Imprisonment for Public Protection sentences: Justice Committee report

That this House welcomes the Justice Committee's report on Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences, which were introduced under the Criminal Justice Act 2003 to detain people in prison who posed a significant risk of causing harm to the public; notes that IPP sentences were abolished prospectively, but not retrospectively, by the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012; further notes that there were 2,926 IPP prisoners in England and Wales as of 30 June 2022, of which 1,492 had never been released and 1,434 had been recalled to custody, which is expected to rise sharply over the next few years; agrees with the Committee's recommendations calling for significant reform of the operation of IPP sentences, and especially its key recommendation that the Government legislate to enable a resentencing exercise for all IPP-sentenced individuals, except for those who have successfully had their licence terminated; believes that, a decade after the prospective abolition of the IPP sentence, it is time for the Government to take steps to bring certainty and hope to those prisoners still serving a sentence that has since been discredited; calls on the Government to respond to the Committee in a timely fashion and to accept its recommendations in full; and further calls on the Government to make Parliamentary time available, at the earliest opportunity, for the legislation necessary to enable a resentencing exercise.