Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment has he made of the potential impact of the Prison Education Service on the future prospects of prisoners.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Ministry of Justice and HMPPS are committed to improving the future prospects of prisoners through comprehensive education and skills provision. Last year, a new Prisoner Education Service was launched which is designed to improve the literacy, numeracy and wider skills of all prisoners who need it and support them to gain qualifications that will increase their employment prospects on release. New contracts include a strengthened specification for high-quality delivery, improved screening and assessment, clearer requirements for support for additional learning needs, and a new Careers, Information, Advice and Guidance service. These new contracts are underpinned by improved digital infrastructure, including the Learning & Work Progress Service and new screening and assessment tools which will help prisoners by reducing repeated assessments and ensuring that information about their progress follows them across the estate.
Education activities in each prison are planned by Heads of Education, Skills and Work who bring teaching expertise into prison leadership to ensure provision meets the needs of the local cohort. Prisoners can access a comprehensive curriculum including reading support, functional skills, digital skills, vocational and technical training, and opportunities to progress to higher-level learning. Governors can use the Dynamic Purchasing System to commission specialist provision that reflects local labour market needs and the requirements of their population. The Ministry of Justice is undertaking a full evaluation of the new Prisoner Education Service.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people participating in hunger strikes in prisons became hospitalised for reasons associated with the strike in (a) 2023, (b) 2024 and (c) 2025.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
None of the requested data are centrally collated. They could not be obtained without incurring disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the answer of 26 November 2025 to Question 92757, what steps he is taking to ensure sufficient capacity to meet the anticipated additional demand; and whether those improvements will be in place prior to implementation of the Renters' Rights Act 2025.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
To prepare for the anticipated demands of the Renters’ Rights Act, we have launched a significant programme of work. This includes recruiting additional administrative staff, establishing a centralised operational hub, and updating our operational processes to improve efficiency. We are also ensuring the availability of suitable estates capacity for hearings and enhancing our technology systems to support the increased workload. We expect these measures to be in place in time for implementation of the Renters’ Rights Act.
We are maintaining investment in the annual recruitment of around 1,000 judges and tribunal members across all courts and tribunals, with specific recruitment for the judges and members needed for the Property Chamber. Further recruitment in 2026 is planned.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 21 November 2024 to Question 14399 on Offenders: Electronic Tagging, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of alcohol monitoring tags in reducing the level of alcohol related reoffending.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Department keeps the use of alcohol monitoring under review and has commissioned a programme of evaluations to assess impact on compliance and reoffending. For community sentences, compliance with court‑imposed alcohol bans is high. Published statistics show a compliance rate with the ban of over 97% for days monitored, since introduction, as shown here: Electronic Monitoring MI Publication, June 2025 - GOV.UK.
For post‑custody use, we published the Alcohol Monitoring on Licence (AML) process and interim impact evaluation in October 2025, linked here: Alcohol monitoring on licence: process and interim impact evaluation - GOV.UK.
Enforcement decisions are recorded within individual probation case management records and are taken on a case‑by‑case basis by supervising practitioners. To collate this locally held information could only be done at a disproportionate cost. Non‑compliance can lead to proportionate enforcement ranging from further engagement with the person on probation through formal warnings and breach action, up to recall where risk or persistent non‑compliance warrants it.
We publish regular Alcohol Monitoring Statistics. The latest publication sets out statistics on AAMR orders and the use of AML orders from 31 July 2025 to 30 November 2025 and can be found here: Ad-Hoc Alcohol Monitoring Statistics Publication, Dec 2025 - GOV.UK.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many alerts were triggered by alcohol monitoring tags in December 2024; and what proportion of those alerts resulted in enforcement action, including recall to prison and return to court.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Department keeps the use of alcohol monitoring under review and has commissioned a programme of evaluations to assess impact on compliance and reoffending. For community sentences, compliance with court‑imposed alcohol bans is high. Published statistics show a compliance rate with the ban of over 97% for days monitored, since introduction, as shown here: Electronic Monitoring MI Publication, June 2025 - GOV.UK.
For post‑custody use, we published the Alcohol Monitoring on Licence (AML) process and interim impact evaluation in October 2025, linked here: Alcohol monitoring on licence: process and interim impact evaluation - GOV.UK.
Enforcement decisions are recorded within individual probation case management records and are taken on a case‑by‑case basis by supervising practitioners. To collate this locally held information could only be done at a disproportionate cost. Non‑compliance can lead to proportionate enforcement ranging from further engagement with the person on probation through formal warnings and breach action, up to recall where risk or persistent non‑compliance warrants it.
We publish regular Alcohol Monitoring Statistics. The latest publication sets out statistics on AAMR orders and the use of AML orders from 31 July 2025 to 30 November 2025 and can be found here: Ad-Hoc Alcohol Monitoring Statistics Publication, Dec 2025 - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of redundancies to be made in the Prison Education Service as a result of the reduction in funding.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Ministry of Justice is committed to supporting prisoners’ rehabilitation through educational activities. The national funding for prison education has not been reduced; it increased by 3% this financial year. However, inflationary pressures across education services have affected the proportion of the overall budget that can be directed to Core Education contracts. This has resulted in a national reduction of around 20-25% in Core Education delivery. This reduction is not uniform across the estate, and variation is due to an updated education funding formula, which ensures prison allocations more accurately reflect prison function, capacity and learner need.
Governors continue to have flexibility to commission the education that best meets the needs of their population, and the wider educational offer, such as vocational training in industries settings, further and higher education, libraries, and Careers, Information, Advice and Guidance remain in place. We are also working closely with Governors to maximise attendance at education to ensure best value for money and the best outcomes for prisoners. We will monitor delivery and outcomes through contract management and a full evaluation of the new Prisoner Education Service.
Suppliers as part of their mobilisation activities have reviewed their organisational structures to ensure that these are responsive to the commissioned delivery requirements, which unfortunately has led to some redundancies. Suppliers are working to support their employees through this period of change. Specific figures relating to the number of redundancies are held by suppliers, rather than the Ministry of Justice.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment has he made of the potential impact of reduced funding for the prison education service on prisoner outcomes.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Ministry of Justice is committed to supporting prisoners’ rehabilitation through educational activities. The national funding for prison education has not been reduced; it increased by 3% this financial year. However, inflationary pressures across education services have affected the proportion of the overall budget that can be directed to Core Education contracts. This has resulted in a national reduction of around 20-25% in Core Education delivery. This reduction is not uniform across the estate, and variation is due to an updated education funding formula, which ensures prison allocations more accurately reflect prison function, capacity and learner need.
Governors continue to have flexibility to commission the education that best meets the needs of their population, and the wider educational offer, such as vocational training in industries settings, further and higher education, libraries, and Careers, Information, Advice and Guidance remain in place. We are also working closely with Governors to maximise attendance at education to ensure best value for money and the best outcomes for prisoners. We will monitor delivery and outcomes through contract management and a full evaluation of the new Prisoner Education Service.
Suppliers as part of their mobilisation activities have reviewed their organisational structures to ensure that these are responsive to the commissioned delivery requirements, which unfortunately has led to some redundancies. Suppliers are working to support their employees through this period of change. Specific figures relating to the number of redundancies are held by suppliers, rather than the Ministry of Justice.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps is he taking to develop a comprehensive education programme for prisoners.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Ministry of Justice and HMPPS are committed to improving the future prospects of prisoners through comprehensive education and skills provision. Last year, a new Prisoner Education Service was launched which is designed to improve the literacy, numeracy and wider skills of all prisoners who need it and support them to gain qualifications that will increase their employment prospects on release. New contracts include a strengthened specification for high-quality delivery, improved screening and assessment, clearer requirements for support for additional learning needs, and a new Careers, Information, Advice and Guidance service. These new contracts are underpinned by improved digital infrastructure, including the Learning & Work Progress Service and new screening and assessment tools which will help prisoners by reducing repeated assessments and ensuring that information about their progress follows them across the estate.
Education activities in each prison are planned by Heads of Education, Skills and Work who bring teaching expertise into prison leadership to ensure provision meets the needs of the local cohort. Prisoners can access a comprehensive curriculum including reading support, functional skills, digital skills, vocational and technical training, and opportunities to progress to higher-level learning. Governors can use the Dynamic Purchasing System to commission specialist provision that reflects local labour market needs and the requirements of their population. The Ministry of Justice is undertaking a full evaluation of the new Prisoner Education Service.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to assure the safety of people working in the prison education service.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Ministry of Justice and HMPPS has zero tolerance for violence against prison officers and prison staff, including those who work in prison education.
The Education Provider is required to abide by all prison risk assessments and safe systems of work put in place by the Governor to ensure appropriate staff safety. Education Providers have a further responsibility to ensure that all staff are properly trained and carry out their duties in line with Health and Safety Policies, and are required to work with the Governor, including participating in Risk Assessment processes where necessary. There are established routes for escalation of any Safety issues for resolution.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the cost to the public purse was of feasibility studies conducted by their Department for projects that did not proceed in the last five years.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The information requested is not centrally held in an accessible form.
Due to this any response could only be collated and verified for the purposes of answering this question at disproportionate cost.