How many prisoners have been released early since 1997; and if he will make a statement.

There are two schemes under which prisoners may be released before they have served half their sentence. The latest published figures show that of a total of about 800,000 prisoners who came through the system between 1999 and the end of 2008, some 159,000, or 20 per cent., were released under the home detention curfew scheme. Of about 200,000 prisoners who came through the system from June 2007 until the end of September this year, approximately 70,000 were released under the end of custody licence scheme.

A few months ago Michael Eccles, a young father in my constituency, was murdered. The people who did it were found and sentenced to prison but, under the terms of their sentence, they could be released in just a few years. Can the Secretary of State understand the anger and frustration of the family and friends who feel that justice is not being served by such short sentences?

As the hon. Gentleman and all of us do, I share the grief of the family.

If the conviction was for murder, the sentence will have been for life. A minimum tariff will have been set, although I do not know what it was. Home detention curfew and early release from custody under the 18-day provision do not apply to any such serious offenders. Even once they have served their tariff-I would be very surprised if it were not in double figures-they will be released only once they have satisfied the Parole Board that it is safe. I assure the hon. Gentleman that the victim's bereaved family will have a right to appear before the Parole Board.

Six years ago, in the Criminal Justice Act 2003, there were introduced a whole new raft of sentencing provisions in magistrates courts, such as custody plus, custody minus, the 51-week provision and so on. They went on to the statute book, so can the Secretary of State tell us why, six years later, they have not even been implemented?

Yes-it is because of resources. We have had to use a very large amount of resources to expand the prison estate, among other things. We have done so dramatically, and it is now up to 84,300-odd places and will get to at least 96,000 in five years' time. We have also spent money on probation, for which resources have increased as the number of offenders coming through the system has. I regret that we have not been able to do everything, but we have done a huge amount. The fact that we have greatly strengthened the correctional system is one of many reasons why this Administration are the first to see crime go down, not up.