Asked by: Lord Houchen of High Leven (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of prison capacity pressures on Parole Board decision-making or sentence progression, particularly in relation to risk assessments and rehabilitation pathways.
Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government recognises the pressures on prison capacity but can give reassurance that it has not materially affected parole outcomes. As set out in the Parole Board Annual Report, in 2024-25 the Board concluded c.17,000 cases at either paper or oral hearing, compared to c.16,000 in 2023-24. The proportion of cases reviewed where the Board has directed the offender’s release has remained broadly similar for the last few years (since 2021): around 1 in 4 cases result in a release direction. This indicates that the release rate by the Parole Board has remained broadly stable, suggesting that recent prison capacity pressures have not significantly affected it.
Asked by: Lord Houchen of High Leven (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have identified any legacy pressures arising from the centralised prisoner allocation system in regions with higher concentrations of prisoner places; and what steps they are taking to ensure that those pressures do not hinder local investment in crime prevention and rehabilitation programmes.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
With the prison system routinely operating at 98% occupancy, central management of population movements is the only practical mechanism to ensure every legally committed prisoner is accommodated appropriately. This includes transferring prisoners from regions with deficits of prison places to regions with relative surpluses.
To put prison capacity on a sustainable footing, the Government launched an Independent Review of Sentencing on 22 October 2024, chaired by former Lord Chancellor, David Gauke. The review was published on 22 May this year and we are accepting, in principle, the following recommendations which will support effective crime prevention and rehabilitation:
Release will be earned – and the most dangerous offenders excluded.
Ramping up tagging and monitoring, with an up to £700 million uplift in annual probation budgets.
Toughening up punishment outside of prison so offenders pay back their debt to society.
Asked by: Lord Houchen of High Leven (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many accidental prisoner releases in that past 12 months were due to (1) human error, (2) incorrect or incomplete paperwork from the courts, (3) communication failures between courts and prisons, and (4) other administrative or operational causes; and what steps they are taking to address those issues.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Release inaccuracy is yet another symptom of the prison system crisis inherited by this Government. While the overwhelming majority of offenders are released correctly, we are bearing down on those errors that do occur, and this includes releases in error from prisons.
On 11 November, the Deputy Prime Minister announced a five-point action plan setting out initial steps, which includes strengthening release checks across prisons and an independent inquiry, which will report its recommendations to prevent further inaccuracies.
The latest data on releases in error from prisons, which we published exceptionally on 11 November, showed that there have been 91 releases in error from prisons from April 2025 to October 2025. Data on releases is based on the information available at the time. It may be the case in some circumstances that information on a case is brought to light that either confirms or disproves a release in error. Future release in error data will be published in the normal way through our regular statistics and Dame Lynne Owens will be looking at data and transparency as part of her independent investigation.