Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many speech and language therapists are employed in each integrated care board area in England, and how many of these work in criminal justice settings.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold information on the total number of speech and language therapists employed in each integrated care board area in England. Therapists will be employed by National Health Service trusts, where data is held, but will also be directly employed by other providers, including schools, local authorities, and third sector or charitable organisations, for which data is not held centrally. The following table shows the number of full time equivalent (FTE) speech and language therapists employed by NHS trusts and integrated care boards in England, as of January 2025, by integrated care board area:
Integrated care board area | FTE speech and language therapists |
Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire | 44 |
Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes | 11 |
Birmingham and Solihull | 288 |
Black Country | 126 |
Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire | 70 |
Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West | 155 |
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough | 225 |
Cheshire and Merseyside | 436 |
Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly | 79 |
Coventry and Warwickshire | 157 |
Derby and Derbyshire | 134 |
Devon | 135 |
Dorset | 113 |
Frimley | 93 |
Gloucestershire | 62 |
Greater Manchester | 548 |
Hampshire and Isle of Wight | 160 |
Herefordshire and Worcestershire | 100 |
Hertfordshire and West Essex | 134 |
Humber and North Yorkshire | 174 |
Kent and Medway | 220 |
Lancashire and South Cumbria | 201 |
Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland | 123 |
Lincolnshire | 57 |
Mid and South Essex | 65 |
Norfolk and Waveney | 69 |
North Central London | 548 |
North East and North Cumbria | 516 |
North East London | 438 |
North West London | 304 |
Northamptonshire | 47 |
Nottingham and Nottinghamshire | 164 |
Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin | 46 |
Somerset | 70 |
South East London | 394 |
South West London | 194 |
South Yorkshire | 224 |
Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent | 104 |
Suffolk and North East Essex | 126 |
Surrey Heartlands | 53 |
Sussex | 205 |
West Yorkshire | 328 |
England total | 7,739 |
These staff will provide services in a range of settings, but the Department does not hold information on how many may work in criminal justice settings.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 6 May (HL6997), which organisation holds the information requested regarding speech and language services in prisons in England.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
This information would be held at a local level by the prison healthcare providers.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to review the role of intermediaries in the criminal justice system.
Answered by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede
The Ministry of Justice completed a review of intermediary provision in 2023 which was summarised in the 2023 Witness Intermediary Scheme (WIS) Annual Report.
The review recommended actions to enhance the role, accessibility, and quality of intermediary services, including:
Revising the definition of registered intermediaries and devising a communication plan to build better understanding of the intermediary role.
Seeking improved data collection and analysis around intermediary usage; and
Building relationships with stakeholders to ensure consistent quality of intermediary services across criminal, family and civil jurisdictions as well as continuing to increase understanding of vulnerable users’ needs.
We have no plans to conduct a further review at this stage, as we are progressing the above actions.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government (1) which prisons in England and Wales have commissioned speech and language therapy services, and (2) how many speech and language therapists are employed in each prison.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not held centrally by NHS England, regarding prisons in England. Prison healthcare in Wales is devolved to the Welsh administration.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what restrictions are placed on people convicted of a criminal offence who seek employment in education.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government has a robust safeguarding framework in place in the form of the ‘Keeping children safe in education’ (KCSIE) statutory guidance, which all schools and colleges must have regard to when carrying out their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. The KCSIE guidance can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keeping-children-safe-in-education--2.
This guidance clearly sets out the requirements regarding safer recruitment checks, including Disclosure and Barring Service checks, that schools and colleges should undertake for all staff, including external staff, and visitors, to ensure appropriate safeguarding measures are in place.
Employers must assess whether a conviction deems an individual to be suitable for a role, taking into account the nature of the offence, its relevance to the role and any safeguarding risks.
However, KCSIE stresses the importance of creating a culture of safer recruitment, ensuring that schools and colleges have robust processes and policies in place to ensure people who might pose a risk to children are not employed in education.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of convicted offenders had a pre-sentence report prepared by the Probation Service presented to the judiciary in England and Wales in (1) the Crown Court and (2) a magistrates' court in each of the past three years.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We cannot provide the percentage of convicted offenders with a pre-sentence report prepared by the probation service and presented to the Crown Courts and Magistrates Court for the past three years as the information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
However, we can provide the number of pre-sentence reports prepared by the probation service and presented to the Crown and Magistrates courts respectively.
Number of pre-sentence reports prepared and presented by the probation service in England and Wales:
| Crown Courts | Magistrates Courts |
2023 | 30,494 | 60,874 |
2022 | 25,079 | 58,161 |
2021 | 27,779 | 60,878 |
Note: Offender Management Statistics for the year of 2024 will be published on 24 April 2025.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what restrictions are placed on people convicted of a criminal offence who seek employment in the Probation Service.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The vetting process includes review of any convictions that may lawfully be taken into account, in accordance with the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. A balanced decision is made regarding offence history, based on the type of offence, the number of offences, and the length of time since the offences were committed.
We offer alternative employment entry schemes (Going Forward into Employment and Standard Plus) for people with lived experience, who would not be able to enter the organisation under the usual vetting routes. These schemes are open to people with recent offending history or who have recently been released from prison. Candidates are thoroughly risk-assessed and considered on a case-by-case basis, for suitable roles within the organisation.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what statutory requirements govern the preparation of pre-sentence reports in England and Wales by the Probation Service for all convicted offenders in (1) the Crown Court, and (2) the Magistrates Court.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Section 30 of the Sentencing Code provides for the provision of pre-sentencing reports for offenders where there is a requirement to obtain a PSR under the Code. This includes where the court is considering whether the offender should receive a sentence of immediate custody. It sets out that if an offender is aged 18 or over, a sentencing court must obtain and consider a pre-sentence report before forming an opinion unless, in the circumstances of the case, it considers that it is unnecessary to obtain a pre-sentence report.
PSRs include an assessment of the offender's behaviour, the risk they pose, and recommendations for sentencing options, helping to ensure that the sentence is tailored to the individual offender and their circumstances. The PSR can recommend various sentencing options, including community sentences and specific requirements like treatment programs. Based on the assessment, a PSR suggests the most appropriate sentence for the offence and makes recommendations to the Court; however, the final decision is at the judge’s discretion.
The Sentencing Council’s Imposition guideline provides sentencing courts with the general principles around imposing community orders and custodial sentences, and in what circumstances a custodial sentence can be suspended. The Lord Chancellor has been clear that the guidelines regarding pre-sentencing reports do not represent the views of this Government. The Lord Chancellor and the Chairman of the Sentencing Council have had a constructive discussion. It was agreed that the Lord Chancellor will set out her position more fully in writing, which the Sentencing Council will then consider before the guideline is due to come into effect.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what restrictions are placed on people convicted of a criminal offence who seek employment in the National Health Service.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Having a criminal record does not necessarily mean that a person cannot work in the National Health Service. Local employers should have robust and effective recruitment and background check requirements aligned with the NHS Employment Check Standards issued by NHS Employers, to ensure individuals they employ are suitable, skilled, competent and safe to carry out the role they are being appointed to do. This includes a criminal record check for all eligible positions.
Employers must consider the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and the Rehabilitation of Offenders (Exceptions) Order 1975 when asking for criminal record information. Any recruitment decision needs to be made on a case-by-case basis balancing the risks associated with any given role. The exception to this rule is where recruiting to a regulated activity under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act, as amended by the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, and where individuals are prohibited from working with adults and/or children who are in receipt of health care or services.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government who was the contracted provider of each prison that has either transferred back to the public sector control having been privately contracted, or closed having been privately contracted, since 2000; what were the contractual start dates; and what were the contractual expiry dates.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The key contractual dates for the current privately-operated prisons are set out in the table below.
Prison | Operator | Current contract dates | Previous operator | Previous contract dates |
Altcourse | Sodexo | 01/06/2023 to 32/05/2033 | G4S | 01/12/1997 to 31/05/2023 |
Ashfield | Serco | 01/11/2024 to 31/10/2034 | Serco | 01/11/1999 to 31/10/2024 |
Bronzefield | Sodexo | 17/06/2004 to 16/06/2029 | N/A | N/A |
Doncaster | Serco | 01/10/2011 to 30/9/2026 | Serco | Not known – this was a Home Office contract |
Dovegate | Serco | 09/07/2001 to 08/07/2026 | N/A | N/A |
Five Wells | G4S | 04/02/2022 to 03/02/2032 | N/A | N/A |
Fosse Way | Serco | 29/05/2023 to 28/05/2033 | N/A | N/A |
Forest Bank | Sodexo | 20/01/2000 to 19/01/2025 | N/A | N/A |
Northumberland | Sodexo | 01/12/2013 to 30/11/2028 | HMPPS | N/A |
Oakwood | G4S | 24/04/2012 to 23/04/2027 | N/A | N/A |
Parc | G4S | 15/12/1997 to 14/12/2022 | G4S | 15/12/2022 to 14/12/2032 |
Peterborough (female) | Sodexo | 28/03/2005 to 27/03/2030 | N/A | N/A |
Peterborough (male) | Sodexo | 28/03/2005 to 27/03/2030 | N/A | N/A |
Rye Hill | G4S | 21/10/2001 to 20/10/2026 | N/A | N/A |
Thameside | Serco | 01/06/2012 to 31/12/2036 | N/A | N/A |
*Inherited from the Home Office
The key contractual dates for prisons that were previously privately-operated are set out in the table below.
Prison | Operator | Contract dates | Date transitioned back to PSP | Reason for return to PSP/closure |
Birmingham | G4S | 01/10/2011 to 30/09/2026 | 30/06/2019 | Step in by public sector. |
Lowdham Grange | Sodexo Serco | 16/02/2023 to 15/02/2033 16/02/1998 to 16/02/2023 | 01/08/2024 | Step in by public sector. |
Wolds | G4S | July 1991 to July 2013 | July 2013 | Outcome of competition |
Buckley Hall | Group 4 | 1994 to 2001 | 2001 | Outcome of Competition |