Offender management statistics bulletin: January to March 2014
Source: data.gov.uk (2018-05-25)

Offender Management Statistics. Key statistics relating to offenders who are in prison or under Probation Service supervision.

It covers flows into these services (receptions into prison or probation starts) and flows out (discharges from prison or probation terminations) as well as the caseload of both services at specific points in time.

Offender Management Statistics 
Bulletin, England and Wales 
 
Quarterly – January to March 2014 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Ministry of Justice 
Statistics bulletin 
 
 
31 July 2014 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
1 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2 

Contents 
 
Introduction 
4 
Prison population 
6 
Prison receptions 
9 
Prison releases 
9 
Probation 
10 
Licence recalls 
12 
Appendix A – Data sources and quality 
14 
Appendix B – Users of Offender Management Statistics 
18 
Contact points 
19 
 
 
 
 
3 

Introduction 
 
This publication provides key statistics relating to offenders who are in prison or 
under Probation Service supervision in England and Wales. It covers flows into 
these services (receptions into prison or probation starts) and flows out (releases 
from prison or probation terminations) as well as the caseload of both services at 
specific points in time. 
 
Latest figures for the quarter January to March 2014 are provided and compared 
to the same period in 2013 for each topic. This is with the exception of the prison 
population where more recent data are available (30 June 2014). 
 
This bulletin is published alongside three inter-related bulletins:  
 
 
Proven Re-offending Statistics Quarterly: provides proven re-offending 
figures for offenders who were released from custody, received a non-
custodial conviction at court, received a caution, reprimand, warning or 
tested positive for opiates or cocaine in the 12 months ending September 
2012.  
 
 
Safety in Custody Statistics Quarterly update to March 2014: provides 
statistics on death, self harm and assault incidents whilst in prison custody.  
 
 
Accredited Programmes, Annual Bulletin 2013/14: provides statistics on 
accredited programmes undertaken across prison and probation trusts 
during each financial year. Key figures include the number of starts and 
completions by programme. 
 
Taken together, these publications present users with a more coherent overview 
of offender management including re-offending among both adults and young 
people, and the safety of offenders whilst in prison custody. 
 
The United Kingdom Statistics Authority has designated the statistics in this 
publication as National Statistics, in accordance with the Statistics and 
Registration Service Act 2007 and signifying compliance with the Code of 
Practice for Official Statistics.  
 
Designation can be broadly interpreted to mean that the statistics:  
 
•  
meet identified user needs;  
•  
are well explained and readily accessible;  
•  
are produced according to sound methods; and  
•  
are managed impartially and objectively in the public interest.  
 
Once statistics have been designated as National Statistics, it is a statutory 
requirement that the Code of Practice shall continue to be observed.  
4 

Table 1: Overview – latest period compared to the previous year 
30 June 2014
Percentage change 30 June 2013 to 
30 June 2014
Prison population
85,509
2%
ٛ
Remand
12,197
11%
Untried
8,618
11%
ٛ
Convicted unsentenced
3,579
11%
Sentenced
71,481
1%
ٛ
Fine Defaulters
120
-9%
Less than or equal to 6 months
4,569
-2%
ٛ
Greater than 6 months to less than 12 months
2,081
-3%
12 months to less than 4 years
19,589
1%
ٛ
4 years or more (excluding indeterminate sentences)
27,275
4%
ٛ
Indeterminate sentences
12,587
-5%
ٛ
Recalls
5,260
3%
ٛ
Non criminal
1,831
-6%
31 March 2014
Percentage change 31 March 2013 
to 31 March 2014
Prison receptions
First receptions
26,151
-1%
ٛ
Remand - untried
11,817
4%
ٛ
Remand - convicted unsentenced
7,987
-1%
Sentenced
19,951
-3%
ٛ
Fine Defaulters
228
-16%
Less than or equal to 6 months
9,030
-5%
ٛ
Greater than 6 months to less than 12 months
2,166
-4%
12 months to less than 4 years
6,199
-2%
ٛ
4 years or more (excluding indeterminate sentences)
2,237
0%
ٛ
Indeterminate sentences
91
18%
ٛ
Prison releases
Determinate sentences
18,171
-9%
ٛ
Less than or equal to 6 months
7,453
-6%
ٛ
Greater than 6 months to less than 12 months
1,968
-7%
12 months to less than 4 years
6,479
-11%
ٛ
4 years or more (excluding indeterminate sentences)
2,271
-10%
Indeterminate sentences
178
5%
ٛ
Indeterminate sentence for public protection (IPP)
101
19%
Life sentence
77
-8%
ٛ
Average percentage of time served
(1)
Determinate sentences
52%
0pp
ٛ
Less than or equal to 6 months
53%
0pp
Greater than 6 months to less than 12 months
47%
-1pp
ٛ
12 months to less than 4 years
49%
1pp
4 years or more (excluding indeterminate sentences)
54%
-2pp
ٛ
Probation starts
All court orders
40,805
5%
ٛ
All community sentences
27,397
0%
Community order
26,979
1%
ٛ
Other sentences
13,576
16%
Suspended sentence order with requirements
11,712
8%
ٛ
Pre release supervision
10,261
-6%
ٛ
31 March 2014
Percentage change 31 March 2013 
to 31 March 2014
Persons supervised by the Probation Service
All court orders
110,588
-1%
ٛ
All community sentences
74,456
-3%
Community order
72,936
-2%
ٛ
All pre CJA orders
72
-51%
Youth rehabilitation order 
1,528
-14%
ٛ
Other sentences
38,595
2%
Deferred sentence
119
25%
ٛ
Suspended sentence order
38,492
2%
All pre and post release supervision
109,620
-2%
ٛ
Pre release supervision
71,303
2%
ٛ
Post release supervision
38,852
-7%
ٛ
31 March 2014
Licence recalls
Recalled in latest quarter
4,196
Not returned to custody by 31 March 2014
71
Total not returned to custody by 31 March 2014
1,030
1) Average percentage of time served includes time served on remand; change in percentages are given as percentage point change (pp).
 
5 

Prison population 
The prison population grew rapidly between 1993 to 2008, at an average of 4% a 
year. This rapid rise was driven by: 
 
 Increases in the number of people sentenced to immediate custody from 
1993 to 2002;  
 Increases in the average custodial sentence length and increased use of 
indeterminate sentences; and 
 Increases in the number of offenders recalled to prison following breaches of 
their licence conditions, along with increases in the average length of time 
these offenders spent in prison once recalled. 
 
The rise in the prison population slowed considerably from the summer of 2008, 
in part due to the introduction of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008, 
which changed sentencing and offender management in ways which helped to 
reduce growth in the prison population. 
 
This flatter trend continued until the public disorder seen in UK cities from 6 to 9 
August 2011 which had an immediate but temporary impact on the prison 
population. During 2012 and into 2013, the prison population began to fall due to 
a falling remand population and a continued decline in the number of under 18s 
in custody. The falling remand population during 2012 reflected falling volumes 
going through the courts plus the introduction of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and 
Punishment of Offenders Act (LASPO) 2012 in December 2012. This Act 
restricted the use of remand for offenders who would be unlikely to receive a 
custodial sentence. 
 
The ‘Story of the Prison Population 1993 to 2012’ is an in-depth look at what 
happened to the prison population between 1993 and 2012 and the major factors 
contributing to the changes.  
 
Following the LASPO Act in December 2012, and up until the end of June 2013, 
the prison population stabilised. In particular, by March 2013, the remand 
population stopped falling, which it had been since the end of August 2011.  
 
6 

Figure 1.1: Quarterly prison population and annual percentage change, 
England and Wales, December 1995 to June 2014 
 
0
10,000
20,000
30,000
40,000
50,000
60,000
70,000
80,000
90,000
100,000
Jun
1995
Jun
1996
Jun
1997
Jun
1998
Jun
1999
Jun
2000
Jun
2001
Jun
2002
Jun
2003
Jun
2004
Jun
2005
Jun
2006
Jun
2007
Jun
2008
Jun
2009
Jun
2010
Jun
2011
Jun
2012
Jun
2013
Jun
2014
Prison population
-6.0%
-4.0%
-2.0%
0.0%
2.0%
4.0%
6.0%
8.0%
10.0%
12.0%
14.0%
Percentage change
Prison population
Change in end of quarter prison population 
compared with the same period the previous 
year
 
 
Between the end of June 2013 and the end of June 2014, the prison population 
increased by 2% from 83,842 to 85,509. The majority of this is explained by the 
remand population which increased by 11% from 10,971 to 12,197 over the 
same period. Changes to the sentenced population explain the rest of the 
increase. 
 
The increase in the total remand population was due to a rise in the untried and 
convicted unsentenced populations (with proportionate increases of 11% seen in 
both groups), and across the majority of the different offence groups. The 
increase has been driven by the adult remand population, which after remaining 
stable up until the end of August 2013, rose sharply until the end of October 
2013, and has since risen more gradually up until the end of June 2014. This has 
been attributed to an increase in demand on the courts, which in some cases has 
led to longer waiting times. 
 
Trends in the young adult and youth remand populations do not reflect this same 
change. The remand population of young adults (18- 20 year olds) has remained 
stable, and that of 15-17 year olds increased by just 2%.   
 
The sentenced population has increased slightly by 1% from 70,913 at the end of 
June 2013 to 71,481 at the end of June 2014. The increase has been driven by 
the adult sentenced population, which rose by 2% over the period. Looking at 
specific offence groups, the number of sentenced adult sex offenders increased 
by 7% from 10,187 to 10,867 over the period. This is consistent with the 
increasing number of sex offenders being given custodial sentences by the 
7 

courts and, more broadly, with the recent ‘Crime in England and Wales’ bulletin 
from the Office for National Statistics that reported an increase in sexual offences 
recorded by the police for the year ending March 2014. Again these changes are 
not reflected in the young adult and youth populations, which decreased by 11% 
and 19% respectively. 
 
Additionally, the increase in the adult sentenced population is related to higher 
numbers serving determinate sentences of twelve months or more. Much of the 
increase in the numbers serving long determinate sentences is due to the 
LASPO Act, introduced in December 2012. This Act abolished the Indeterminate 
Sentence for Public Protection (IPP) and introduced the new Extended 
Determinate Sentence (EDS), which is available for offenders who would 
previously have received an IPP or an extended sentence. As at the end of June 
2014 there were 1,043 offenders serving an EDS. 
 
Of the 12,587 prisoners serving indeterminate sentences (IPP or life), down 5% 
on the previous year, just over 40% were serving IPPs and just under 60% were 
serving life sentences. The fall in the number of IPPs of 9% from the previous 
year is down to abolition of these sentences under LASPO in December 2012.  
On 30 June 2014 there were 3,620 IPP prisoners in custody past their tariff 
expiry date (71% of the current IPP population) and 2,557 lifers who were past 
their tariff (34% of all lifers). The number of whole lifers in prison at the end of 
June 2014 was 48, with six additional life prisoners being treated in secure 
hospitals. 
 
Over the longer term, an increasing proportion of sentenced prisoners are 
serving sentences for more serious offences – the proportion serving sentences 
for sexual offences increased from 10% in 2000 to 16% at the end of June 2014.  
Similarly, 27% of the sentenced population had committed violence against the 
person offences, up from 21% in 2000.  Sentence lengths have increased, with 
66% of determinate sentenced prisoners serving between 12 months and more 
than 4 years, and 18% of all sentenced prisoners serving indeterminate 
sentences.  
 
In contrast, the number serving sentences for motoring offences has fallen 
steadily over time, now comprising 1% of the sentenced population compared 
with 4% in 2000, and the proportion serving sentences for burglary has fallen 
from 17% in 2000 to 10% at the end of June 2014. 
 
The foreign national population in custody is 10,834 on 30 June 2014, making up 
13% of the whole prison population, which is consistent with previous periods.  
 
A 6% drop in the number of non-criminals in prison reflects a revised agreement 
with Home Office to reduce the number of immigration detainees in the prison 
estate, following an earlier agreement which increased these numbers in the last 
quarter.   
 
 
8 

Prison receptions 
First receptions provide an indication of the number of new prisoners in a time 
period. A person received into prison to serve a sentence may previously have 
been received on remand after conviction prior to sentence and before that as a 
remand prisoner awaiting trial. First receptions will count that prisoner only once 
in the relevant time period in which they were first received. 
 
In the most recent quarter there were 26,151 first receptions into prison, a fall of 
1% compared to the same period in the previous year. Juvenile and young adult 
receptions decreased across all sentence lengths, apart from young adults 
sentenced to less than or equal to six months. For adults, unsentenced remand 
receptions and receptions for longer sentences of 4 years or more (including 
indeterminates) increased by one and five per cent respectively, but shorter 
sentence receptions of under 12 months fell by 3%. 
 
Between the quarters ending March 2013 and March 2014, untried receptions 
increased for the most serious offences (violence against the person 11%, sexual 
offences 12%) and drugs offences (5%), but decreased for motoring offences 
(16%), robbery (14%) and burglary (8%). In the unsentenced population 
receptions increased for violence against the person (3%) and fraud and forgery 
(4%), but decreased for motoring (30%) and drugs (12%) offences. 
 
The number of prisoners received under sentence in the quarter ending March 
2014 fell by 3% compared to the quarter ending March 2013. This reflects an 
increase in sentenced receptions for sexual offences (14%), but decreases for all 
other offence groups (in particular fraud and forgery (12%), and robbery and 
burglary (both 11%)).  
 
The rise in numbers received into prison to serve a long determinate sentence 
partly reflects the impact of sentencing changes introduced in December 2012 
which introduced the new Extended Determinate Sentence. These changes also 
resulted in a large fall in the number of offenders entering prison to serve an 
indeterminate sentence. 
 
 
Prison releases 
Statistics on people being released from prison have been previously called 
discharges. Whilst the term ‘discharge’ is used operationally for the process of a 
prisoner being released from prison, it is not immediately clear to users what this 
represents. Therefore, in this edition of OMSQ, and in future editions, what has 
previously been called ‘discharges’ will now be called ‘releases’. No changes to 
the method, recording practices, or data sources used for prisoner 
discharges/releases have been made. 
9 

 
A total of 18,349 offenders were released from custody in the quarter ending 
March 2014, a fall of 9% since March 2013, including a 9% decrease in 
determinate releases across all sentence lengths, in particular for both males and 
females serving longer sentences.  
 
There were 101 offenders released from an IPP and a further 77 from a life 
sentence, making up a 5% increase for releases from indeterminate sentences. 
In addition, 17 indeterminate sentenced prisoners were removed under the Tariff 
Expired Removal Scheme (TERS). This scheme allows indeterminate sentenced 
foreign national prisoners, who are liable to removal from the UK, to be deported 
from the country on or after the date of their tariff expiry without reference to the 
Parole Board. The scheme began in May 2012, and by the end of December 
2013 there had been 222 removals in total. 
 
Average sentence lengths of those released remained stable, with a 2% increase 
in releases from sentences of less than 6 months, 5% increase for sentences of 
4 years or more, and no changes for the other sentence lengths. Average time 
served also remained relatively stable, as did percentage of sentence length 
served.   
 
The number of offenders released on Home Detention Curfew (HDC) continues 
to fall, and did so by 18% to 2,167 between the quarters ending March 2013 and 
March 2014. To be considered for release under HDC an offender must be 
serving a sentence of less than 4 years and the number of offenders serving 
such sentences has been falling (see earlier population section). The decrease in 
the eligible population will have a direct impact on the number that can be 
considered for HDC release and the number that are subsequently released.  
 
Between January and March 2014, there were 125,332 releases on temporary 
licence (ROTL) from prisons in England and Wales. This is a 1% increase since 
January to March 2013. This is due to an increase in the number of Resettlement 
Day Release licences, which have increased by 2%, whilst all other types of 
licence have shown a decrease. The number of releases for females increased 
by 8% compared to a 1% increase for males over the same period. The total 
number of individuals given at least one instance of ROTL between January and 
March 2014 was 5,523, which is a 9% decrease over the year. Of the individuals 
given at least one instance of ROTL, 15% were on an indeterminate sentence. 
The number of recorded temporary release failures between January and March 
2014 was 78, which is an 18% decrease over the year. The number of recorded 
failures has shown a decrease every quarter since April to June 2013. 
 
Probation 
 
Transforming Rehabilitation is a reform programme that is changing the way 
offenders are managed in the community. Key aspects of the reforms include 
creating a new public sector National Probation Service (NPS) to work with the 
most high-risk offenders, and forming 21 new Community Rehabilitation 
10 

Companies (CRCs) to manage medium and low-risk offenders. The new NPS 
and 21 CRCs have been operational since 1 June 2014, and from that point 
Probation Trusts ceased to exist. However since the reporting period for this 
bulletin covers January to March 2014, we have continued to publish statistics at 
Probation Trust level in the accompanying tables. Plans on how to change the 
relevant tables have been set out in the ‘Changes to Offender Management 
Statistics Quarterly’ document, published on 24 July 2014 at the link below: 
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/changes-to-offender-management-
statistics-quarterly-and-annual-editions 
 
The total annual probation caseload (court orders and pre and post release 
supervision) increased by 39% between 2000 and 2008 to 243,434. Since then 
the probation caseload has fallen year on year, reaching 219,588 at the end of 
2013, down 2% from the previous year. 
 
As at the end of March 2014, the total caseload fell again to 218,671 – down 2% 
compared to the end of March 2013. 
 
 
Figure 1.2:  Number of offenders under Probation Service supervision (at 
end December), 2003-2013 
 
0
50,000
100,000
150,000
200,000
250,000
300,000
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
Post-release supervision
Pre-release supervision
Suspended sentences
Community sentences
 
 
 
 
 
 
Note: the total number of offenders is overstated as some appear in more than one category.   
 
The court order caseload decreased slightly by 1% to 110,588, with the 
community order caseload falling 2% but the suspended sentence order (SSO) 
caseload rising by 2% between the quarters ending March 2013 and 2014. 
However, the number of offenders starting community orders increased slightly 
over this period, rising by 1% to 26,979, whilst starts of SSOs with requirements 
attached increased by 8% to 11,712. 
 
11 

In addition, in the quarter ending March 2014 there were over 1,700 starts of 
SSOs without requirements attached. This brings the total number of stand-alone 
SSOs starts to 6,350 since they were introduced under the LASPO Act 2012 (see 
data sources and quality section). 
 
The caseload of offenders supervised before or after release from prison showed 
a decrease of 2% between the quarters ending March 2013 and 2014 to 
109,620, with those supervised under post release falling by 7% to 38,852, 
consistent with the falling trend in prison releases. The number of pre-release 
supervision starts fell by 6% to 10,261, in line with prison receptions where the 
number of offenders starting prison sentences continues to fall. 
 
The number of requirements started under court orders showed a rise roughly in 
line with the increase in court order starts. However, there has been a notable 
rise in curfews, and standalone curfews in particular (up 31% to 4,231 for 
community orders). This may reflect the impact of a mandatory punitive 
requirement in every community order, introduced from December 2013 under 
the Crime and Courts Act 2013. 
 
Of the court orders terminated in the quarter ending March 2014, almost two-
thirds were terminated successfully (either ran full course or terminated early for 
good progress). This was true for both Community Orders and SSOs, and is 
broadly stable when compared to the same time last year.  
 
The number of court reports prepared by the Probation Service continued to fall – 
a total of 40,012 court reports were prepared in the quarter ending March 2014, 
10% down on the quarter ending March 2013, reflecting the continuing downward 
trend in the number of cases being dealt with by the courts. The decrease was 
driven by a large fall in the number of Standard PSRs (Pre-Sentence Reports) 
and fast delivery oral reports, which fell by 17% and 13% respectively.  Fast 
delivery written reports also fell (down 3%). 
 
In general, courts follow the sentences proposed in PSRs, particularly where an 
immediate custodial sentence has been recommended - 87% of such proposed 
sentences in PSRs resulted in immediate custody. 
 
 
Licence recalls 
Offenders serving a sentence of twelve months and over are, in most cases, 
released from prison automatically at the half way point of their sentence, under 
licensed supervision to the Probation Service. They are all subject to a set of 
standard licence conditions, requiring them to report regularly to the Probation 
Service, live at an address approved by the Probation Service, and to be of good 
behaviour.  
A key element of public protection is that offenders released on licence should be 
effectively supervised in the community and swiftly recalled to custody if their 
12 

behaviour gives cause for concern. It is explained to offenders at the outset that 
they may be recalled to custody if they breach any of the conditions of their 
licence.  
There are various reasons why offenders are recalled to custody for breaching 
their licence conditions besides committing a further offence. For example, an 
offender may be recalled if there is any deterioration in behaviour which leads the 
Probation Service to conclude that there is an increased risk of the offender 
committing further offences.  
 
Over the period 1999 to March 2014, a total of 658,000 offenders were released 
from prison on licence supervision. Between April 1999 and March 2014, 
173,013 of those released on licence were recalled to custody for breaching the 
conditions of their licence, e.g. failing to report to their probation officer.  Of all 
those recalled, just 1,030 had not been returned to custody by the end of March 
2014. This number is a cumulative total since 1984, and therefore it will tend to 
increase over time. However the proportion of prisoners not returned to custody 
over this period is 0.6% and this is a relatively constant figure when compared to 
previous years. This total may include some offenders believed to be dead or 
living abroad but who have not been confirmed as dead or deported. 
 
Of the 1,030 not returned to custody by 31 March 2014, 129 had originally been 
serving a prison sentence for violence against the person offences, and a further 
37 had been serving a prison sentence for sexual offences. 
 
During the quarter ending 31 March 2014, a total of 4,196 offenders were 
recalled to custody and 71 had not been returned by 30 June 2014. This number 
is likely to decrease over time as police have more opportunity to locate and 
arrest these offenders. 
 
The end-to-end measure across all agencies involved in the process is for 75 per 
cent of recalled offenders to be returned to custody within 74 hours for 
emergency recalls and 144 hours for standard recalls. In the quarter ending 31 
March 2014, 81% (3,394) were returned within agreed timescales, up 2.4 
percentage points from the quarter ending December 2013. 
 
 
13 

Appendix A – Data sources and quality 
The data presented in this publication are drawn from administrative IT systems. 
Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail 
collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording 
system. While the figures shown have been checked as far as practicable, they 
should be regarded as approximate and not necessarily accurate to the last 
whole number shown in the tables. Where figures in the tables have been 
rounded to the nearest whole number, the rounded components do not always 
add to the totals, which are calculated and rounded independently. 
 
Impact of data quality issues and revisions 
 
 
Population data 
 
Routine data quality checks identified an issue with how offenders who are held 
post-sentence awaiting deportation are recorded within the population data.  At 
any given time, around 300 offenders who should be recorded as non-criminals, 
wrongly remained recorded as sentenced prisoners.  This issue has been 
resolved with effect from April 2013 and revised figures have been provided in all 
tables reporting the prison population by type of custody and offence. 
 
While it was not possible to also carry out the data quality work on data prior to 
April 2013, it is likely that the impact would have been similar (around 300 non-
criminal prisoners incorrectly recorded as sentenced prisoners at both points in 
time). 
 
 
Receptions data 
 
Following the introduction and phased roll-out of a new case management 
system for prisons (prison-NOMIS) from May 2009, data collection issues 
emerged that affected the supply of data for statistical purposes. The vast 
majority of issues were resolved in March 2010; however, prison receptions data 
for 2010 is unavailable due to problems in the supply of data for statistical 
purposes. 
 
Analysis of the receptions data in early 2010 identified a problem with the way 
reception dates were being handled in the data extract used centrally (operations 
within prisons were unaffected). In terms of producing the statistics, this 
potentially affected the period for which a given reception was counted, for 
example Q3 2010 versus Q4 2010.  Further analysis has shown that the issues 
predominantly affected 2010, with data from 2011 onwards impacted less. 
 
While the data may not be accurate to the last digit, it is considered robust 
enough for analysis of broad trends; both over time, and between different types 
of reception. 
 
14 

 
Probation data 
 
From February 2013, there has been a phased introduction and rollout of a 
national case management information system across all Probation Trusts (n-
Delius).  As of 31 January 2014, all trusts have migrated to the new system. 
 
As a result of that migration, there has been an increase in the number of 
offenders within the migrated trusts with tier of supervision recorded as ‘Tier not 
stated’. Investigations are being undertaken to identify the source of this issue. 
 
The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 introduced 
Suspended Sentence Orders (SSOs) without requirements attached.  Offenders 
sentenced to such SSOs are not supervised by the Probation Service as there 
are no requirements for the offender to meet, other than to not commit a further 
offence – they do not therefore appear on a Probation Trust’s caseload.  There 
have been increasing numbers of such orders given since they were introduced 
in December 2012, and their inclusion in the number of overall SSO starts 
resulted in a reversal of the general downward trend – this was seen for the first 
time in the quarter ending June 2013. 
 
As the Probation Service is not required to supervise offenders with stand-alone 
SSOs, we have taken steps to separate these orders out and they are reported 
separately in Table 4.1.  All other tables containing starts of SSOs exclude stand-
alone SSOs (Tables 4.2 to 4.6). 
 
 
Pre-sentence court reports (PSR) data 
 
Evidence provided by Probation Trusts suggested that published statistics on the 
number of PSRs prepared by each trust were lower than those statistics 
produced by their internal case management systems. 
 
The PSR data collection process in place until 31 March 2012 entailed each trust 
providing monthly data on the number of reports prepared that month, with the 
data extracted on or just after the 15th of the following month, e.g. data for July 
collected on 15th August. On investigation it emerged that many trusts, 
particularly those in large metropolitan areas, enter some PSRs onto case 
management systems after this date due to data collection practicalities. To 
address this issue, trusts were asked to submit each monthly return two months 
later than previously to allow time for additional reports to be recorded, and the 
impact on the statistics was assessed. 
 
This new extended data collection process has been introduced for data from 
April 2012, and we estimate that the statistics now capture between 1 and 3 per 
cent more PSRs per quarter as reported within Tables 4.12 and 4.13.  
 
Subsequent data quality work has shown that the introduction of a longer time 
lag between the date a PSR is prepared and when data is extracted from case 
management systems, i.e. more than two months, would capture more court 
15 

report data (over and above the additional 1 to 3 per cent now included in the two 
most recent quarters). However, these further increases were mostly seen in the 
number of court reports prepared for breaches, court reviews and deferred 
sentences (see below). For standard and fast delivery pre-sentence reports, a 
two month time lag captures the vast majority of data and there are diminishing 
returns in extending the data collection period any further. 
 
During the data quality work described above, it emerged that previously 
published data for court reviews, PSR breach reports and deferred sentences 
was incomplete in terms of coverage across all trusts and that there were 
inconsistencies between trusts in the coverage and content of the data extracted 
from their case management systems. This data has therefore been removed 
from Table 4.12 for all quarters – the estimated impact on the total number of 
reports written is a reduction of around 4,500 reports per quarter. 
 
It is hoped that with the introduction and phased rollout of a national 
management information system (nDelius) for all Probation trusts and, since 1 
June 2014, the National Probation Service (NPS), more accurate and complete 
data can be produced on PSR breach reports in future. This will be kept under 
review. 
 
In addition, during routine data quality work carried out as part of production of 
last quarter’s bulletin, it emerged that there were a large number of PSRs without 
completion rates in large metropolitan areas, London in particular.  Migration to 
nDelius has introduced delays to logging of PSRs and their completion rates, the 
impact of which was a substantial fall in the number of PSRs prepared in the 
second half of 2013.  Our assessment at the time was that data were not 
considered suitable for publication. 
 
Significant data cleaning work has since been carried out and the data are now 
considered to be robust and of sufficient quality to resume publication. 
 
 
HDC eligibility 
 
In order to bring the coverage of HDC eligibility in line with all other prison 
population data, figures from 2011 onwards have been taken from a different 
source resulting in a break in series from 2011. To aid comparison, 2011 figures 
within Table A3.5 have been presented using both data sources.  The impact of 
the change in data source is a 2 per cent increase in the number eligible for HDC 
which results in a slight fall in the release rate (down 1 percentage point). 
 
The increase in the number of offenders identified as being eligible for HDC in 
the new data source is due to improved recording of release dates which enables 
more prisoners to be captured in the ‘eligible’ category. Using the previous data 
source, if the release date for an offender was missing, they would have been 
excluded from the eligible category as it would not have been possible to 
determine at which point they were eligible to be released under HDC.  
 
 
16 

Indeterminate sentences for public protection  
 
Information relating to tariffs for IPP and DPP prisoners and those serving life 
sentences is held by the Offender Management and Public Protection Group, 
NOMS, in the Public Protection Unit Database (PPUD).  
 
 
Licence recalls and returns to custody 
 
Returned to custody – the figures for those returned to custody include people 
who have died or been deported by the UK Borders Agency as prior to 2007 this 
information was not collected separately. The information held centrally records 
whether or not recalled offenders are still wanted for return to custody but for 
those offenders no longer wanted for return to custody, information is not held on 
whether the recall was completed by actual return to custody or because the 
offender died or was deported.  
 
Not returned to custody – this includes those offenders believed to be dead or 
living outside of the UK but who have not been confirmed as dead or deported. 
 
 
Symbols used  
..  
not available 
0 
Nil or less than half the final digit shown 
- 
not applicable 
* 
One or both of the comparison figures are less than 50 
(p) 
Provisional data 
(r) 
Revised data 
 
Revisions policy 
 
Figures for prison receptions and releases for each of the first three quarters of 
the calendar year are generally revised alongside figures for quarter 4 in the 
October to December publication each year. Prison population, probation and 
licence recall figures are not routinely revised, but are corrected if an error is 
identified.  
 
Any revisions will be accompanied by an explanation for the revision and its 
impact, along with – where appropriate - an assessment of whether the impact is 
in line with previous revisions. 
17 

Appendix B – Users of Offender Management Statistics 
The contents of the report will be of interest to the public, government policy 
makers, the agencies responsible for offender management at both national and 
local levels, and others who want to understand more about the prison 
population, probation caseload, licence recalls and returns to custody. 
 
The statistics included in this publication are used extensively and meet a broad 
spectrum of user needs as shown below. 
User 
Summary of main statistical needs 
MOJ Ministers 
Use the statistics to monitor the prison population and 
capacity of the prison estate; monitor effectiveness of 
probation service and whether resources are deployed 
efficiently; assess policy impacts (e.g. changes to 
sentencing guidance) 
MPs and House of 
Lords 
Statistics are used to answer parliamentary questions – 
approximately 100 are answered each year using prison 
and probation data 
Policy teams 
Statistics are used to inform policy development, to 
monitor impact of changes over time and to model 
future changes and their impact on the system 
Agencies responsible 
for offender 
management 
Current and historical robust administrative data are 
used to support performance management information 
at national and local levels within each agency to 
complement their understanding of the current picture 
and trends over time 
Academia, students 
and businesses 
Used as a source of statistics for research purposes 
and to support lectures, presentations and conferences, 
e.g. data on female foreign national prisoners are 
included in ‘The Criminalisation of Migrant Women’ 
report published by the Institute of Criminology, 
University of Cambridge in July 2012 
Journalists 
Used as a compendium of robust data on offender 
management so that an accurate and coherent story 
can be told on the prison population and probation 
service 
Voluntary sector 
Data are used to inform policy work, responses to 
consultations and briefing papers by analysing trends 
and changes to the prison population, e.g. the Prison 
Reform Trust use published offender management data 
to compile the ‘Bromley Briefing Prison Factfiles’ 
General public 
Data are used to respond to ad-hoc requests and 
requests made under the Freedom of Information (FOI) 
Act: offender management data is used to answer 
around 100 FOIs each year 
 
 
18 

19 
Contact points 
Press enquiries should be directed to the Ministry of Justice press office: 
Tel: xx-xxxx-xxxx 
 
Other enquiries about these statistics should be directed to: 
 
 
Jonny Hughes 
Ministry of Justice 
Justice Statistics Analytical Services 
7th Floor 
102 Petty France 
London 
SW1H 9AJ 
 
General enquiries about the statistical work of the Ministry of Justice can be e-
mailed to: xxx@xxx.xx 
 
General information about the official statistics system of the UK is available from 
www.statistics.gov.uk 
 
Ministry of Justice publishes data relating to offender management in England 
and Wales. Equivalent statistics for Scotland and Northern Ireland can be found 
at: 
 
www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Crime-Justice 
 
www.dojni.gov.uk/index/statistics-research/stats-research-publications.htm 
 
 
This publication and associated spreadsheet files of the tables contained in this 
document and detailed information of definitions, sources and key legislative 
changes are available for download at  
www.gov.uk/government/publications/offender-management-statistics-quarterly--
2 
 
 
© Crown copyright 
Produced by the Ministry of Justice Alternative formats are available on request 
from xxx@xxx.xx