Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many prisoners serving (1) determinate, and (2) indeterminate, sentences were granted compassionate release from prison on the grounds of ill health in 2023 and 2024.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Secretary of State may release a serving prisoner at any point in the sentence if he is satisfied that exceptional circumstances exist which justify the prisoner’s release on compassionate grounds.
The following table shows the number of prisoners released early on compassionate grounds for reasons of ill health, in 2023 and 2024, broken down by sentence type.
| 2023 | 2024 |
Determinate | 5 | 5 |
Indeterminate | 2 | 1 |
1. The figures in these tables have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large-scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
Public protection remains the priority and prisoners will be released early on compassionate grounds only if exceptional circumstances can be evidenced and if they are assessed to be safely manageable in the community.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Timpson on 10 December (HL12375), what assessment they have made of the planned level of tuition for young offenders by the Shaw Trust compared to the number of hours delivered.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Shaw Trust is programming the required learning hours; delivery is affected by restrictions on mixing between certain children, which limit the number of learners who can be accommodated in a classroom at any one time. These restrictions arise from conflicts that have transferred into custody from the community. The establishment is actively addressing this by working to resolve these conflicts, enabling greater classroom integration and maximising access to education.
The action plan prepared in response to the joint Ofsted/HMIP thematic report The Quality of Education in Young Offender Institutions was published on 15 November 2024.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Timpson on 10 December (HL12375), what action they are taking at Feltham Prison and Young Offenders Institution to increase the number of hours of tuition delivered by the Shaw Trust.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Shaw Trust is programming the required learning hours; delivery is affected by restrictions on mixing between certain children, which limit the number of learners who can be accommodated in a classroom at any one time. These restrictions arise from conflicts that have transferred into custody from the community. The establishment is actively addressing this by working to resolve these conflicts, enabling greater classroom integration and maximising access to education.
The action plan prepared in response to the joint Ofsted/HMIP thematic report The Quality of Education in Young Offender Institutions was published on 15 November 2024.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the youth custody service improvement plan has been published.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Shaw Trust is programming the required learning hours; delivery is affected by restrictions on mixing between certain children, which limit the number of learners who can be accommodated in a classroom at any one time. These restrictions arise from conflicts that have transferred into custody from the community. The establishment is actively addressing this by working to resolve these conflicts, enabling greater classroom integration and maximising access to education.
The action plan prepared in response to the joint Ofsted/HMIP thematic report The Quality of Education in Young Offender Institutions was published on 15 November 2024.
Asked by: Lord Hain (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many Palestine Action protestors are (1) in prison, (2) in prison awaiting trial, (3) serving prison sentences, (4) on hunger strike and awaiting trial, and (5) on hunger strike and serving prison sentences.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
As of 12 December, 29 Palestine Action protestors are in prison; seven are on hunger strike and awaiting trial. None are serving prison sentences. Six are currently being tried and the remainder are awaiting trial.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to tackle family court backlogs in London.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This Government remains committed to reducing the outstanding caseload within the Family Court and is working closely with system partners to drive forward a cross-cutting programme of work to achieve this. At a national level the Family Justice Board has agreed system-wide targets for 2025/26, with a continued focus on reducing delay.
In London, a dedicated Family Justice Strategy has been implemented, which brings together key partners across the three London Family Court areas. This work has included targeted investment over 2025/26 to tackle the outstanding private law caseload by providing additional court capacity and ensuring that courts follow the Public Law Outline, with clear arrangements for overseeing performance. These measures have already delivered a reduction in delays and the London model is being evaluated with a view to applying lessons learned in other regions.
Asked by: Ben Goldsborough (Labour - South Norfolk)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his department is taking to reduce turnover rates of prison governors.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Enable Programme is a workforce transformation programme that aims to change how HMPPS trains, develops, leads, and supports its prison staff to ensure that they feel safe, supported, valued, and confident in their skills and ability to make a difference.
A key focus for the programme is to strengthen prison leadership and operational capability and build a quality pipeline of leaders for the future. To support this work Governor Succession Planning is managed via a National Talent Committee, that monitors tenure, identifies talent and considers succession in line with civil service rules. This senior multi-disciplinary team meet quarterly and are informed by internal management information, the leadership requirements of individual sites and the strengths of individual governors.
Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the financial allowance for jury service in covering the cost of wages, food and travel.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Jury service is a vital civic duty, and the Government is committed to ensuring jurors feel supported throughout their service. All the support provided to jurors throughout their service is kept under review to ensure it remains appropriate and accessible. Jurors can claim subsistence and travel expenses, as well as a loss of earnings allowance from the court. For those individuals facing particular difficulties in serving the jury summoning process provides for applications for deferral or excusal based upon financial hardship.
Asked by: Ben Goldsborough (Labour - South Norfolk)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his department is taking to improve or increase provision of training for newly appointed prison governors.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Enable Programme is a workforce transformation programme that aims to change how HMPPS trains, develops, leads, and supports its prison staff to ensure that they feel safe, supported, valued, and confident in their skills and ability to make a difference.
A key focus for the programme is to strengthen prison leadership and operational capability and build a quality pipeline of leaders for the future. This includes a new national Governor Induction programme which provides a dedicated package of learning for new Governors, offering professional, personal, and practical support to ensure they have the best start to their governing career.
Asked by: Ben Goldsborough (Labour - South Norfolk)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if his department will provide the average number of visitation days, per prisoner, for a) all prisoners and b) disabled prisoners.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
This information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
However, a report about Social Contact in Prison published 11 December provides information about visit frequencies. The report notes that in the 12 months prior to June 2024, almost two thirds of prisoners (63%) had at least one face-to-face visit. 31% of prisoners received remote contact only and 5% of prisoners appeared to have had no contact.
The report can be accessed via the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/social-contact-in-prison-april-2019-to-june-2024.
We know that visits are crucial to sustaining relationships with close relatives, partners and friends, and help prisoners maintain links with the community. HMPPS aims to encourage and assist the maintenance of relationships between prisoners and their families to support their social rehabilitation. The Help With Prison Visits scheme (HWPV) supports visitors on low incomes by providing a contribution towards visits costs for close relatives, partners or sole visitors.
All visits areas must be accessible for all, including disabled prisoners and visitors.