Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of Parole Board recommendations on moving (a) prisoners serving an Imprisonment for Public Protection sentence and (b) other prisoners to open conditions were rejected by his Department in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
For many years, the Secretary of State has asked the independent Parole Board for advice on whether a prisoner serving an Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) or a life sentence is suitable for transfer to open conditions. Where the Parole Board recommends that a prisoner is suitable, the Secretary of State is not bound to accept the recommendation, and it is the Secretary of State who is ultimately responsible for determining whether a life or IPP prisoner is safe to be managed in an open prison. In making that decision, the Secretary of State takes account of the Parole Board’s recommendation and needs evidence to justify rejecting the recommendation.
The following tables provide the number and proportion of recommendations made by the Parole Board which were rejected in each month between 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 for prisoners serving (a) an IPP sentence and (b) a life sentence.
Number and proportion of rejected open condition recommendations involving IPP prisoners, 1 April 2024-31 March 2025
Table 1: Year | Month | Accepted | Rejected | % Rejected |
2024 | April | 8 | 1 | 11% |
2024 | May | 9 | 4 | 31% |
2024 | June | 10 | 5 | 33% |
2024 | July | 17 | 9 | 35% |
2024 | August | 8 | 4 | 33% |
2024 | September | 19 | 5 | 21% |
2024 | October | 17 | 9 | 35% |
2024 | November | 14 | 8 | 36% |
2024 | December | 12 | 7 | 37% |
2025 | January | 10 | 2 | 17% |
2025 | February | 7 | 7 | 50% |
2025 | March | 6 | 2 | 25% |
Number and proportion of rejected open condition recommendations involving life prisoners, 1 April 2024-31 March 2025
Table 2:
Year | Month | Accepted | Rejected | % Rejected |
2024 | April | 14 | 7 | 33% |
2024 | May | 15 | 3 | 17% |
2024 | June | 10 | 1 | 9% |
2024 | July | 48 | 3 | 6% |
2024 | August | 34 | 7 | 17% |
2024 | September | 25 | 3 | 11% |
2024 | October | 20 | 8 | 29% |
2024 | November | 17 | 8 | 32% |
2024 | December | 27 | 6 | 18% |
2025 | January | 19 | 7 | 27% |
2025 | February | 23 | 3 | 12% |
2025 | March | 23 | 3 | 12% |
Data has been provided for the period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 to align with the publication of the Parole Board’s data on recommendations for open conditions.
Public protection remains the priority and prisoners will only be approved for a move to open conditions if it is assessed that it is safe to do so.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 14 March 2025 to Question 37323 on Prison Sentences, how many people serving imprisonment for public protection sentences in Category A prisons on 1 January 2026 were classified as Category (a) A, (b) B, and (c) C prisoners.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Data on the prison population are published as part of the Department’s Offender Management Statistics Quarterly (OMSQ) release. The most recent publication includes prison population data as at 30 September 2025.
The information requested—relating to the prison population as at 1 January 2026—cannot be provided at this time, as doing so would provide an early indication of the data underpinning a future iteration of these Accredited Official Statistics, scheduled for publication on 30 April 2026.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what data his Department holds on the ethnicity of individuals convicted under section 1 of the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018; and what steps are being taken to monitor and address any disparities.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Ministry of Justice routinely publishes data on the number of convictions at criminal courts for an assault on an emergency worker by age and ethnicity in England and Wales. This data can be found in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, which can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics. This data is part of a range of data produced by the Ministry of Justice which includes a broader review of ethnicity and the criminal justice system.
Data on those with a mental health condition or a neurodivergent profile is not collated centrally by the Ministry of Justice. Where an individual is convicted, sentencing guidelines stipulate that the court must consider issues of neurodiversity at sentencing, taking an individualistic approach, recognising that the levels of impairment caused by any condition will vary significantly between individuals.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of section 1 of the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018 on individuals with mental health conditions or neurodivergent profiles.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Ministry of Justice routinely publishes data on the number of convictions at criminal courts for an assault on an emergency worker by age and ethnicity in England and Wales. This data can be found in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, which can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics. This data is part of a range of data produced by the Ministry of Justice which includes a broader review of ethnicity and the criminal justice system.
Data on those with a mental health condition or a neurodivergent profile is not collated centrally by the Ministry of Justice. Where an individual is convicted, sentencing guidelines stipulate that the court must consider issues of neurodiversity at sentencing, taking an individualistic approach, recognising that the levels of impairment caused by any condition will vary significantly between individuals.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many individuals over the age of 18 have been convicted under section 1 of the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018 in each year since its introduction.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Ministry of Justice routinely publishes data on the number of convictions at criminal courts for an assault on an emergency worker by age and ethnicity in England and Wales. This data can be found in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, which can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics. This data is part of a range of data produced by the Ministry of Justice which includes a broader review of ethnicity and the criminal justice system.
Data on those with a mental health condition or a neurodivergent profile is not collated centrally by the Ministry of Justice. Where an individual is convicted, sentencing guidelines stipulate that the court must consider issues of neurodiversity at sentencing, taking an individualistic approach, recognising that the levels of impairment caused by any condition will vary significantly between individuals.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the current total amount of (a) compensation and (b) civil claim payments made to families of prisoners who have died in custody while serving a sentence of Imprisonment for Public Protection.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The information requested is not held centrally. Information relating to payments relating to civil claims following the death in custody of prisoners is not broken down by sentence-type.
It remains a priority for the Government that all those on IPP sentences receive the support they need to progress towards safe release from custody or, where they are being supervised on licence in the community, towards having their licence terminated altogether. Guidance has been provided to all prison staff and partner agencies to raise the importance of recognising the heightened level of risk of self-harm and suicide amongst IPP prisoners and an IPP Safety Toolkit has been developed, with a range of resources to promote learning and to help front-line staff support and engage those serving the IPP sentence effectively.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many applications for the termination of IPP licences have been refused in each of the past 12 months; and what proportion of total applications that represents.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The process of terminating an IPP licence does not require an application to be made. Rather, the Secretary of State for Justice has a statutory obligation to refer an offender serving an IPP sentence to the Parole Board once three years have elapsed since first release (the qualifying period), in order for the Board to consider whether to terminate the licence. If the licence is not terminated by the Parole Board at the end of the qualifying period, it will be terminated automatically after a further two years, provided the offender is not recalled to custody.
The changes introduced by the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 have reduced the number of people serving IPP sentences in the community by around two thirds, including over 1,700 IPP licences being automatically terminated on 1 November 2024.
The Parole Board published its annual report for 2024/2025 on 10 July this year. The report provides the number of IPP licence terminations and refusals for those cases considered by the Parole Board for the 12-month period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025. The report covers IPP termination numbers on page 16 and is available here: Parole Board for England and Wales Annual Report and Accounts 2024-25.
The Parole Board will terminate an IPP prisoner’s licence except where it judges that the continued supervision of the offender on licence is necessary for the purposes of public protection.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of prison officers subject to dismissal following recent changes to Skilled Worker visa salary thresholds; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of those dismissals on prison operations.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
We are clear that net migration as a whole must come down after quadrupling in recent years as we replace Britain’s failed immigration system with one that is controlled, selective and fair.
Assessments of the number of individuals subject to dismissal following the Immigration Rule changes are not held, as sponsorship decisions depend on individual circumstances at the time of application. Sponsorship is not the sole visa route, and while individuals may be ineligible, this does not necessarily result in dismissal, as they may secure alternative right-to-work arrangements.
We will of course provide support to those who affected by these changes. Under current arrangements, prison officers already sponsored via the Skilled Worker route will be able to remain in post and extensions will be considered in line with policy. We are exploring options to support staffing, including renewed efforts to prioritise domestic recruitment.
Working in prison is an extraordinary job and we are always looking for people who want to help keep the public safe to join.
The Department carefully monitors resourcing levels to ensure that we are able to manage current staffing levels and make accurate predications around future requirements. We have recruitment activity ongoing for all sites with a current or future recruitment need.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the value is of Prison Education Service Core Education contracts between 1 October 2025 and 31 March 2026.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The value of the Prisoner Education Service Core Education contracts between 1 October 2025 and 31 March 2026 is £51 million. This figure excludes Lot 10 (West Midlands prisons), where existing contracts under the Prison Education Framework have been extended while a re-procurement process is ongoing.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to her oral contribution during the Second Reading of the Sentencing Guidelines (Pre-sentence Reports) Bill, Official Report, column 997, what recent progress his Department has made on the review of the data that his Department holds on disparities in the justice system; when he plans to complete the review; and whether he plans to take further steps to assess (a) the underlying causes and (b) effectiveness of policy on disparities in the justice system.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The previous Lord Chancellor commissioned a review of the latest data on sentencing disparities and its causes. I will provide more information on this in due course.