Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to reduce reoffending rates.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Reoffending in England and Wales costs taxpayers £22.7 billion per year (adjusted to 24/25 prices). Tackling reoffending is crucial to reducing crime, reducing demand on prison and probation services and protecting the public.
Working across Government, we are taking steps to tackle the root causes of reoffending by investing in a range of interventions which address offenders’ underlying criminogenic needs and support their rehabilitation journey. This includes, but is not limited to, education, employment, accommodation and substance misuse treatment services.
We have launched regional Employment Councils, which for the first time bring businesses together with prisons, probation, and the Department for Work and Pensions to support prison leavers. We are expanding our community accommodation service to support prison leavers at risk of homelessness by providing up to 12 weeks of temporary accommodation for those under probation supervision. And we have funded Incentivised Substance-Free Living units (ISFLs) in 85 prisons, where prisoners sign a behaviour compact, agree to be regularly drug tested and can access enhanced opportunities compared to a standard wing.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the Deputy Prime Minister’s official residence in Carlton Gardens is registered with Westminster City Council as a second home.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Deputy Prime Minister’s residence at Carlton Gardens is his primary residence.
Council tax for 1 Carlton Gardens is paid for personally by its occupant, in line with long-standing government policy.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether council tax at 1 Carlton Gardens is paid by the Government.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Deputy Prime Minister’s residence at Carlton Gardens is his primary residence.
Council tax for 1 Carlton Gardens is paid for personally by its occupant, in line with long-standing government policy.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when legislation will be brought forward to prohibit the use of pain compliance techniques in custodial settings where children are detained, in the context of the recommendation of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Government has been undertaking work to determine the most suitable registration framework for the youth custody estate. A final decision on this had been planned, as set out in the Tackling Child Abuse Progress Update, for March 2026. Since the Progress Update was published in April 2025, I commissioned a wider review of safeguarding in youth custody to be undertaken by a panel, led by the Chief Social Worker for Children and Families. Ensuring the correct safeguards are in place and that staff are properly equipped to be working with children, is all within remit of the panel and it is right we let this conclude. The panel will finalise its recommendations by June 2026. We will respond to its recommendations and this IICSA recommendation in autumn 2026.
The Government rejected recommendation 5 from the Inquiry and will not be introducing legislation. Where physical safety of all children and staff in custody is concerned, it is important that trained staff are able to use these techniques, as a last resort in an emergency, to bring an incident to a safe conclusion.
The Government recognises the particular vulnerabilities of children in custody, which is why staff in the Youth Custody Service continue to be appropriately trained and that there is independent oversight and transparency over all use of these techniques through an Independent Restraint Review Panel.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he is taking steps to introduce professional registration for staff working with children in (a) young offender institutions and (b) secure training centres.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Government has been undertaking work to determine the most suitable registration framework for the youth custody estate. A final decision on this had been planned, as set out in the Tackling Child Abuse Progress Update, for March 2026. Since the Progress Update was published in April 2025, I commissioned a wider review of safeguarding in youth custody to be undertaken by a panel, led by the Chief Social Worker for Children and Families. Ensuring the correct safeguards are in place and that staff are properly equipped to be working with children, is all within remit of the panel and it is right we let this conclude. The panel will finalise its recommendations by June 2026. We will respond to its recommendations and this IICSA recommendation in autumn 2026.
The Government rejected recommendation 5 from the Inquiry and will not be introducing legislation. Where physical safety of all children and staff in custody is concerned, it is important that trained staff are able to use these techniques, as a last resort in an emergency, to bring an incident to a safe conclusion.
The Government recognises the particular vulnerabilities of children in custody, which is why staff in the Youth Custody Service continue to be appropriately trained and that there is independent oversight and transparency over all use of these techniques through an Independent Restraint Review Panel.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were convicted last year for simple possession of controlled drugs; and how many of those had a recorded drug dependency.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on convictions for a wide range of offences including drug possession offences in England and Wales within the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics.
Data held centrally by the Ministry of Justice does not contain details of a recorded drug dependency for offenders who received a conviction.
Police have the powers needed to divert individuals who commit low-level drug possession offences away from a criminal charge towards consequences that may include a requirement to attend drug educational courses and support, or treatment where needed, to help people make better, safer choices in the future.
Diverting those who use illegal drugs into interventions such as drug treatment services is key to reducing drug misuse, drug related crimes and reoffending. We support the use of Out of Court Resolution (OOCR) powers to ensure that individuals who commit low-level drug possession offences are given the opportunity to change their behaviour by diverting them to meaningful and appropriate interventions.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what timetable has been set for establishing a single national redress scheme for survivors of child sexual abuse in England and Wales, in the context of the recommendation of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government recognises the importance of victims and survivors being able to seek redress from institutions for sexual abuse suffered during childhood and that redress can take several forms.
The Government is not currently taking forward any further steps on the IICSA proposal for a separate, national financial redress scheme for all victims and survivors of child sexual abuse with a connection to state or non-state institutions.
To support victims in seeking redress, we are removing the three-year limitation period for civil claims in cases of child sexual abuse. The Government is also working to improve awareness of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme through campaigns and consultation.
The Home Office published a Progress Update on Tackling Sexual Abuse in April 2025, where further information can be found.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many defendants in each of the last five years have completed unpaid work as part of a sentence later overturned on appeal.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The table below sets out number of individuals with sentences that terminated in the calendar years between 2021 and 2025, and where there was Unpaid Work completed as part of the sentence itself recorded as having been terminated due to being overturned on appeal:
Calendar year | Number of individuals |
2021 | 92 |
2022 | 74 |
2023 | 62 |
2024 | 64 |
2025 | 71 |
These data have been gathered from National Delius (the Probation Service case management system).
Asked by: Gideon Amos (Liberal Democrat - Taunton and Wellington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what communications and outreach strategies the Department is implementing to inform victims, legal representatives, and support organisations about their eligibility and the future availability of free sentencing-remarks transcripts, in light of the 498 applications processed under the Rape and Sexual Offences pilot.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
In May 2025, we announced that we would continue to enable victims of rape and other sexual offences, whose cases were heard in the Crown Court, to apply for free transcripts of the sentencing remarks in their case, on an on-going basis. This followed a one-year pilot which ran from May 2024.
We have taken the following steps to promote the provision:
Providing the Witness Service, whose role is to support victims and witnesses at court, with an information sheet on the scheme to distribute to any eligible victims
Publishing a dedicated webpage on Gov.uk
Sharing information on the scheme at a forum with over 70 national and local stakeholders who work with or represent victims.
And creating social media posts on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and LinkedIn.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what actions are being taken to improve compliance with the Victims’ Code for survivors of child sexual abuse, in the context of the recommendation of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government accepted recommendation 14 from the Inquiry to commission a joint inspection of compliance with the Victims’ Code in relation to victims and survivors of child sexual abuse. The Criminal Justice Joint Inspectorates have confirmed that the inspection will take place in 2026-27.
Additionally, the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 introduces a new duty on criminal justice Inspectorates to consult the Victims’ Commissioner in developing their individual and joint inspection programmes. This measure was commenced in December 2025. This will support a clearer and sharper focus on how victims and survivors are treated across the system, allowing issues to be identified and solved.
The Government is committed to ensuring that victims can access the information and support they need. The Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 created a framework to monitor criminal justice agencies' compliance with the Victims' Code, including legislative duties for agencies to collect and share information on Code compliance. The framework has not yet been commenced but preparatory work is underway with criminal justice agencies on the underlying data that will support the development of the framework.
We will begin consulting on a new Victims’ Code shortly to ensure that we get the foundations for victims right. Part of the consultation will specifically look at how the Code can better support child victims.