FOI REF: FOI/2023/4822
You asked
I am requesting information about the delayed 2022 prison population projections. The 2021 projection states that the next projection is due in August 2022.
The 2020 and 2021 projections were published in November 2020 and 2021. In late November 2022 I accessed a GOV UK web page which stated that the 2022 projection had been “published but not released”. Subsequently that message was replaced with another above giving the February publication date.
Questions
- What does ‘published but not released’ mean?
- Please provide a copy of the projections that were published but not released in November 2022.
- Why are the 2022 projections not being published until February 2023, which is six months late?
- What is the justification for the 2022 projection being six months late, when even during the height of the pandemic, the 2020 and 2021projections were produced ‘only’ three months late?
We said
Thank you for your request relating to prison population projections.
The Ministry of Justice are responsible for publishing these statistics with the latest version being found here:
Prison Population Projections: 2020 to 2026 - GOV.UK.
These cover prison population projections for England and Wales for 2020 to 2026.
If you have any queries about these statistics, you can contact Ministry of Justice via statistics.enquiries@justice.gsi.gov.uk or ESD@justice.gov.uk.
If you have any further crime-related enquiries, the ONS Centre for Crime and Justice can be reached at the following e-mail address: CrimeStatistics@ons.gov.uk.