Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what progress his Department has made on implementing the recommendations of the Law Commission’s report entitled Unfitness to Plead, published on 13 January 2016.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government agrees that this area of the law needs to be updated. The Law Commission reviewed the law on unfitness to plead and the Government has accepted the majority of its recommendations including a modernised legal test, changes to the fact-finding process and wider disposals.
The Government is actively considering how best to take these forward, alongside the defence of insanity which is also being considered by the Law Commission. This is a complex area of law and it is important that any future reforms are considered carefully to ensure that the legislation is coherent, workable and provides protections for defendants, victims and the public.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were released from prison in (a) England, and (b) Wales with no fixed address in 2025-26, by the releasing establishment.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Through the National Plan to End Homelessness, the Government has given a commitment to halving the proportion of prison leavers released homeless and increasing the proportion living in settled accommodation at three months following release, by the end of this Parliament.
The Prime Minister’s national drive to end rough sleeping, which is backed by an additional £442 million, builds on the National Plan to End Homelessness, taking total homelessness and rough sleeping investment to over £4 billion across the next three years.
The table attached provides data on the number of offenders recorded as having no fixed abode at the point of release from custody, by establishment, during the period 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many IPP prisoners from Wales (based on home address) were (a) unreleased, and (b) recalled in (i) March, (ii) June, (iii) September, and (iv) December, of 2025.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The table below shows the number of prisoners serving Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences whose recorded home address is in Wales.
Snapshot Date | Number of unreleased IPP prisoners | Number of recalled IPP prisoners | Total |
31/03/2025 | 47 | 87 | 134 |
30/06/2025 | 43 | 87 | 130 |
30/09/2025 | 44 | 80 | 124 |
31/12/2025 | 43 | 81 | 124 |
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.
On 1 September, the Lord Chancellor announced that the Government will bring an end to the IPP sentence for those who continue to serve it and will bring forward legislation to do this by the end of this Parliament. These are complex cases, involving important public protection and victim considerations. Reform will take time to get right.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the amount of funding to be devolved to Wales from April 2027 in relation to (a) reducing the use of remand for children, and (b) early intervention and prevention services.
Answered by Jake Richards - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
In March 2026, the then UK and Welsh governments agreed an expanded and clearly defined role for the Welsh Government in youth justice. The UK Government will start this new arrangement by devolving funding to reduce the use of remand for children in Wales, and devolving the remaining funding for early intervention, currently delivered through the Turnaround programme. Both changes are due take effect from April 2027.
The Ministry of Justice estimates that combined the grant awards, for the Turnaround programme and that to reduce the use of remand to Welsh Youth Justice Services, will be in the millions of pounds across financial years 2027/28 and 2028/29. Details on the exact amounts to be devolved will be set out in the coming months.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate has he made of the UK Government spend on justice functions in Wales in (a) 2025, and (b) the most recent period for which data is available.
Answered by Jake Richards - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice’s spending in Wales has been estimated at £720,729,000 for the financial year 2025-26. This data is contained within the Country and Regional Analysis: 2025 dataset published by HM Treasury and is the most recent data available: Country and regional analysis: 2025 - GOV.UK. In the financial year 2024-25, our spending was estimated at £697,441,000.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what was the total number of prisoners identified as homeless at reception in Welsh prisons in 2025, by each prison in Wales.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
In 2025, 328 prisoners were identified as homeless at reception through OASys Basic Custody Screening assessments completed in Welsh prisons.
The breakdown by establishment was:
HMP Cardiff: 271
HMP Berwyn: 45
HMP Parc: 6
HMP Swansea: 6
HMP Usk: 0
HMP Prescoed: 0
HMP Usk and HMP Prescoed do not operate as reception prisons, with prisoners transferring to these establishments from elsewhere in the prison estate. As a result, there were no prisoners identified as homeless at initial reception into custody at either establishment through this reporting exercise.
Homelessness status is self-reported by prisoners as part of the Basic Custody Screening assessment. The data has been checked to confirm that the figures represent individual prisoners rather than multiple records for the same person. These figures are drawn from raw OASys data and have not been subject to additional quality assurance. The data should be treated as an indication of recorded homelessness at reception rather than a definitive measure of the total number of prisoners who were homeless.
We know those leaving custody with no onward home are more vulnerable, which is why we provide up to 12 weeks of accommodation on release. We also work closely with Welsh Government, councils, charities and employers to secure stable housing and jobs for prison leavers, cutting reoffending and helping them rebuild their lives.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Ministry of Justice’s Safety in custody: quarterly update to December 2025, how many prisoners whose deaths were recorded as self-inflicted in 2025 were from Wales (based on home address prior to entering custody).
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The number of prisoners from Wales (identified on the basis indicated) whose deaths were recorded as self-inflicted in 2025 is 5.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Ministry of Justice’s Safety in custody: quarterly update to December 2025, how many prisoners who self-harmed in the 12 months to December 2025 were from Wales (based on home address prior to entering custody).
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The number of prisoners from Wales (identified on the basis indicated) who self-harmed in 2025 is 848.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Welsh people (based on home address prior to entering custody) were held in prison on remand in England and Wales in (a) March, (b) June, (c) September, and (d) December of 2025, by origin local authority based on home address prior to entering custody.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The requested information has been provided as an Excel file alongside this response.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people with a home address in Wales prior to entering custody were in prison in (a) March, (b) June, (c) September, and (d) December of 2025 were categorised as (i) Category A, (ii) Category B, (iii) Category C, (iv) Category D, and (v) on remand.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The requested information has been provided as an Excel file alongside this response.