Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department currently has an English proficiency requirement for prison officers.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The prison officer recruitment process assesses English language proficiency at multiple stages, without requiring a separate English test or formal qualifications such as GCSEs at the point of application. The process for recruiting prison officers across all Public Sector Prisons is the same for all applicants, both UK and non-UK nationals, with candidates appointed based on merit, in line with the fair and open Civil Service recruitment principles.
Once candidates have passed the application and online test stages, they are assessed via His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service’s centralised Online Assessment Centre (OAC), which is conducted by trained human assessors who evaluate candidates in real time. Candidates undertake a written assessment, role-play exercises and a structured interview, all designed to assess whether they possess the written and spoken communication skills required for the prison officer role.
The centralised OAC process upholds consistent standards across all applicants and cannot be bypassed through automated or multiple-choice responses alone. This approach ensures that any difficulties in understanding instructions or in expressing responses clearly are identified and reflected in the assessment outcome. The assessment process also includes fitness and medical checks, which are applied to the same standard for all candidates, regardless of nationality.
We continuously evaluate our assessment process for all stages of prison officer recruitment to ensure best practice and integrate improvements appropriately as new tools and methodologies become available. Future changes to the assessment process will continue to assess a candidate’s English proficiency against the communication skills required for the prison officer role and will remain aligned with professional attainment levels used across comparable professions.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent estimate he has made of the number of foreign nationals in prison.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The number of foreign national offenders in prison is published as part of the Offender Management Quarterly statistics series. The series can be accessed with the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/offender-management-statistics-quarterly.
Foreign nationals who commit crime should be in no doubt that the law will be enforced. Where appropriate, the Ministry of Justice will work with the Home Office to pursue their deportation.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of the prison population do not have (a) English and (b) another native UK languages as a first language in each of the last five years; and what languages such prisoners did speak as a first language.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The information requested is not centrally recorded.
Collecting it would involve a search of the records of each prisoner in England and Wales over the last five years. It could not, therefore, be obtained without incurring disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what data his Department holds on the total cost of (a) translation and (b) interpretation services in the prison system for each of the last five years.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The requested information has been provided in the tables below.
Translation:
FY | Translation |
FY21-22 | £ 83,462.46 |
FY22-23 | £ 137,213.31 |
FY23-24 | £ 280,071.34 |
FY24-25 | £ 328,526.54 |
FY25-26 | £ 142,303.32 |
Total | £ 971,576.97 |
Interpreting:
FY | Interpreting |
FY21/22 | £ 133,776.35 |
FY22/23 | £ 125,495.41 |
FY23/24 | £ 163,546.08 |
FY24/25 | £ 161,212.42 |
FY25/26 | £ 105,987.79 |
Total | £ 690,018.05 |
The Ministry of Justice has a statutory duty to provide Language Services to enable access to justice for users whom English is not their first language. Language Service needs and spend are assessed to ensure these services offer good value for money for taxpayers whilst maintaining high standards of service delivery.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what data his Department holds on the number of prison officers who do not have English as a first language.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what data his Department holds on the total cost of (a) translation and (b) interpretation services in the court system for each of the last five years.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested can be found in the tables below.
Translation:
FY | Translation |
FY21-22 | £ 51,231.54 |
FY22-23 | £ 113,487.07 |
FY23-24 | £ 140,829.23 |
FY24-25 | £ 126,433.75 |
FY25-26 | £ 78,995.19 |
Total | £ 510,976.78 |
Interpreting:
FY | Interpreting |
FY21/22 | £ 22,225,742.45 |
FY22/23 | £ 27,362,968.49 |
FY23/24 | £ 31,022,423.14 |
FY24/25 | £ 32,390,150.55 |
FY25/26 | £ 20,517,115.66 |
Total | £ 133,518,400.29 |
The Ministry of Justice has a statutory duty to provide Language Services to enable access to justice for users whom English is not their first language. Language Service needs and spend are assessed to ensure these services offer good value for money for taxpayers whilst maintaining high standards of service delivery.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what data his Department holds on the number of interpreters used in the court system in each of the last fives years; and what languages these interpreters were for.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice uses interpreting and translation services provided under contract.
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of making people convicted of murder ineligible for transfer to open prisons.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Public protection is the Government’s foremost priority when considering any progression within the custodial estate.
There are no current plans to restrict those convicted of murder from being held in open prison conditions, as long as it safe to do so.
A prisoner serving a mandatory life sentence for murder is eligible to be considered for a move to an open prison only if within three years of completing the minimum term (tariff) set by the Court at the point of sentence. Further, other than in exceptional circumstances, a life sentence prisoner will be approved for transfer to open conditions only in response to a recommendation made by the Parole Board, following a rigorous risk assessment. Even where the Parole Board makes such a recommendation, the Secretary of State is not bound by it and conducts his own risk assessment before approving the recommendation and so authorising transfer. If, following transfer, the prisoner shows signs of increased risk, s/he will be returned to closed conditions.
Following a long period of incarceration in closed conditions, a period in open conditions may provide important evidence for the purposes of the Parole Board’s determination of whether the prisoner may be safely released into the community on life licence. It also helps to acquaint the prisoner with life outside of prison, which might have changed substantially during the period of imprisonment. This Government remains committed to supporting the progression of prisoners serving life or other indeterminate sentences by supporting them to reduce their risk to a level where the Parole Board determines they may be safely released, subject to a robust risk management plan.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for what reasons prisoners can become eligible for parole before their earliest potential release date.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
We have interpreted “eligible for parole” to mean that a prisoner must lawfully be referred to the Parole Board of England & Wales to assess whether they can be safely released into the community on licence.
The statutory framework on parole for both indeterminate and relevant determinate sentence cases is set out in the Crime (Sentences) Act 1997 and the Criminal Justice Act 2003.
Prisoners are not eligible to be considered for parole until the end of the minimum custodial term which is their earliest possible release date. That date is known as the parole eligibility date (PED) or tariff expiry date (TED) depending on the type of sentence. The minimum custodial term is set by the courts when the sentence is imposed and cannot be changed by the Secretary of State.
There is no data on the number of prisoners who have successfully applied for parole before their minimum sentence has been served, because such releases are not permitted under legislation.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of making prisoners ineligible for parole until after they have served their minimum term in prison.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Prisoners may only be considered for release by the Parole Board once their minimum term has been served; this is known as the parole eligibility date (or tariff expiry date for indeterminate sentences). This statutory safeguard guarantees that no prisoner will be released prior to serving the minimum period of custody established by the court. Release before this point is not permitted under legislation other than the Secretary of State’s overriding power to release any prisoner early on compassionate grounds, which is rarely used.
The recent Independent Sentencing Review proposed a progression model that would allow certain offenders, namely those serving extended determinate sentences, to earn earlier consideration for release based on behaviour and rehabilitation. However, this recommendation was rejected because we do not think it would be right to allow prisoners who have been deemed dangerous by the courts to have their parole eligibility date brought forward.