Asked by: Lord Garnier (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government which Crown courts in England and Wales have court rooms that are (1) usable but unused, and (2) unusable because of their state of repair or a lack of judges or court staff, in each week of the last 12 months for which figures are available.
Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
The Crown Court operates from 84 buildings across England and Wales, with a core estate of over 500 courtrooms. Most are jury-enabled and suitable for trials, with the remainder supporting other judicial work, such as interlocutory hearings. The wider HMCTS estate—including magistrates’, civil, family, and tribunal rooms —can also be used for Crown Court business when required. As a result, the precise number of rooms available for Crown Court use at any given time is variable.
HMCTS’s priority is to ensure all funded sitting days are fully utilised each financial year through active courtroom management. Estate capacity is not a limiting factor: last year, we sat 107,771, representing over 99% of our allocation, and we remain on track to deliver all allocated days this year.
Temporary unavailability may arise due to maintenance, but also due to overspill from other trials, alternative judicial activities (such as, box work, civil, family and tribunals hearings, or coroner’s court work), or other legitimate uses (including meetings and video-link sessions). However, these factors do not prevent the Crown Courts from sitting at their funded allocation.
Asked by: Lord Garnier (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many court rooms in the Crown courts in England and Wales have not been used in each week of the last 12 months for which figures are available.
Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
The Crown Court operates from 84 buildings across England and Wales, with a core estate of over 500 courtrooms. Most are jury-enabled and suitable for trials, with the remainder supporting other judicial work, such as interlocutory hearings. The wider HMCTS estate—including magistrates’, civil, family, and tribunal rooms —can also be used for Crown Court business when required. As a result, the precise number of rooms available for Crown Court use at any given time is variable.
HMCTS’s priority is to ensure all funded sitting days are fully utilised each financial year through active courtroom management. Estate capacity is not a limiting factor: last year, we sat 107,771, representing over 99% of our allocation, and we remain on track to deliver all allocated days this year.
Temporary unavailability may arise due to maintenance, but also due to overspill from other trials, alternative judicial activities (such as, box work, civil, family and tribunals hearings, or coroner’s court work), or other legitimate uses (including meetings and video-link sessions). However, these factors do not prevent the Crown Courts from sitting at their funded allocation.
Asked by: Lord Garnier (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what the cost is of keeping each court room in the Crown courts of England and Wales (1) open and in use 5 days a week; and (2) closed for all or any part of the working week.
Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
HMCTS does not hold the information requested. Generally, the efficient use of the court estate is vital to the efficient administration of criminal justice. The overall cost and utilisation of court rooms is kept under regular review and the Government has increased capital investment in repair and maintenance of the courts and tribunals estate by some £28.5 million in this financial year to ensure more court rooms are kept in use.
Asked by: Lord Garnier (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to the Annual Statement on Prison Capacity: 2024, published December 2024 (CP 1220), whether they plan to publish the underlying data behind the projections in Figures 1 and 2, which show how the measures to address the rising prison population are predicted to impact the demand on the adult prison estate and the capacity outlook.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government has committed to legislating to make laying the Annual Statement on Prison Capacity before Parliament a statutory requirement in the future, when parliamentary time allows.
Figures 1 and 2 in the Annual Statement show future demand and supply for prison places. The underlying data for the prison population projections in these figures is published annually and can be found here: Prison Population Projections: 2024 to 2029 - GOV.UK. The statistical tables in this publication include the data used for the prison population line in Figures 1 and 2 of the Annual Statement.
The supply projections underpinning Figures 1 and 2 were published for the first time in the Annual Statement. Further details, including a breakdown of prison place types and expected delivery dates, can be found in the 10-year capacity strategy, attached.
Asked by: Lord Garnier (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of people serving an imprisonment for public protection sentence (1) were directed to remain in closed conditions, (2) received a recommendation for transfer to open conditions, and (3) were directed to be released at their first Parole Board hearing, in each year since 2005.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Parole Board publishes performance data annually. The period of time it covers is a financial year, 1 April to 31 March. Therefore, data is provided for a) 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022 and b) 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023.
The release outcomes are for all releases, whether following paper review or oral hearing and regardless of the number of parole reviews/hearings the prisoner has had. The Parole Board do not currently hold data for the number of life sentenced prisoners released at their first Parole Board hearing.
Life sentenced prisoners following a parole review (Member Case Assessment & Oral Hearing) | |||
Year | Remain in custody | Recommendation for open | Release |
2021/22 | 684 | 314 | 489 |
2022/23 | 600 | 230 | 464 |
The release outcomes are for all releases, whether following paper review or oral hearing, and regardless of the number of parole reviews/hearings the prisoner has had. The Parole Board does not currently hold data for the number of IPP sentenced prisoners released at their first Parole Board hearing.
IPP sentenced prisoners (Member Case Assessment & Oral Hearing) | |||
Year | Remain in custody | Recommendation for open | Release |
2005/6 | No records | No records | No records |
2006/7 | 44 | 2 | 6 |
2007/8 | 192 | 21 | 17 |
2008/9 | 390 | 105 | 43 |
2009/10 | 1,197 | 320 | 68 |
2010/11 | 1,789 | 612 | 140 |
2011/12 | 1,552 | 650 | 424 |
2012/13 | 1,555 | 662 | 511 |
2013/14 | 1,361 | 763 | 595 |
2014/15 | 1,074 | 641 | 625 |
2015/16 | 703 | 504 | 746 |
2016/17 | 576 | 468 | 905 |
2017/18 | 504 | 463 | 936 |
2018/19 | 523 | 326 | 893 |
2019/20 | 848 | 350 | 824 |
2020/21 | 840 | 336 | 865 |
2021/22 | 732 | 252 | 788 |
2022/23 | 665 | 186 | 657 |
2023/24 | 786 | 157 | 777 |
Asked by: Lord Garnier (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of people serving a life sentence (1) were directed to remain in closed conditions, (2) received a recommendation for transfer to open conditions, and (3) were directed to be released at their first Parole Board hearing, in (a) 2022, and (b) 2023.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Parole Board publishes performance data annually. The period of time it covers is a financial year, 1 April to 31 March. Therefore, data is provided for a) 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022 and b) 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023.
The release outcomes are for all releases, whether following paper review or oral hearing and regardless of the number of parole reviews/hearings the prisoner has had. The Parole Board do not currently hold data for the number of life sentenced prisoners released at their first Parole Board hearing.
Life sentenced prisoners following a parole review (Member Case Assessment & Oral Hearing) | |||
Year | Remain in custody | Recommendation for open | Release |
2021/22 | 684 | 314 | 489 |
2022/23 | 600 | 230 | 464 |
The release outcomes are for all releases, whether following paper review or oral hearing, and regardless of the number of parole reviews/hearings the prisoner has had. The Parole Board does not currently hold data for the number of IPP sentenced prisoners released at their first Parole Board hearing.
IPP sentenced prisoners (Member Case Assessment & Oral Hearing) | |||
Year | Remain in custody | Recommendation for open | Release |
2005/6 | No records | No records | No records |
2006/7 | 44 | 2 | 6 |
2007/8 | 192 | 21 | 17 |
2008/9 | 390 | 105 | 43 |
2009/10 | 1,197 | 320 | 68 |
2010/11 | 1,789 | 612 | 140 |
2011/12 | 1,552 | 650 | 424 |
2012/13 | 1,555 | 662 | 511 |
2013/14 | 1,361 | 763 | 595 |
2014/15 | 1,074 | 641 | 625 |
2015/16 | 703 | 504 | 746 |
2016/17 | 576 | 468 | 905 |
2017/18 | 504 | 463 | 936 |
2018/19 | 523 | 326 | 893 |
2019/20 | 848 | 350 | 824 |
2020/21 | 840 | 336 | 865 |
2021/22 | 732 | 252 | 788 |
2022/23 | 665 | 186 | 657 |
2023/24 | 786 | 157 | 777 |
Asked by: Lord Garnier (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people are currently in prison serving a sentence of imprisonment for public protection who have been held for 15 years or more beyond their original tariff, broken down by the exact number of years over tariff.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The mean time that unreleased prisoners serving an indeterminate sentence (that is, a life or an Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentence) spent over tariff was 121 months, as of 30 September 2024. These prisoners are spending time beyond tariff because the Parole Board did not deem them safe to release.
Table 1 shows a breakdown of unreleased prisoners serving IPP sentences that are 15 years over tariff, as of 30 September 2024.
Years over tariff | Number of unreleased IPP prisoners |
15 | 79 |
16 | 54 |
17 | 14 |
It is right that the IPP sentence was abolished, and this Government is determined that those serving the sentence get the support and opportunities they need to make further progress towards a safe and sustainable release.
We published the updated IPP Action Plan on 15 November, which puts a stronger emphasis on effective frontline delivery in our prisons. We are ensuring that prisoners serving IPP sentences have robust and effective sentence plans, which they are actively engaging with, and that they are in the correct prison to access the right interventions and rehabilitative services.
Asked by: Lord Garnier (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many additional months beyond tariff people serving an indeterminate sentence are held on average.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The mean time that unreleased prisoners serving an indeterminate sentence (that is, a life or an Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentence) spent over tariff was 121 months, as of 30 September 2024. These prisoners are spending time beyond tariff because the Parole Board did not deem them safe to release.
Table 1 shows a breakdown of unreleased prisoners serving IPP sentences that are 15 years over tariff, as of 30 September 2024.
Years over tariff | Number of unreleased IPP prisoners |
15 | 79 |
16 | 54 |
17 | 14 |
It is right that the IPP sentence was abolished, and this Government is determined that those serving the sentence get the support and opportunities they need to make further progress towards a safe and sustainable release.
We published the updated IPP Action Plan on 15 November, which puts a stronger emphasis on effective frontline delivery in our prisons. We are ensuring that prisoners serving IPP sentences have robust and effective sentence plans, which they are actively engaging with, and that they are in the correct prison to access the right interventions and rehabilitative services.
Asked by: Lord Garnier (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people in prison were in custody on remand for longer than (1) six months, (2) one year, and (3) two years, on (a) 31 December 2022, (b) 31 December 2023, and (c) up to the current date.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Information relating to the time spent on custodial remand is not centrally held by the Ministry of Justice. To obtain the data to answer this question would involve a manual interrogation of court records which would result in a disproportionate cost to the Department.
Asked by: Lord Garnier (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the average tariff length imposed for murder in (1) 2022, and (2) 2023.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The average (mean) tariff for murderers (excluding whole life cases) sentenced in 2022 was 257 months and in 2023 it was 266 months.
Year of Sentence | Mean Tariff (months) |
2022 | 257 |
2023 | 266 |
Data sources and quality -
Note that the tariff length is the time between date of sentencing and tariff expiry date and does not take into account any time spent on remand. The figures do not include whole-life orders. The numbers are subject to revision as more data become available; any changes in the numbers since the last publication of this information is as a result of more sentencing data becoming available.
The data have come from administrative IT systems which, as with some large-scale recording systems, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing and may be amended as part of data cleansing or updates.
The figures are rounded to the nearest whole number.