Oral QuestionMinistry of Justice

What recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the early release scheme.

Tabled: 4 December 2024Answered: 10 December 2024

Asked by

Sir Edward Leigh

ConservativeGainsborough

Answering Minister

the Secretary of State for Justice

Answer from Hansard

The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Shabana Mahmood)

SDS40—the standard determinate sentences early release scheme—was an emergency measure that we had to take to avert the complete collapse of the criminal justice system following the shocking inheritance left to us by the previous Government. The emergency measure is not, of course, the solution to the crisis that we inherited. That is why we will build the 14,000 prison places that we need, and have launched the independent review of sentencing.