Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his department has made of the key legal or administrative obstacles to solving the Locked Child Trust fund issue.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
It is a longstanding common law principle that an adult requires legal authority to manage property belonging to another adult. This principle has existed long before Child Trust Funds and the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and is crucial when the individual in question is a vulnerable person.
The Mental Capacity Act facilitates access for parents and carers to matured Child Trust Funds (CTF) on behalf of young adults who lack capacity, through a legal process that provides necessary safeguards.
Where a CTF account holder lacks capacity to access matured capital funds in their account, a parent or carer can obtain legal authority to manage those funds by making an application to the Court of Protection. Authority can be obtained in advance of the account holder reaching age 18, and in many cases no court fee will be payable.
A toolkit for parents and carers Making Financial decisions for young people who lack capacity’ Making financial decisions for young people who lack capacity: A toolkit for parents and carers - GOV.UK was published in June 2023 and explains the process.
The Ministry of Justice is considering what further steps could be taken to raise awareness of the current law and improving the court process while maintaining necessary safeguards.
Asked by: Lord Houchen of High Leven (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of prison capacity pressures on Parole Board decision-making or sentence progression, particularly in relation to risk assessments and rehabilitation pathways.
Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government recognises the pressures on prison capacity but can give reassurance that it has not materially affected parole outcomes. As set out in the Parole Board Annual Report, in 2024-25 the Board concluded c.17,000 cases at either paper or oral hearing, compared to c.16,000 in 2023-24. The proportion of cases reviewed where the Board has directed the offender’s release has remained broadly similar for the last few years (since 2021): around 1 in 4 cases result in a release direction. This indicates that the release rate by the Parole Board has remained broadly stable, suggesting that recent prison capacity pressures have not significantly affected it.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to respond to the report of the UK Law Commission's Criminal Appeals consultation.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Law Commission is currently reviewing the responses to its consultation, and we expect to receive the final report with recommendations by late 2026. Once we receive the report, the Government will carefully consider the findings and respond in due course.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison places have been delivered through the Small Secure Houseblocks programme since 5 July 2024; and at which locations.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
No places have yet been delivered under the Small Secure Houseblocks (SSH) programme. Following completion of the design stage, the programme is now in its main construction phase. Based on current plans, the Small Secure Houseblocks programme will deliver c.1,000 new Category C places and supporting ancillaries across the estate.
The Government committed to delivering 14,000 additional prison places in the December 2024 10-Year Prison Capacity Strategy. We are on track to deliver these by 2031, having delivered c.2,600 since taking office.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will publish the modelling, estimates or projections for the numbers of offenders that will be immediately eligible for release post the introduction of the changes to the automatic release points as part of the Sentencing Bill 2025; and to include a breakdown of any such modelling, estimates or projections by offence and release numbers by individual days.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
As set out in the Sentencing Bill Impact Assessment, the Bill will ensure that the country has sufficient prison places by reducing demand by 7,500 places in 2028. The Bill will help ensure that the Criminal Justice System can continue to function with arrests and court trials continuing to go ahead, so avoiding a breakdown of law and order. The public will continue to be protected from the most serious offenders by ensuring prison places are available.
We are working across agencies to prepare and plan for implementation of the changes, and this Government is committed to ensuring that measures impacting sentencing and release are introduced safely, transparently and in a way that protects the public.
Release volumes for current prisoners will depend on whether they are subject to any ongoing criminal investigations or charges and therefore any additional sentences handed down by the Courts, and whether they are given added days for bad behaviour.
Around 17,000 prisoners are entirely excluded from the release point changes being brought forward in the Sentencing Bill.
The Ministry of Justice routinely publishes Accredited Official Statistics on prisoner releases as part of the Offender Management Statistics Quarterly (OMSQ) publication.
Asked by: Robert Jenrick (Conservative - Newark)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners have absconded from or failed to return to open prisons in the past 12 months.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Open prisons play an important role in preparing individuals for safe resettlement into the community, and Release on Temporary Licence (ROTL) is a key part of that process. We have robust risk assessments and monitoring in place to minimise absconds and failures to return. When a prisoner absconds, police are immediately notified, with the majority of absconders being recaptured and returned to custody.
Those who abscond face serious consequences, including being returned to closed prison conditions where they may serve up to two additional years on conviction. Prisoners subject to parole decisions will likely face longer before they are released.
Data on absconds and failures to return from release on temporary licence are published each July in the HMPPS Annual Digest, available via HMPPS Annual Digest, April 2024 to March 2025 - GOV.UK. Information on these for open prisons specifically can be generated through the ‘Escapes Data Tool’. Data for April 2025 onwards will form part of a future publication.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the answer of 18th November 2025 to question 88988 on Prisoners, a) how long for and b) how much compensation did each prisoner unlawfully detained between 5th July 2024 and 31st March 2025 receive.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Release inaccuracy is yet another symptom of the prison system crisis inherited by this Government. While the overwhelming majority of offenders are released correctly, we are clamping down on those errors that do occur, and this includes unlawful detentions.
On 11 November, the Deputy Prime Minister announced a five-point action plan setting out initial steps which includes strengthening release checks across prisons and an independent inquiry will report its recommendations to prevent further inaccuracies. The Government is determined to fix release inaccuracies and ensure the public is properly protected.
The data requested comes from internal management information and is not fully Quality Assured. We are therefore unable to answer this question within cost limits.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the answer of 18 November 2025 to question 88988 on Prisoners, how many of the prisoners unlawfully detained following completion of their sentence in 2024-25 were detained between 5 July 2024 and 31 March 2025.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Release inaccuracy is yet another symptom of the prison system crisis inherited by this Government. While the overwhelming majority of offenders are released correctly, we are clamping down on those errors that do occur, and this includes unlawful detentions.
On 11 November, the Deputy Prime Minister announced a five-point action plan setting out initial steps which includes strengthening release checks across prisons and an independent inquiry will report its recommendations to prevent further inaccuracies. The Government is determined to fix release inaccuracies and ensure the public is properly protected.
The data requested comes from internal management information and is not fully Quality Assured. We are therefore unable to answer this question within cost limits.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many staff within the HM Prison & Probation Service are reliant on a visa for their employment.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Ministry of Justice does not hold the requested data in an easily accessible format. Information on right to work status does not provide a distinction between employees presently working for the Ministry of Justice and employees who have since left employment, therefore distinguishing the data accurately would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government for each of the past five years, how many prosecutions and convictions have been secured under section 69 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 relating to animal sexual abuse; how these figures compare with prosecutions and convictions for extreme pornographic images depicting animal sexual abuse; and what steps they are taking to address the disparity between the number of image-based cases and the number of associated perpetrators brought to justice.
Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on prosecutions and convictions in criminal courts in England and Wales in the Outcomes by Offences data tool. This includes offences under section 69 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 and section 63(7)(d) of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008. They can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics.
The following tables provide the number of prosecutions and convictions for the offences under section 69 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 and section 63(7)(d) of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008.
Table 1: Number of prosecutions and convictions for offences under section 69 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 in criminal courts, England and Wales, year ending June 2021 to year ending June 2025[note 1][note 2]
| Year ending June 2021 | Year ending June 2022 | Year ending June 2023 | Year ending June 2024 | Year ending June 2025 |
Proceeded against | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Convicted | 5 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
Source: Court Proceedings Database
Table 2: Number of prosecutions and convictions for Possession of extreme pornographic images - a person performing an act of intercourse or oral sex with an animal (whether dead or alive) (bestiality) in criminal courts, England and Wales, year ending June 2021 to year ending June 2025[note 1][note 2]
| Year ending June 2021 | Year ending June 2022 | Year ending June 2023 | Year ending June 2024 | Year ending June 2025 |
Proceeded against | 71 | 58 | 48 | 55 | 65 |
Convicted | 74 | 60 | 60 | 61 | 67 |
Source: Court Proceedings Database
Note 1: Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.
Note 2: These figures are presented on a principal-offence basis - ie. reporting information relating to the most serious offence that a defendant was dealt with for. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.
There are arrangements in place for cross-agency information sharing in the criminal justice system. All offenders subject to Notification Requirements will be managed under Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA). MAPPA is a process through which the Police, Probation and Prison Services work with other agencies to assess and manage the risks posed by individuals convicted of serious violent, sexual and terrorism offences living in the community. This can include those who have committed the section 69 offence.
Where there is a conviction that is domestic abuse related but does not automatically qualify for MAPPA, practitioners are required to consider discretionary MAPPA management.
The Government is committed to protecting animals and holding those who abuse animals to account.
We keep the criminal law under review, including reviewing relevant or emerging information, such as any evidence of correlation between animal sexual abuse, child sexual abuse and domestic abuse.