To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners had been reassessed and recategorised into a different security level to that of their current prison on 1 March 2009 and were awaiting transfer and unable to be moved; and for how long each had been awaiting transfer. (278703)

This information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost as it would involve contacting every prison who would then have to consult individual prisoner records.

There has been no relaxation of security categorisation standards.

Public protection remains paramount when undertaking the categorisation process.