for the Secretary of State. It was also explained that there is no current power for the Government to overrule a Parole Board release decision.In making a decision concerning the transfer of an indeterminate sentence prisoner to open conditions, the Secretary of State will take account of any recommendation made by the Parole Board. However, the Secretary of State may either reject or accept that recommendation. In the table below, the breakdown of data requested is provided.MonthSentence TypeAcceptedNot AcceptedTotal% Not AcceptedJanuaryNot IPP*88 IPP*1111 FebruaryNot IPP3192286% IPP*1010 MarchNot IPP5152075% IPP*1212 AprilNot IPP*77 IPP*99 MayNot IPP*1717 IPP8142264%JuneNot IPP12172959% IPP7182572%JulyNot IPP2182928% IPP7121963%AugustNot IPP32174935% IPP10192966%SeptemberNot IPP2653116% IPP1431718%OctoberNot IPP3053514% IPP1351828%NovemberNot IPP25103529% IPP1292143%DecemberNot IPP1631916% IPP861443%Note: The period used in this table is consistent with the period used in the answer provided to PQ 15952.

How many and what proportion of Parole Board recommendations on moving (a) prisoners serving an Imprisonment for Public Protection sentence and (b) other prisoners to open conditions were rejected by the Government in each of the last 12 months.

In the response to PQ 15952, it was explained that the transfer of an indeterminate sentence prisoner to open conditions is a decision for the Secretary of State. It was also explained that there is no current power for the Government to overrule a Parole Board release decision.In making a decision concerning the transfer of an indeterminate sentence prisoner to open conditions, the Secretary of State will take account of any recommendation made by the Parole Board. However, the Secretary of State may either reject or accept that recommendation. In the table below, the breakdown of data requested is provided.MonthSentence TypeAcceptedNot AcceptedTotal% Not AcceptedJanuaryNot IPP*88 IPP*1111 FebruaryNot IPP3192286% IPP*1010 MarchNot IPP5152075% IPP*1212 AprilNot IPP*77 IPP*99 MayNot IPP*1717 IPP8142264%JuneNot IPP12172959% IPP7182572%JulyNot IPP2182928% IPP7121963%AugustNot IPP32174935% IPP10192966%SeptemberNot IPP2653116% IPP1431718%OctoberNot IPP3053514% IPP1351828%NovemberNot IPP25103529% IPP1292143%DecemberNot IPP1631916% IPP861443%Note: The period used in this table is consistent with the period used in the answer provided to PQ 15952.

Pursuant to the Answer of 29 November 2024 to Question 15952 on Prisoners, how many and what proportion of Parole Board recommendations were rejected by the Government in each of the last 12 months.

In the response to PQ 15952, it was explained that the transfer of an indeterminate sentence prisoner to open conditions is a decision for the Secretary of State. It was also explained that there is no current power for the Government to overrule a Parole Board release decision.In making a decision concerning the transfer of an indeterminate sentence prisoner to open conditions, the Secretary of State will take account of any recommendation made by the Parole Board. However, the Secretary of State may either reject or accept that recommendation. In the table below, the breakdown of data requested is provided.MonthSentence TypeAcceptedNot AcceptedTotal% Not AcceptedJanuaryNot IPP*88 IPP*1111 FebruaryNot IPP3192286% IPP*1010 MarchNot IPP5152075% IPP*1212 AprilNot IPP*77 IPP*99 MayNot IPP*1717 IPP8142264%JuneNot IPP12172959% IPP7182572%JulyNot IPP2182928% IPP7121963%AugustNot IPP32174935% IPP10192966%SeptemberNot IPP2653116% IPP1431718%OctoberNot IPP3053514% IPP1351828%NovemberNot IPP25103529% IPP1292143%DecemberNot IPP1631916% IPP861443%Note: The period used in this table is consistent with the period used in the answer provided to PQ 15952.