To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 31 March 2009, Official Report, column 1070W, when he expects there to be sufficient capacity within the prison system to end the End of Custody Licence scheme. (268982)

End of Custody Licence (ECL) will be brought to end as soon as there is sufficient capacity within the prison system to do so. I set out a comprehensive strategy for managing the increasing prison population in December 2007 and we have been pursuing that strategy vigorously. We are monitoring the position carefully and will end the scheme when sufficient headroom exists.