Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the recommendations of the Farmer Review, whether prisoners will be able to have a phone call with family members on Christmas Day .

We recognise the importance that support from families and significant others provides for prisoners in helping to reduce the risk of reoffending.

Prisoners with in-cell telephony will continue to have normal access to PIN phones during the Christmas and New Year period. For those who do not have in-cell telephones, access to wing-phones will continue to be prioritised in accordance with the regime run by individual establishments each day.