Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to tackle terrorism in prisons.

We are committed to tackling the threat posed by terrorist prisoners.

Our tough approach to terrorist prisoners allows us to limit their interactions, restrict their communications, and thwart the influence of the most subversive prisoners.

The CT Step Up programme has included establishing a new central intelligence hub bringing together MI5, the Police and HMPPS to improve our assessment of the threat in prisons.

We are now going further in meeting the evolving threat of terrorism, by accepting the overwhelming majority of recommendations made by Jonathan Hall QC in his review of Terrorism in Prisons published on 27 April 2022 (Terrorism in Prisons: Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation's Report and Government Response - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk))

In response to the report, we are investing £1.2m in a specialist taskforce to identify and target the most influential terrorists publicly making it easier to move them into ‘Separation Centres’ and thereby keep them away from the main prison population. We are also investing a further £6m to expand ‘Close Supervision Centres’ to separate the most physically violent prisoners, including terrorist offenders, and keep staff and the broader prison population safe.