Lord Bradley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradley on 2015-10-29.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government (1) how many decisions to grant release on temporary licence were made, and (2) what type of licence was granted in each prison establishment, in each month since January 2013.
Lord Faulks
The Ministry of Justice collates data on incidences of release on temporary licence (ROTL) rather than on decisions to grant ROTL. A decision to grant ROTL can relate to a single incidence of release, or to more than one incidence of release where, for example, an offender is regularly working in the community on day release. Annual statistics on the numbers of individuals granted ROTL is published on the gov.uk website.
The attached tables provide the following information:
Table 1: The number of individuals released on temporary licence per quarter between January 2013 and June 2015 by prison;
Table 2: Incidences of release on temporary licence per month between January 2013 and June 2015 by prison and by type of licence;
Table 3: The number of individuals aged 50 to 59, and 60 and over released on temporary licence per quarter between January 2013 and June 2015.
The Ministry of Justice collates data relating to the number of individuals released on temporary licence on a quarterly basis: it would only be possible to provide monthly data at disproportionate cost.
Following changes to ROTL in 2013, there has been a 39% reduction in recorded instances of ROTL failure. This is the lowest failure rate since 2002.
ROTL can be an important tool to help rehabilitate prisoners. ROTL is not automatic, but is only granted following rigorous assessment and with public protection as a primary consideration. The Government supports prisoners using temporary release to take work, training and educational opportunities that cannot be provided in prison, as well as for maintaining ties with their families.
