In her December 2023 report, the then Chief Inspector of Probation suggested exploring options that may allow more prompt release of IPPs including using Fixed Term Recall (FTR), to reduce the uncertainty and despair felt by many after recall.

This Government is taking action to curtail IPP licence periods and provide for automatic licence termination in specific circumstances to give rehabilitated people the opportunity to move on with their lives, while continuing to make sure the public are protected from the most serious offenders, through multiple measures included in the Victims and Prisoners Bill.

Case law dictates that to recall an indeterminate sentence prisoner there must be a causal connection to the original offending so you cannot recall an indeterminate sentence offender unless you consider there is a risk similar to the one when they committed the index offence. Based on this, the government believes it is very unlikely that an IPP prisoner would meet the test to be considered for FTR i.e. that they would not be a serious risk to the public if re-released after 14 or 28 days.

Instead, the Government has tabled amendments to the Victims and Prisoners Bill which will enable the Secretary of State to release a recalled IPP offender following Risk Assessed Recall Review (RARR) without the need for a Parole review when he considers it is in the interests of justice to do so.

We have taken significant action through the Victim’s and Prisoner Bill to curtail IPP licence periods to give offenders the opportunity to move on with their lives. In addition to these changes, the actions this Government is taking are working: the number of prisoners serving the IPP sentence who have never been released now stands at 1,180 as of 31 March, down from more than 6,000 in 2012.

The Secretary of State has a statutory power to grant the early release of prisoners serving a sentence or term of imprisonment in custody on compassionate grounds. The power is used in exceptional circumstances only and in accordance with the HMPPS the Early Release on Compassionate Grounds Policy Framework.

Early release on compassionate grounds may, for example, be considered for terminally ill prisoners with a diagnosis of limited time left to live, and where there is medical advice that their end-of-life palliative care needs would be better met in a hospice. Compassionate release of such individuals is only approved if a risk assessment confirms they are safe to release.

The table shows the number of prisoners released early on compassionate grounds from 2010 to 2023. Data prior to 2010 is not available in a useable format and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

1. Please note that data for 2024 has not been provided as it is a subset of data which are due for future publication as part of Offender Management Statistics Quarterly.
2. 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.

The number of self-inflicted deaths of offenders serving an Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentence on licence in the community in England and Wales in each year between April 2019 and March 2023 are shown in the table.

Self-inflicted deaths of offenders serving an Imprisonment for Public Protection sentence supervised on licence in the community, financial year 2019/20 to 2022/23, England and Wales ^{(1) (2) (3)}

(p) The 2022/23 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 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 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.

The information for the period before April 2019 could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Under sections 47/49 of the Mental Health Act 1983, the Secretary of State may authorise by warrant the transfer of sentenced prisoners to a mental health hospital, where he is satisfied that the criteria for detention are met by the aforementioned Act. Thereby, and for the duration of the period in hospital, the transferred prisoner becomes what is known as a restricted patient.

The requested data in the tables below are taken from an electronic casework system. Snapshot data of restricted patients in hospital are available only at the end of each year. We have provided this information in Table 1 for 2019-2022. We are unable to recreate snapshot data, for the start of each of the last 20 quarters, due to limitations of the case management system.

Table 1: Population of offenders serving a sentence of imprisonment for public protection (IPP) detained in hospital as a restricted patient on 31 December in each year from 2019-2023.

Table 2: The number of offenders serving an IPP sentence who have been transferred from prison to secure hospitals on mental health grounds in each year since 2020.

Notes

1. These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large-scale recording systems are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
2. Where patients are admitted more than once, each admission is counted separately. This information does not count number of individual patients but instances of transfers.

Data Source: Public Protection Unit Database (PPUD)

Under sections 47/49 of the Mental Health Act 1983, the Secretary of State may authorise by warrant the transfer of sentenced prisoners to a mental health hospital, where he is satisfied that the criteria for detention are met by the aforementioned Act. Thereby, and for the duration of the period in hospital, the transferred prisoner becomes what is known as a restricted patient.

The requested data in the tables below are taken from an electronic casework system. Snapshot data of restricted patients in hospital are available only at the end of each year. We have provided this information in Table 1 for 2019-2022. We are unable to recreate snapshot data, for the start of each of the last 20 quarters, due to limitations of the case management system.

Table 1: Population of offenders serving a sentence of imprisonment for public protection (IPP) detained in hospital as a restricted patient on 31 December in each year from 2019-2023.

Table 2: The number of offenders serving an IPP sentence who have been transferred from prison to secure hospitals on mental health grounds in each year since 2020.

Notes

1. These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large-scale recording systems are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
2. Where patients are admitted more than once, each admission is counted separately. This information does not count number of individual patients but instances of transfers.

Data Source: Public Protection Unit Database (PPUD)

With other Government Departments, the Ministry of Defence delivers a range of services to our brilliant veterans and their families. That includes the administration and payment of armed forces pensions and compensation, the provision of tailored advice and assistance through the veterans welfare service, defence transition services and the integrated personal commissioning for veterans.

Information on the number of shared owners who have staircased to full ownership is publicly available from our live tables on social housing sales.

The department collects information on the number of households living in Shared Ownership homes via the English Housing Survey.

It is not possible to distinguish between Rent to Buy – Shared Ownership and other Shared Ownership products in these datasets.

Information on the number of shared owners who have staircased to full ownership is publicly available from our live tables on social housing sales.

The department collects information on the number of households living in Shared Ownership homes via the English Housing Survey.

It is not possible to distinguish between Rent to Buy – Shared Ownership and other Shared Ownership products in these datasets.

Local areas already have the discretion to make grants above the current upper limit on a case-by-case basis, or in line with a locally published housing assistance policy. As with all aspects of the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG), the Government will continue to keep the upper limit under review.

The Next steps to put People at the Heart of Care plan announced a further £102 million for housing adaptation support, £50 million in 2023/24 and £52 million in 2024/25. This is in addition to the £573 million per year which is already available for the DFG. The increase will enable local areas to fund minor home adaptations and other supplementary services that will help people stay independent, and support hospital discharge.

Fuel poverty is a devolved matter. The latest figures, published on 15 February 2024, showed that 3.17 million households were in fuel poverty in 2023. The Government continue to deliver financial support to low-income homes and vulnerable households through the warm home discount scheme and cost of living payments.

The English Housing Survey collects data on accessibility and adaptations within the home; the most recent report is published online.

New build homes are constructed to meet Building Regulations accessibility standards in force at the time of build; the most recent data on new build home rates was published by Office for National Statistics on 30 January 2024.

The National Planning Policy Framework sets out that local authorities should assess the size, type and tenure of housing needed for different groups in the community. It is for local planning authorities to assess local needs, including needs for older people and people with disabilities, and make provision in their local plans.

The information requested is not held centrally.

The Ministry of Justice publishes statistics on the volumes of landlord repossessions which can be found here; however, it is not possible to disaggregate this by the characteristics of the individual(s) being evicted or the grounds of the eviction.

The most recent Statutory homelessness statistics (April- June 2023) is available at Homelessness statistics which includes households that are owed a homelessness duty due to their support needs, including those with a disability.

Childminders are a key part of the childcare market and they will play a significant part in the government’s increased early years entitlements offer.

Funding made available in the dedicated schools grant (DSG) for the entitlements to early education for two, three and four-year-olds cannot be claimed by, or spent on, childminders providing childcare for related children. This restriction is placed on local authorities funding relatives and is set out in the Childcare Act 2006 (the 2006 Act) Section 18(4)(c). The 2006 Act specifically excludes care provided for a child by a parent or other relative, and section 18(8)(c) of the 2006 Act states that a relative, in relation to a child, means ‘a grandparent, aunt, uncle, brother or sister, whether of the full blood or half blood or by marriage or civil partnership’.

This approach avoids creating an incentive for adults to register to become childminders and being paid to look after related children that they are already looking after on an informal basis.

A local authority can choose to fund a childminder providing care for a related child. However, this would have to be from the local authority funds that are independent of the DSG.

In the case of a nursery or pre-school, the funding is not necessarily paid to an individual who is caring for a relative, but to the setting which provides early education to a group of children, which may include a child related to a member of staff.

We are in close and regular contact with sector representative bodies and councils from across the local government family to monitor budgets and service delivery. I have had many discussions with those bodies and organisations since my appointment. As hon. Members will know, the final local government finance settlement for 2023-24 made available up to £59.7 billion for local government in England, an increase in core spending power of up to £5.1 billion, or 9.4%, in cash terms on 2022-23. The Government will continue to look in the round at local government spending ahead of fiscal events, and we will be announcing funding for next year’s finance settlement later this month.

The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR) are made under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and apply to all sectors and workplaces in Great Britain.

Under RIDDOR, at Regulation 6, requires the responsible person to report:

• Any death as a result of a work-related accident;
• Any death resulting from occupational exposure to a biological agent; and
• Any death caused by a reportable injury where death occurs within a year of the accident.

A suicide would not meet the criteria for reporting under RIDDOR as it is not a death resulting from a work related accident or occupational exposure. An ‘accident’ is defined under RIDDOR as an unforeseen and unintentional incident.

Suicides will be considered in an Inquest conducted by a Coroner or Procurator Fiscal (in Scotland) who will make the decision whether the death was ‘suicide’. The Coroner/Procurator Fiscal can refer cases to the HSE, or other public body, if they consider there is an ongoing risk to others.

The Home Office does not collect information centrally on how many serving police officers have taken their own lives.

This information is held by individual Police Forces.