Found: we did have an uplift to fund some things, for example the £700 million in probation for the Sentencing Bill

Found: Implement more out of court resolutions – divert prosecutions following the implementation of the Sentencing Bill

Found: MoJ 20 Introduce a new domestic abuse marker at court through the Sentencing Bill, meaning that for

Found: Of course all of this is set in the context of the Sentencing Bill going through Parliament which will

Found: MoJ ref: SUB131106 21 January 2026 GAMBLING HARMS IN THE CJS As the passage of the Sentencing Bill

Found: The Sentencing Bill, introduced to Parliament on 2 September 2025, implements a wide range of recommendations

Found: Its estimate of the shortfall takes into account the Sentencing Bill, but does not account for the

Found: custody, our work to tackle unsustainable growth in the prison population through measures in the Sentencing Bill

Found: The sentencing Bill includes several recommendations aimed at reducing the number of women imprisoned

Found: Justice and International to Lord Strathclyde, Chair of the Constitution Committee, regarding the Sentencing Bill

Found: Warinder Juss: Finally from me, when the Sentencing Bill becomes operational, it is going to result in

Found: Q437 Warinder Juss: Finally from me, when the Sentencing Bill becomes operational, it is going to result

Found: Q437 Warinder Juss: Finally from me, when the Sentencing Bill becomes operational, it is going to result

Found: With the Sentencing Bill — which introduces a presumption against short prison sentences other than

Found: With the Sentencing Bill — which introduces a presumption against short prison sentences other than in

Found: Northern Ireland Scrutiny Committee to Alex Norris MP, Minister for Border Security and Asylum, re: Sentencing Bill

Found: Letter from Alex Norris MP (Minister for Border Security and Asylum, Home Office) re Sentencing Bill,

Found: be, particularly at a time when these reform measures are interacting with the reforms in the Sentencing Bill

Found: be, particularly at a time when these reform measures are interacting with the reforms in the Sentencing Bill

Found: We are implementing measures through the Sentencing Bill to put prisons on a stable and sustainable

Found: , there are lots of representations or proposals from the Gauke review coming through in the Sentencing Bill

Found: A lot of our work is around delivering the Sentencing Bill, implementing it and investing in prisons

Found: We now have the Sentencing Bill going through, which will substantially alleviate that crisis.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will take legislative steps through the Sentencing Bill to toughen fines and sentences for people convicted of the assault of retail workers.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

The Sentencing Act 2026 received Royal Assent on 22 January 2026 and is therefore not open to further amendment. However, the Government is taking additional steps to strengthen protections for retail workers through the Crime and Policing Bill. It is unacceptable that violence and abuse towards retail workers continues to rise. That is why, through the Crime and Policing Bill, we are bringing a new offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores. This bespoke offence will send a clear signal to perpetrators that assaults on retail workers are unacceptable and won’t go unpunished.

The Crime and Policing Bill also ensures that all shop theft is treated with the seriousness it deserves by repealing section 22A of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980, so low value shop theft (of £200 or less) is no longer treated separately as a summary-only offence, but can instead be prosecuted as general theft, which carries a higher maximum penalty. Together, these measures further reinforce the Government’s commitment to tackling violence, abuse and criminality affecting retail staff.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the proposed change to standard recall length, from the current 28 days to 56 days, on pregnant women and mothers of dependent children.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

Recall is a last resort for cases where risk in the community becomes unmanageable.

The Department published an Equalities Impact Statement alongside the Sentencing Act, which can be found here: Sentencing Bill equalities statement.

It was assessed that the Act’s recall measures will not disproportionately impact those with protected characteristics.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to protect women and girls from violent offenders who have been released.

Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

This Government was elected with a landmark mission: to halve violence against women and girls within a decade. The ‘Freedom from violence and abuse: a cross-government strategy’ sets out stronger perpetrator management, including the commitment to nationally rollout Domestic Abuse Protection Orders across all police forces in England and Wales, which is critical in meeting this government ambition.

The Probation Service robustly manages offenders released from custody with a range of tools in the community and can respond to any breaches of licence with recall to prison where appropriate. The Sentencing Bill strengthens this by giving new powers to Probation to prohibit offenders from driving, attending public events and entering pubs, clubs and bars. It also introduces restriction zones, which will limit the movements of serious sexual and violent offenders to a specific geographical area, where appropriate, giving victims the peace of mind they deserve.

Further, regarding Electronic Monitoring (EM), the Domestic Abuse Perpetrators on Licence (DAPOL) pilot operates across eight probation regions, allowing Probation Practitioners to impose electronically monitored licence conditions on eligible prison leavers at the point of release from custody where necessary and proportionate. Conditions may include curfews, exclusion zones, required attendance at specified appointments, and GPS trail monitoring, with multiple applied risk assessments support it. DAPOL can also run alongside Alcohol Monitoring on Licence (AML) where alcohol misuse is linked to risk. Evaluation findings indicate that DAPOL provides reassurance to victims, with Victim Liaison Officers reporting that the ability to evidence breaches quickly helps reduce victim anxiety and strengthens confidence in the justice system.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when will the strategic governance review of the Probationary Service be published.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

The Government has committed to undertake a strategic review of the Probation Service in its manifesto. We remain committed to this and will review governance arrangements, looking at local partnerships across England and Wales.

This work will follow implementation of the Sentencing Bill reforms, which will significantly change how the Probation Service operates. Governance arrangements must be designed to enable and support the effective delivery of these reforms. Our priority is to ensure the Probation Service is on a stable footing and performance has improved before undertaking the review.

In the meantime, this Government will continue to strengthen joint working with local partners to reduce reoffending and better protect the public.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment has been made of the potential impact of court backlogs on health outcomes for prisoners held on remand.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

The Government inherited a justice system in crisis, with a record and rising open caseload of nearly 80,000 criminal cases waiting to be heard in the Crown Court and too many victims waiting years for justice. That is why the Government commissioned Sir Brian Leveson to conduct an Independent Review of the Criminal Courts. On 2 December, the Deputy Prime Minister announced a major programme of court reform to tackle these unacceptable delays and restore confidence in the criminal justice system. As part of our ongoing efforts to improve timeliness and efficiency in our criminal courts, we also asked Sir Brian to review court operations and make recommendations designed to boost court efficiency in Part 2 of his review. We are awaiting that report in the New Year and will look to act on its recommendations.

We are committed to working with our health partners to ensure that people in prison including those on remand have access to an equivalent standard, range and quality of health care in prisons to that available in the wider community to support their health outcomes. This is reflected in the National Partnership Agreement on Health and Social Care in England. This includes access to a range of treatments and interventions within prison as set out in the national service specification for mental health care in prisons.

For prisoners with severe mental health needs, the Mental Health Act (2025) received Royal Assent in December and contains several flagship reforms to improve access to mental health care and treatment, including, but not limited to, provisions to:

• Introduce a new statutory 28-day time limit for transfers from prison and other places of detention to hospital to reduce unnecessary delays experienced by prisoners who require mental health treatment.

• Stop courts temporarily detaining people with severe mental illness in prison as a ‘place of safety’ whilst awaiting a hospital bed for treatment or assessment under the Mental Health Act; and

• End the use of remand for own protection under the Bail Act where the court’s sole concern is the defendant’s mental health.

We will implement these reforms as soon as it is safe to do so.

The Sentencing Bill, currently being considered before parliament, introduces a package of amendments to the Bail Act (1976), which, alongside the presumption to suspend short sentences of 12 months or less, will help to address the unsustainable growth in the prison remand population.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to ensure the effectiveness of the proposed expansion of electronic monitoring of offenders in helping to (a) reduce reoffending and (b) support rehabilitation.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

In support of the Sentencing Bill, the Ministry of Justice will significantly expand the use of electronic monitoring as a vital tool for probation to ensure offenders are managed safely in the community.

This expansion builds on the Department’s long-standing commitment to building the evidence base for electronic monitoring. Our evaluations, alongside external research commissioned by the Department, have provided clear evidence that targeted electronic monitoring conditions can reduce reoffending and support reintegration by providing an effective alternative to custody. A recent study has found that curfew tags reduce reoffending by 20% when used as part of a community sentence. Further to this, our Acquisitive Crime pilot evaluation shows that burglars, robbers, and thieves given a constant whereabouts monitoring condition with a GPS tag were around 20% less likely to reoffend while on the tag.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the compatibility of early releases with the principles of justice.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

We must ensure that there are always sufficient prison places for dangerous offenders and those who pose a risk to the public. We are building 14,000 prison places and will have more prisoners by the time of the next election than the last. We take every possible step to mitigate risk, working in collaboration with partners across the Criminal Justice System. The introduction of the Sentencing Bill will bring an end to temporary early release measures and put the system back on a sustainable footing, ensuring sentences are served in a way that balances punishment, rehabilitation, and public safety.

We also recognise the importance of maintaining confidence in the justice system for victims and their families when designing these reforms and will continue to assess these impacts throughout implementation. Ministers and policy officials have been pleased to meet with victims’ stakeholders through a mix of individual meetings, roundtables and sector-wide engagement groups. We remain committed to continuing to engage with the victim sector to understand the impact of these changes.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the impact of early releases on (a) victims and (b) victims' families.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

We must ensure that there are always sufficient prison places for dangerous offenders and those who pose a risk to the public. We are building 14,000 prison places and will have more prisoners by the time of the next election than the last. We take every possible step to mitigate risk, working in collaboration with partners across the Criminal Justice System. The introduction of the Sentencing Bill will bring an end to temporary early release measures and put the system back on a sustainable footing, ensuring sentences are served in a way that balances punishment, rehabilitation, and public safety.

We also recognise the importance of maintaining confidence in the justice system for victims and their families when designing these reforms and will continue to assess these impacts throughout implementation. Ministers and policy officials have been pleased to meet with victims’ stakeholders through a mix of individual meetings, roundtables and sector-wide engagement groups. We remain committed to continuing to engage with the victim sector to understand the impact of these changes.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of his Department's progress towards its target of increasing prison capacity.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

This Government inherited a prison system in collapse. We have taken decisive action to put prison capacity on a sustainable footing and end the cycle of repeated crises.

We have committed to the largest expansion of the estate since the Victorians, investing £7 billion in building prison places between 2024/25 and 2029/30. We are on track to deliver 14,000 new prison places by 2031 with c. 2,900 delivered already under this Government.

On top of this, we have introduced landmark sentencing reforms to end our prisons crisis – and deliver punishment that cuts crime. On 2 September we introduced the Sentencing Bill to take forward most of the recommendations made by David Gauke’s Independent Sentencing Review, as well as the measures that go further to manage offenders in the community. The House of Lords committee stage was concluded on 3 December.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to Written Question 11190, what steps his department plans to take to reduce the remand population over the next calendar year.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

We continue to work closely with partners from across the criminal justice system to manage the growth in the prison remand population. The Sentencing Bill, currently being considered before parliament, introduces a package of amendments to the Bail Act 1976, which, alongside the presumption to suspend short sentences of 12 months or less, will help to address the unsustainable growth in the prison remand population.

This package of amendments includes changing the “no real prospect” test in the Bail Act 1976 so that fewer exceptions to bail will apply where the court considers that a sentence of immediate custody is unlikely. We are also adding to the factors that the courts must consider when deciding whether to refuse or grant bail to include consideration of whether the defendant is pregnant, a primary caregiver, or a victim of domestic abuse.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 5 November 2024 to Question 11190, what progress he has made on tackling remand numbers.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

We continue to work closely with partners from across the criminal justice system to manage the growth in the prison remand population. The Sentencing Bill, currently being considered before parliament, introduces a package of amendments to the Bail Act 1976, which, alongside the presumption to suspend short sentences of 12 months or less, will help to address the unsustainable growth in the prison remand population.

This package of amendments includes changing the “no real prospect” test in the Bail Act 1976 so that fewer exceptions to bail will apply where the court considers that a sentence of immediate custody is unlikely. We are also adding to the factors that the courts must consider when deciding whether to refuse or grant bail to include consideration of whether the defendant is pregnant, a primary caregiver, or a victim of domestic abuse.

Found: 196 See for example, Debate on Child Risk Disclosure Scheme, 14 October 2025, Debate on the Sentencing Bill

Found: Sentencing Bill 2024-26: Lords Amendments

Found: Sentencing Bill: Briefing papers

Found: Additionally, the Sentencing Bill was introduced on 2 September 2025 to take forward recommendations

Found: The Sentencing Bill which will enact many of the reforms proposed in Independent Sentencing Review is

Found: the Probation Service, reflecting the increased pressure on the Probation Service following Sentencing Bill

Found: Our Sentencing Bill will also strengthen transparency, with a new, comprehensive release framework for

Found: estimated impact of the Sentencing Act 2026 is available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/ sentencing-bill

Found: k) Introduce a new domestic abuse marker at court through the Sentencing Bill, meaning that for the

Found: This comes on top of the landmark reforms to cut crime through the Sentencing Bill as well as the government

Found: Additionally, the Sentencing Bill was introduced on 2 September 2025 to take forward recommendations

Found: implementation of FTR48 and preparing for the implementation and changes resulting from the Sentencing Bill

Found: we are now able to set out our direction with greater certainty following Royal Assent of the Sentencing Bill

Found: The Sentencing Bill which will enact many of the reforms proposed in Independent Sentencing Review is

Found: the Probation Service, reflecting the increased pressure on the Probation Service following Sentencing Bill

Found: estimated impact of the Sentencing Act 2026 is available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/ sentencing-bill

Found: estimated impact of the Sentencing Act 2026 is available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/ sentencing-bill

Found: MoJ ref: SUB131106 21 January 2026 GAMBLING HARMS IN THE CJS As the passage of the Sentencing Bill

Found: for Income Reduction Orders (IROs), as discussed during the Committee stage (first day) of the Sentencing Bill

Found: sentences (PASS) was introduced others have emulated this approach, such as in the recent UK Sentencing Bill

Found: “Progression Model” allowing release after serving one-third of a sentence, are part of the Sentencing Bill

Found: 2025 Consent recommended Public Office (Accountability) Bill 31/10/2025 Consent not recommended Sentencing Bill