Asked by: Baroness Smith of Llanfaes (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether it is possible for the Welsh Ministers to make His Majesty’s Probation and Prison Service liable to be required to comply with Welsh language standards, pursuant to the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011, without the Secretary of State’s consent.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
It is for Welsh Ministers to specify, in regulations under the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011, the bodies which the Welsh Language Commissioner may require to comply with Welsh language standards. Where Welsh Ministers seek to provide for standards to apply specifically to a Minister of the Crown, they must obtain the consent of the relevant Secretary of State.
HM Prison & Probation Service has a Welsh Language Scheme (2024-27) which outlines its Welsh language obligations. The scheme, which applies in England as well as Wales, has been approved by the Welsh Language Commissioner, who regulates compliance with Welsh language requirements under the Welsh Language Act 1993 and the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of support available for victims of prisoners mistakenly released from prison.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The HMPPS Victim Contact Scheme is a service for the victims of offenders who are convicted of a specified violent, sexual or terrorism offence and are sentenced to twelve months or more imprisonment. Victims who decide to receive the service are allocated a Victim Liaison Officer who will keep the victim updated on key stages throughout the sentence, including if the offender is released from prison in error and when the offender is returned to custody.
Whilst the Victim Contact Scheme is not a support service, Victim Liaison Officers are responsible for directing and referring victims to sources of additional support where this is appropriate, including national and location victim support services. Under the Victims’ Code, all victims are entitled to be given information about and be referred to victim support services by the police to help them cope and recover from the impact of a crime.
Through the Victims and Courts Bill, we will be updating the legislative framework that establishes the Victim Contact Scheme to bring victims currently served by different post-conviction communication schemes into the Victim Contact Scheme and provide a new route for other victims to request information via a dedicated helpline.
Asked by: Rebecca Paul (Conservative - Reigate)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many transgender young people are currently held in mixed gender settings within the Children and Young People Estate at HMP & YOI Downview.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
HMP & YOI Downview is not part of the Children and Young People Estate. No children or young people are accommodated there.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much HM Prison and Probation Service has spent on translation and interpretation services in each of the last five years.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The information requested can be found in the tables below.
Translation:
FY | Translation |
FY21-22 | £ 83,462.46 |
FY22-23 | £ 137,213.31 |
FY23-24 | £ 280,071.34 |
FY24-25 | £ 328,526.54 |
FY25-26 | £ 142,303.32 |
Total | £ 971,576.97 |
Interpreting:
FY | Interpreting |
FY21/22 | £ 133,776.35 |
FY22/23 | £ 125,495.41 |
FY23/24 | £ 163,546.08 |
FY24/25 | £ 161,212.42 |
FY25/26 | £ 105,987.79 |
Total | £ 690,018.05 |
The Ministry of Justice has a statutory duty to provide Language Services to enable access to justice for users whom English is not their first language. Language Service needs and spend are assessed to ensure these services offer good value for money for taxpayers whilst maintaining high standards of service delivery.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will issued sentencing guidelines for people convicted of supporting Hamas during university protests.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Government is absolutely clear that support for proscribed organisations is unacceptable. Section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000 (TACT) makes it an offence to invite support for; recklessly express support for; or arrange a meeting in support of a proscribed organisation. Section 13 of TACT makes it an offence to wear clothing or carry articles in public, which arouse reasonable suspicion that an individual is a member or supporter of a proscribed organisation, and publish an image of an item of clothing or other article, such as a flag or logo in the same circumstances. Proscription offences can carry a maximum penalty of up to 14 years in prison and/or an unlimited fine.
While everyone is entitled to their political opinions, and higher education providers have duties to take reasonably practicable steps to secure freedom of speech and academic freedom within the law, any discussions and protests must be lawful. Inciting others to violence or terrorism is not protected speech. In these instances, we would expect university leaders to take robust action, particularly where there are concerns that a criminal act may have been committed, including reporting crimes to the police.
The investigation and prosecution of criminal offences, including determining whether an offence has been committed or not, is a matter for the police and Crown Prosecution Service, which are operationally independent. Sentencing decisions in individual cases are a matter for the independent judiciary.
Sentencing guidelines are developed by the Sentencing Council for England and Wales, in fulfilment of its statutory duty to do so. All sentencing courts in England and Wales must follow any sentencing guidelines which are relevant to the offender’s case, unless it is in the interests of justice not to do so (by virtue of section 59 of the Sentencing Code). The court must give reasons when departing from the guidelines.
The Sentencing Council has issued a package of guidelines on terrorism offences, including the s.12 TACT offence of support of a proscribed organisation, which provide the Court with guidance on factors that should be considered, which may affect the sentence given. They set out different levels of sentence based on the harm caused and how culpable the offender is. The guidelines also include non-exhaustive lists of aggravating and mitigating factors which can result in an upward or downward adjustment in the sentence. The guidelines can be found online at the Council’s website: https://sentencingcouncil.org.uk/.
Asked by: Robert Jenrick (Conservative - Newark)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Sahayb Abu v Secretary of State for Justice [2025] EWHC 3026 (Admin), how much his Department has paid Mr Denny De SIlva in (a) damages, (b) other compensation, (c) ex gratia or out-of-court payments and (d) legal costs.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
I refer the Right Hon. Member to the Answer I gave on 17 November to Question 89422.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of prisoners were (a) released into homelessness and (b) homeless three months after release in each quarter since January 2022.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
We are taking a number of steps to reduce numbers of those being released from prison homeless, including measures to improve joint processes and guidance across prisons, probation and local authorities. Overall statutory responsibility for housing and homelessness lies with local authorities in both England and Wales.
We are working closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and other Departments through the Inter-Ministerial Group on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping to develop a new long-term cross-government strategy to put us back on track to ending homelessness.
We deliver our Community Accommodation Service Tier 3 (CAS3) to support prison leavers who are subject to probation supervision and at risk of homelessness, by offering up to 12 weeks of basic transitional accommodation to provide a stable base on release.
We employ 50 prison-based Strategic Housing Specialists, including nine across the female estate, to support prisons to reduce homelessness on release by working in partnership with probation teams and Local Authorities.
Published figures relating to offender accommodation outcomes can be found here: Offender Accommodation Outcome Statistics - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to reduce the number of people needing homelessness relief from local authorities on release from prison.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
We are taking a number of steps to reduce numbers of those being released from prison homeless, including measures to improve joint processes and guidance across prisons, probation and local authorities. Overall statutory responsibility for housing and homelessness lies with local authorities in both England and Wales.
We are working closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and other Departments through the Inter-Ministerial Group on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping to develop a new long-term cross-government strategy to put us back on track to ending homelessness.
We deliver our Community Accommodation Service Tier 3 (CAS3) to support prison leavers who are subject to probation supervision and at risk of homelessness, by offering up to 12 weeks of basic transitional accommodation to provide a stable base on release.
We employ 50 prison-based Strategic Housing Specialists, including nine across the female estate, to support prisons to reduce homelessness on release by working in partnership with probation teams and Local Authorities.
Published figures relating to offender accommodation outcomes can be found here: Offender Accommodation Outcome Statistics - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that biological male prisoners are not held in women's prisons.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Almost all transgender prisoners are already allocated in line with their biological sex. Over 95% of transgender women are held in men's prisons, and the majority of those in the women's estate are held on E Wing at HMP/YOI Downview, a separate unit where they cannot access the wider regime unless risk assessed as being safe to do so and they are supervised by staff.
No transgender women who retain their birth genitalia and/or have any history of sexual or violent offences can be held in the general women’s estate unless an exemption is granted by a Minister.
The small number of transgender women who are held in the general women's estate are there because they have been risk-assessed as being safe to do so, and because there is a compelling reason to hold them there (which can include risks to them from a placement elsewhere).
We are reviewing transgender prisoner policy following the For Women Scotland vs. The Scottish Ministers Supreme Court ruling and will be able to say more about this in due course.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many possession claims relating to Section 21 notices are currently awaiting court hearing; and what the average waiting time is for those hearings.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
A Section 21 notice provides for an accelerated court process, usually without a hearing. However, if the application is not in order or the tenant challenges the claim a hearing may be scheduled.
The Civil Procedure Rules stipulate that possession claims should be listed within 4 to 8 weeks of a claim being issued. The most recent published statistics, covering the period July to September 2025 show that the median time from claim to order is 7.6 weeks.
The Government has set out its roadmap for implementing the Renters’ Rights Act 2025. Private landlords will not be able to serve new Section 21 notices on their tenants on or after 1 May 2026.
The Ministry of Justice publishes quarterly data on possession claims at: Mortgage and landlord possession statistics: July to September 2025 - GOV.UK.