Dominic Raab has insisted the number of criminals who abscond from prison is “very low” after confirming he will personally review requests to move high-risk offenders to open jails.

But the Justice Secretary admitted he would only be able to look at the “top slice” of requests involving the most high-risk criminals because otherwise “the volume of cases would inundate us”.

He made the comments after sex offender Paul Robson, who went on the run from an open prison in Lincolnshire sparking a major manhunt, was arrested.

Speaking during a visit to new category C prison HMP Five Wells in Wellingborough, which officially opened on Friday, Mr Raab said: “The number of absconders is very low, just to be clear, much lower than it was in 2010.

“He (Robson) was arrested very quickly and as a result now, he won’t have any of those other opportunities for years.

“But you’re right to say, I wasn’t happy when I came and reviewed the process for moving people into open conditions.

“So I’ve looked at that again, changed the criteria, and made sure ministers are being personally consulted, and I’m going to talk a bit more in the same vein about parole reform soon.”

Mr Raab said he wants to “top slice” the cases where he feels there is a “higher element of risk” and make sure “there’s ministerial, both control and accountability”.

He added: “I think what people are fed up of hearing is that we own the system but we don’t take responsibility for it because it’s delegated to officials.

“I think people expect their ministers and politicians to be held accountable for it – which means we need to change the system accordingly.

“But it will only be the top slice of high risk because the volume of cases would inundate us.”

During the visit, Mr Raab spoke to a prisoner who said release on temporary licence (ROTL) is something they want to see more of as part of their rehabilitation work.

Asked by reporters if ROTL was something he wants to see expanded, Mr Raab said: “It’s a very sensitive issue as to who we release into open prisons, who we release into ROTL, and of course parole.

“To be honest with you, my number one priority would be protecting the public.

“But I do think that ROTL is a very good way of getting offenders into work, and actually far from weakening control, what you know is that offenders that go onto ROTL are much more likely, if they’re in work, to comply with their conditions.

“The sentence is the sentence but using ROTL through work to try and give offenders skill in the game, hope, and drive them, giving them motivational drive to stay clean, stay straight and stay in work – I think that is powerful.”