Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many prisoners are (1) eligible for support, and (2) receiving support, under section 117 of the Mental Health Act 1983.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The eligibility criteria for Section 117 applies to those who have been discharged from hospital following detention under the Mental Health Act, including those who have been remitted to prison. This is to help meet their needs and reduce the risk of their mental health condition worsening, which could lead to another hospital admission. Where prisoners are remitted back to prison, their right to receive Section 117 aftercare should be dealt with in the same way as it would be in the community, apart from any provisions which do not apply in custodial settings, such as direct payments and choice of accommodation. We do not hold centralised data on the number of prisoners receiving support under Section 117.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many prisoners serving an Imprisonment for Public Protection sentence have been held for 15 years or more beyond their original tariff.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice routinely publishes data in Offender Management Statistics Quarterly (OMSQ) on the number of unreleased prisoners serving Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences that are over tariff, broken down by time spent over tariff.
As of 30 September 2025, there were 233 IPP prisoners that were 15 years or more over their tariff. The latest data published can be found in Table 1.Q.18: prison-population-30-Sept-2025.ods
Data on the number of recalled IPP prisoners by tariff length are not collated centrally.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many prisoners serving (1) determinate, and (2) indeterminate, sentences were granted compassionate release from prison on the grounds of ill health in 2023 and 2024.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Secretary of State may release a serving prisoner at any point in the sentence if he is satisfied that exceptional circumstances exist which justify the prisoner’s release on compassionate grounds.
The following table shows the number of prisoners released early on compassionate grounds for reasons of ill health, in 2023 and 2024, broken down by sentence type.
| 2023 | 2024 |
Determinate | 5 | 5 |
Indeterminate | 2 | 1 |
1. The figures in these tables have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large-scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
Public protection remains the priority and prisoners will be released early on compassionate grounds only if exceptional circumstances can be evidenced and if they are assessed to be safely manageable in the community.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect the second part of Lord Leveson's Independent Review of the Criminal Courts to be published.
Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Part two of the Independent Review into Criminal Courts is considering how the criminal courts can operate as efficiently as possible, specifically looking at the efficiency and timeliness of processes. We expect to receive Sir Brian's report on court efficiency early next year.
We will consider his recommendations in full and will respond in due course.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the role and remit of the Office for Life Sciences.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Office for Life Sciences (OLS) is a joint unit between the Department of Health and Social Care, Department of Science, Innovation and Technology and the Department of Business and Trade. It exists to support the UK’s life sciences sector by championing research, innovation and technology, helping everyone live well for longer and kickstarting economic growth.
OLS is committed to renewing the UK’s leadership in life sciences – a cornerstone of the UK's success – deepening ties between the public, private and third sector to ensure growth across every region of the country. OLS has responsibility for the oversight of delivery of the Life Science Sector Plan, which was published in July 2025, as part of the Industrial Strategy and developed in tandem with the 10 Year Health Plan.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much money has been distributed through the Life Sciences Innovation Manufacturing Fund grants in each of the last five years and of this amount how much was allocated to (1) small, (2) medium and (3) large businesses.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund (2025-30) launched in October 2024 has so far committed a total of £6 million in grant awards, 100% going to small and medium (SME) companies with fewer than 250 employees. Between 2022 and 2024, £69 million in grant funding was awarded through predecessor schemes, of which £3 million (4%) was awarded to SMEs and £66 million (96%) to larger companies. The LSIMF 2025-2030 scheme remains open and its pipeline contains applications from across the sector, and from companies of different sizes.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase the availability of comprehensive palliative care across England.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications. The statutory guidance states that ICBs must work to ensure that there is sufficient provision of palliative care and end of life care services to meet the needs of their local populations.
NHS England has also developed a palliative care and end of life care dashboard, which brings together all relevant local data in one place. The dashboard helps commissioners understand the palliative care and end of life care needs of their local population.
The Department and NHS England are currently working at pace to develop plans on how best to improve the access, quality, and sustainability of all-age palliative care and end of life care in line with the 10-Year Health Plan. We will closely monitor the shift towards the strategic commissioning of palliative and end of life care services to ensure that services reduce variation in access and quality.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to support the establishment of more hospices in England.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has set out that integrated care boards (ICBs) are required to commission palliative care and end of life care services to meet the needs of their local populations, which can include hospice services available within the ICB catchment.
We are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care. We are also committing £80 million for children’s and young people’s hospices over the next three financial years.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many women currently in prison have been sentenced to a term of (1) less than 4 weeks, (2) 4 to 8 weeks, (3) 8 to 12 weeks, (4) 3 to 6 months, (5) 6 to 12 months and (6) over 12 months.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested is provided below.
Table 1: Number of female prisoners on remand and sentenced on 30 September 2025
Custody type |
|
Remand | 972 |
Sentenced | 2,535 |
Table 2: Number of female prisoners serving determinate sentences broken down by sentence length on 30 September 2025(1)
Sentence length |
|
Less than 4 weeks | 4 |
4 weeks to less than 8 weeks | 3 |
8 weeks to less than 12 weeks | 43 |
3 months to less than or equal to 6 months | 136(2) |
More than 6 months to less than 12 months | 149 |
12 months and over | 1,327 |
Notes
The figures in this table exclude recalled prisoners, as well as non-criminal prisoners and those serving indeterminate sentences.
In order to provide complete data, this figure includes a prisoner serving more than 12 weeks but less than 3 months.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many women are currently in prison (1) on remand and (2) serving a sentence.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested is provided below.
Table 1: Number of female prisoners on remand and sentenced on 30 September 2025
Custody type |
|
Remand | 972 |
Sentenced | 2,535 |
Table 2: Number of female prisoners serving determinate sentences broken down by sentence length on 30 September 2025(1)
Sentence length |
|
Less than 4 weeks | 4 |
4 weeks to less than 8 weeks | 3 |
8 weeks to less than 12 weeks | 43 |
3 months to less than or equal to 6 months | 136(2) |
More than 6 months to less than 12 months | 149 |
12 months and over | 1,327 |
Notes
The figures in this table exclude recalled prisoners, as well as non-criminal prisoners and those serving indeterminate sentences.
In order to provide complete data, this figure includes a prisoner serving more than 12 weeks but less than 3 months.