Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what legislation he plans to bring forward to give effect to the statement that the progression model will come into force on 1 October 2026; whether that legislation will amend or revoke the Sentencing Act 2026 (Commencement No. 4) Regulations 2026; and on what date he intends to lay it.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This Government inherited a prisons system days from collapse. We had no choice but to take decisive action to stop our prisons overflowing and keep the public safe. Our landmark Sentencing Act 2026 will now deliver a more sustainable solution to the prison capacity crisis we inherited, including through the progression model, which will help ensure there are always enough places for the courts to be able to send people to custody in order to keep the public safe.
The Government carefully considered concerns raised by victims, survivors, parliamentarians and the wider public and acted on those concerns. As a result, offenders convicted of unlawful killing offence such as manslaughter, causing death by dangerous driving, as well as further historic child sex offences, will now be excluded, on top of rape and serious child sex offences. This also includes offenders convicted of offences involving the killing of an emergency worker. A full list of exclusions can be found here: Sentencing Act 2026 offence exclusions - GOV.UK.
These exclusions are in addition to the existing exclusion of more than 18,000 offenders serving more serious sentences.
The progression model amends release points for offenders serving Standard Determinate Sentences.
The date from which the progression model will apply, and the date of the first tranche of releases is 1 October 2026. Offenders released under the progression model will be controlled under strict licence conditions and can be recalled to custody where they breach those conditions or their risk can no longer be safely managed in the community.
The Government has made a commencement regulation to revoke the previous order’s commencement date for the Progression Model. Full details are set out in ‘The Sentencing Act 2026 (Commencement No. 6 and Revocation) Regulations 2026’ which is available at Legislation.gov.uk.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he plans to change the content or timing of the ten tranches of prisoners to be released.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This Government inherited a prisons system days from collapse. We had no choice but to take decisive action to stop our prisons overflowing and keep the public safe. Our landmark Sentencing Act 2026 will now deliver a more sustainable solution to the prison capacity crisis we inherited, including through the progression model, which will help ensure there are always enough places for the courts to be able to send people to custody in order to keep the public safe.
The Government carefully considered concerns raised by victims, survivors, parliamentarians and the wider public and acted on those concerns. As a result, offenders convicted of unlawful killing offence such as manslaughter, causing death by dangerous driving, as well as further historic child sex offences, will now be excluded, on top of rape and serious child sex offences. This also includes offenders convicted of offences involving the killing of an emergency worker. A full list of exclusions can be found here: Sentencing Act 2026 offence exclusions - GOV.UK.
These exclusions are in addition to the existing exclusion of more than 18,000 offenders serving more serious sentences.
The progression model amends release points for offenders serving Standard Determinate Sentences.
The date from which the progression model will apply, and the date of the first tranche of releases is 1 October 2026. Offenders released under the progression model will be controlled under strict licence conditions and can be recalled to custody where they breach those conditions or their risk can no longer be safely managed in the community.
The Government has made a commencement regulation to revoke the previous order’s commencement date for the Progression Model. Full details are set out in ‘The Sentencing Act 2026 (Commencement No. 6 and Revocation) Regulations 2026’ which is available at Legislation.gov.uk.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has undertaken any modelling on the projected adult prison population for each month from August 2026 to February 2028 under scenarios in which (a) the Sentencing Act 2026 is implemented as enacted, (b) the Act is implemented with the offence exclusions announced on 4 August 2026, and (c) the Act is implemented with the exclusion in toto of the section 23 early-release provisions.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This Government inherited a prisons system days from collapse. We had no choice but to take decisive action to stop our prisons overflowing and keep the public safe.
Our landmark Sentencing Act 2026 will deliver a more sustainable solution to the prison capacity crisis we inherited, including through the progression model, which will help ensure there are always enough prison places for the courts to be able to send people to custody.
The Prime Minister’s review of the progression model carefully considered implications for prison capacity as well as concerns raised by victims, survivors, parliamentarians and the wider public.
To provide transparency, we legislated for a duty to publish an Annual Statement on prison capacity. This will be published later this year.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many victims will be sent letters advising them their perpetrator will be released from prison early as a result of the Sentencing Act 2026 following the relevant offence exclusions.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Sentencing Act 2026 contains provisions which change the proportion of a standard determinate sentence which must be served in prison before the offender serving such a sentence is released automatically on licence. Eligible victims who have opted into the Probation Service Victim Contact Scheme, where the offender is serving a standard determinate sentence, have been informed of the commencement of the legislation.
On 30 August, the Prime Minister announced that the Government has set out plans to create more headroom in the prison system, so that we can reduce the number of people released early under these changes. This includes excluding sentences for all forms of manslaughter, death by dangerous driving, causing or allowing the death of a child and indecent assault offences from the progression model, in addition to rape and certain child sexual offences previously announced.
Sentences are now being recalculated, and, at this stage, we cannot provide figures on the number of offenders whose release dates will change and, therefore, the number of victims affected. This will continue to evolve whilst the calculations take place. Once sentence calculations have taken place, Victim Liaison Officers will write to victims, confirming if the offender in their case has a changed release date and giving them the opportunity to make representations about licence conditions.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners converted to a new religion while in prison in the past three years, broken down (a) by the ethnicity of the prisoner, and (b) the religion they were converting to and from.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
To provide the information requested, it would be necessary manually to examine individual prisoner records for the period in question, to ascertain whether any changes to data collected electronically related to instances of conversion, or were made for other reasons, for example to correct a previous error. This could not be done without incurring disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which influencers and content creators his Department has paid to support its campaigns.
Answered by Jake Richards - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice works with a range of influencers and content creators to help us reach audiences who are less likely to engage with traditional government channels. Wherever possible we do this on a low / no cost basis to secure maximum value to the taxpayer.
On occasion and in line with Government Communications Service best practice, we use paid influencers to help deliver campaigns covering key departmental priorities and operationally critical campaigns – for example in the recruitment of frontline staff. This can often provide a more effective and cost-efficient way of reaching audiences than traditional advertising.
The Department considers that disclosing the identities of individual influencers and content creators engaged to support campaigns would be likely to prejudice its commercial interests. The Department works with content creators on a campaign-by-campaign basis, with arrangements varying depending on campaign objectives, audience, content requirements and commercial terms. Disclosure of the identities of paid creators could undermine the Department's ability to negotiate favourable terms, including securing pro bono or reduced-cost support where appropriate, thereby reducing its ability to achieve value for money for the taxpayer in future campaigns.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how working hours were spent by civil servants in the Ministry of Justice undertaking agreed staff network leadership roles or carrying out agreed activity requested by the Department in the past six months, and what is the average agreed allocation in hours per civil servant.
Answered by Jake Richards - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested is not held centrally. Under the Ministry of Justice Staff Groups and Networks Policy 2026, staff network leaders may agree a time allocation, which should not generally exceed 10% of contracted hours (pro-rated).
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will provide a breakdown of the religion of the prison population by ethnicity for each of the past four years.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The requested information is provided in the accompanying table. |
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will publish a list of the events held to celebrate Black History Month and Pride Month in prisons in the past year.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service does not hold this information centrally. Individual prisons may choose to mark occasions such as Black History Month and Pride Month through local activities or events, but there is no central requirement for establishments to report these or to maintain a national record.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many victims have the Ministry of Justice identified as being affected by the legislative changes of the Sentencing Act 2026 regarding the early release of prisoners, and how many victims have been contacted advising them of this.
Answered by Jake Richards - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This Government inherited a prison system on the brink of collapse, and we are fixing this crisis. Through the introduction of the landmark Sentencing Act 2026, we are ensuring that courts retain the ability to impose custodial sentences on serious and dangerous offenders. Without these measures, the Prison Estate would have faced the risk of exhausting available capacity and police forces being unable to make arrests.
The Sentencing Act 2026 contains provisions will which change the proportion of a standard determinate sentence which must be served in prison before the offender serving such a sentence is released automatically on licence. More than 18,000 offenders serving more serious sentences are excluded from these changes and will stay in prison for as long as they do now.
The provisions will come into force on 2 September 2026 and may affect the scheduled release dates of those currently serving a standard determinate sentence. Eligible victims who have opted into the Probation Service Victim Contact Scheme, where the offender is serving a standard determinate sentence, have been informed of the commencement of the legislation. As of 1 July 2026, 8,203 victims had been contacted and informed of the legislative changes. This figure should not be interpreted as the number of offenders affected, as not all offenders will necessarily receive an earlier release date. Additionally, not all victims choose to participate in the Victim Contact Scheme, and some offenders have multiple victims.
Sentences are now being recalculated, and, at this stage, we cannot provide figures on the number of offenders whose release dates will change and, therefore, the number of victims impacted. This will continue to evolve whilst the calculations take place. Victim Liaison Officers will write to victims again to confirm whether the offender’s release date has changed as a result of the new arrangements