theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 22 October to Question 83151 on Warrior Vehicles, what the disposal timeline is of each Warrior variant. \p Luke Pollard: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 9 June to Question 55779, which remains extant and applies to all variants of Warrior vehicles:

As at 1 June 2025, there are 359 Warrior vehicles in service. As the Out of Service date for Warrior is 2027, with all vehicles withdrawn from service by the end of the decade, any that remain held by the Department beyond this will be classed as surplus to requirements.

https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2025-05-30/55779
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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what role the Office for Defence Exports played in the recent deal for Turkey to purchase 20 Eurofighter Typhoons. \p Luke Pollard: A cross-Government team worked on successfully delivering Typhoon to Turkey. The Defence Export Office provided expert advice and support during this process.
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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress he has made on delivering the Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability programme. \p Luke Pollard: An Outline Business Case covering the Construction Test and Evaluation phase for the Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability programme (DARC) was submitted to the Ministry of Defence (MOD) Investments Approval Committee this summer. It is now being considered alongside other investments as part of the Government's ongoing Defence Investment Plan (DIP).

The MOD has already begun a comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the proposed redevelopment of Cawdor Barracks for the DARC site. This includes a Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment to ensure that DARC has a minimal impact on the local skyline.

The EIA is part of a Town Planning application that will be submitted to the local planning authority in due course.
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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress he has made on establishing the Office for Small Business Growth. \p Luke Pollard: Planning for the new Defence Office for Small Business Growth continues.  The support that will be offered by the Office has been developed following wide ranging consultation with a variety of stakeholders, including Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), prime contractors, trade associations, mid-tier suppliers, Regional Defence and Security Clusters, and academia. The Office for Small Business Growth will be established by the end of January 2026 on a limited basis and develop its offering throughout 2026.
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James MacCleary:To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 23 April 2025 to Question 44918 on Unmanned Air Systems, whether he plans to donate any of those drones to Ukraine, in the context of changes to US export control policies. \p Al Carns: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 23 April 2025 to Question 44918.

There are no plans to donate any MQ-9 Reaper Remotely Piloted Air Systems to Ukraine.

Unmanned Air Systems (docx, 16.9KB)
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Dr Al Pinkerton:To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has made an assessment of any correlation between the standard of Armed Forces housing and levels of (a) recruitment and (b) retention. \p Louise Sandher-Jones: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) monitors Service personnel attitudes through the Armed Forces Continuous Attitude Survey (AFCAS). AFCAS includes questions on satisfaction with certain aspects of accommodation and how provision of accommodation influences decisions to remain in or leave the Services. 40% of Regular personnel report that accommodation provision increases their intentions to stay, whilst 30% state that it increases their intentions to leave. While housing is widely recognised as part of the overall employment offer, there is currently no formal assessment in MOD establishing a link between accommodation quality and recruitment levels.

On 1 June 2025, the Defence Secretary, announced £1.5bn of additional funding over the next five years, to deliver longer term and enduring improvements to UK SFA housing. This investment is part of the Government’s Strategic Defence Review (SDR), which sets a path for the next decade to transform Defence housing helping to support recruitment, retention and morale.

To help improve the attractiveness of Service life, in April 2025 we announced the new Consumer Charter, part of the Defence Housing Strategy, designed to deliver tangible improvement for Defence housing and improve the lived experience for our Service Personnel and families across the UK. Progress against the seven Charter Commitments is well underway, with many already completed, and all due to complete by the end of December 2025 - the one-year anniversary of the Annington Deal. As commitments are met, we are communicating progress to Service families.

Our Consumer Charter is raising the minimum standard of 1,000 homes to improve the lived experience for Service families this calendar year.
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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which Royal Air Force sub-unit has been deployed to Belgium in a counter-unmanned aerial systems role. \p Al Carns: The RAF Regiment's No2 Counter Uncrewed Air Systems (CUAS) Wing has been deployed to Belgium.
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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 20 October to Question 79482 on Defence: Intelligence Services, whether the Defence Counterintelligence Unit was delivered by the November 2025 timeline outlined in the Strategic Defence Review. \p Al Carns: The Defence Counterintelligence Unit (DCIU) was endorsed at the Military Strategic Headquarters Board earlier in November 2025, in line with the timeline outlined in the Strategic Defence Review. This unit will build on the work of existing capabilities in Defence with further work required to reach full operating capability. We expect to announce further progress on the intelligence recommendations from the Strategic Defence Review, including the DCIU, by the end of the year.
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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of his Department’s capability during Exercise PEGASUS. \p Al Carns: Defence fully participated in Exercise PEGASUS, a tier one national exercise designed to simulate a realistic pandemic scenario. A Defence team was fully integrated with DHSC and UKHSA to plan and design Defence's contribution to the exercise.

For each of the three full-play 'anchor' exercise days that ran between September and October 2025, a Departmental Operations Centre was stood up. This included a mix of civilian and military experts to simulate a fully informed response to a pandemic. Defence Ministers also participated in simulated Cabinet Office Briefing Room (COBR) meetings.

Defence teams are now involved in the evaluation process, identifying any lessons learned from the exercise. Defence will take action on these lessons and will incorporate them into our existing pandemic management plan.
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Mr Andrew Snowden:To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the use of GPS-enabled smart watches on the security of UK defence sites. \p Al Carns: The Ministry of Defence has strict rules governing where smart devices, including GPS-enabled smart watches, can and cannot be used. We do not comment on the detail of those measures.
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Jim Shannon:To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the recent announcement by the United States to provide Ukraine with more military equipment through NATO, what plans he has provide additional military equipment to Ukraine. \p Al Carns: The UK is ramping up military support to Ukraine to bolster Ukraine’s defences through the depths of winter. The UK have entered a tech sharing agreement with Ukraine which will facilitate the mass production of thousands of advanced air defence interceptor drones per month under Project OCTOPUS.

We have also announced that 140 additional lightweight-multirole missiles (LMM) manufactured by Thales Northern Ireland will be delivered and that over 85,000 drones had been delivered to Ukraine in the past six months. In the eight months since taking joint leadership of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group, we have successfully raised pledges of over £50 billion in military help for Ukraine.
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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress he has made on including a UK weapon in the F-35 Joint Programme Office digital accelerator. \p Luke Pollard: The UK continues to work closely with the F-35 Joint Program Office and our suppliers to progress UK weapons in the digital accelerator. The value of the digital accelerator in driving out cost and reducing timelines is well recognised and the UK is working to exploit the opportunity.
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Bell Ribeiro-Addy:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the answer received to question 87406 on the 11th November 2025 on Legal Aid Scheme: Housing and Immigration, whether the uplift will be backdated, once the system is back up and running, to a date when the uplift would otherwise have been implemented. \p Sarah Sackman: As stated in our consultation response ‘Civil legal aid: Towards a sustainable future’, published in July 2025, we will implement the fee uplifts as soon as operationally possible. We will not backdate the fee uplifts.
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Charlie Maynard:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to resolve delays in the court system. \p Sarah Sackman: The Government is committed to bearing down on the outstanding caseload and delivering swifter justice for victims, but the challenge facing the Crown Court is significant.

Courts are sitting at, or close to, maximum judicial capacity in almost every jurisdiction, including family and civil, with record investment this year. We are also continuing to invest in the recruitment of c.1,000 judges and tribunal members annually across all jurisdictions.

In the criminal courts, we have announced funding for a record 111,250 Crown Court sitting days for this financial year. This is 5,000 higher than the previous Government funded for the last financial year. There are a range of initiatives underway across the criminal justice system to enhance efficiency within different parts of the system.

But we need to go further and deliver sustainable longer-term reform to make the system fit for the future. This is why we have launched an independent review into the efficiency of the criminal courts, led by Sir Brian Leveson, to deliver once-in-a-generation reform. We welcome the publication of the first part of the Review. We are considering the recommendations and will respond in due course, ahead of legislating, where necessary, when Parliamentary time allows.

In the civil courts, we are seeing a reduction in the time taken between claims being made and trials.

The Family Justice Board has agreed system-wide targets for 2025/26, focused on further reducing delay and outstanding caseloads. Areas delivering the Pathfinder model in private family law have made significant progress addressing delays.
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Charlie Maynard:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent discussions his Department has had with the Criminal Bar Association on reducing average waiting times from point of charge to the commencement of a trial in the Crown Court. \p Sarah Sackman: We are grateful for the dedicated work of the Criminal Bar Association and their continued engagement with the Department regarding criminal court reform. The legal sector is integral to the functioning of the justice system.

As of June 2025, the Crown Court backlog reached a new high of 78,329. We recognise the impact on victims when trials do not proceed as planned. That is why in December 2024, the Government asked Sir Brian Leveson to conduct an Independent Review of the Criminal Courts, to propose bold and ambitious reforms to improve timelines in courts and deliver swift justice for victims.

The Department has had regular ministerial and official-level engagement on actions to tackle the Crown Court backlog with a wide range of stakeholders, including the Criminal Bar Association.

We are currently considering the first part of Sir Brian’s report and will respond in due course. We look forward to continued engagement with the Criminal Bar Association on this issue in the coming months.
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Blake Stephenson:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the press release entitled Crime cutting courts to target prolific offending hotspots, published on 25 July 2025, whether the expansion will include Bedfordshire. \p Sarah Sackman: The expansion of Intensive Supervision Courts, as set out in the press release of 25 July 2025, builds on the success of the pilot in Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool and Teesside. Following this, the Ministry of Justice launched an open Expression of Interest process, which was promoted widely through both national and local criminal justice partners, inviting local areas to apply. This process has now closed, and successful applicants will be announced in the coming months.
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Ben Maguire:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Crown Courts in each of the six circuits in England and Wales are not used for five days per week. \p Sarah Sackman: The Ministry of Justice publish quarterly data concerning the open caseload at the Crown Court by geographic breakdown including region and individual courthouse. That data can be found in the ‘Receipts, disposals and open cases in the Crown Court’ tool which is available at the following link: Criminal court statistics quarterly: April to June 2025 - GOV.UK. Quarterly caseload data is published at the end of the following quarter, following a process of data validation and analysis. Therefore, the data for July – September will be published at the end of December, and data for November (as requested) will be published at the end of March 2026.

While over two-thirds of trials currently listed in the Crown Court have hearing dates set within the coming 12 months, a relatively small proportion have allocated dates further out. This can be for many reasons, but is always allocated under independent judicial direction and supervision. The furthest future trial dates by Region are set out as follows:

To improve timeliness in the courts and bring swifter justice for victims, the previous Lord Chancellor asked Sir Brian Leveson to chair an Independent Review of Criminal Courts, to propose once-in-a-generation reform. The first part of the Review has now been published. We will carefully consider Sir Brian’s proposals before setting out the Government’s full response.

The information requested around courtroom usage could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The Crown Court operates from 84 buildings across England and Wales, with a core estate of over 500 courtrooms. Most are jury-enabled and suitable for trials, with the remainder supporting other judicial work, such as interlocutory hearings. The wider HMCTS estate — including magistrates’, civil, family, and tribunal rooms — can also be used for Crown Court business when required. As a result, the precise number of rooms available for Crown Court use at any given time is variable.

HMCTS’s priority is to ensure all funded sitting days are fully utilised each financial year through active courtroom management. Estate capacity is not a limiting factor: last year, we sat 107,771, representing over 99% of our allocation, and we remain on track to deliver all allocated days this year.

Temporary unavailability may arise due to maintenance, but also due to overspill from other trials, alternative judicial activities (such as, box work, civil, family and tribunals hearings, or coroner’s court work), or other legitimate uses (including meetings and video-link sessions). However, these factors do not prevent the Crown Courts from sitting at their funded allocation.
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Rupert Lowe:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many legal aid certificates have been granted for cases referencing (a) the one-in, one-out migrant returns policy and (b) removals to France since July 2025. \p Sarah Sackman: Information relating to legal aid expenditure challenging removals under the one-in one-out pilot is not centrally held. Although legal aid expenditure broken down by category is published on a quarterly basis as part of the Legal Aid Agency’s Official Statistics.

In order to obtain information relating to the number of legal aid certificates granted for cases which make specific reference to either the one-in one-out migrant returns policy or removals to France, it would be necessary to manually review every single application for legal representation in connection with judicial review proceedings in the immigration context. That could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions his Department has had with the Home Office on proposals to ban first cousin marriage. \p Alex Davies-Jones: The Ministry of Justice regularly engages with other Government Departments, including the Home Office, on a range of issues relating to marriage law.
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Dr Al Pinkerton:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions he has had with the Post Office Horizon Inquiry on the publication of evidence. \p Alex Davies-Jones: The Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry is a statutory inquiry under the Inquiries Act 2005 and Sir Wyn Williams and the Inquiry team have the right to receive full access to the information and witnesses they require in order to investigate what went wrong at the Post Office. The Inquiry is entirely independent. Within its published terms of reference, Sir Wyn has the power to decide what to look at and which evidence to make public.

The Department for Business and Trade is the lead department on Post Office issues, so the Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Justice has not engaged with the Inquiry on the publication of its evidence. It is important that the Government respect Sir Wyn’s independence, therefore it would not be appropriate for Government to comment further on the Inquiry.
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Jim McMahon:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) male and (b) female prison staff were found to have had (i) inappropriate personal and (ii) criminal relationships with prisoners in each year since 2015. \p Jake Richards: The overwhelming majority of prison staff are hardworking and honest; we are determined to root out any who are not.

Information in relation to numbers of investigations and conduct and discipline cases can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hm-prison-probation-service-staff-equalities-report-2023-2024/hm-prison-and-probation-service-annual-staff-equalities-report-2023-to-2024#investigations-and-conduct--discipline-cases.

As investigations and conduct and discipline cases may involve multiple charges, and multiple outcomes in relation the different parts of the case, it would not be possible to obtain the information requested in relation to outcomes without incurring disproportionate cost.

His Majesty’s Prison & Probation Service (HMPPS) has been working on raising professional standards, with the aim of giving staff greater confidence to report evidence of wrongdoing, and this may have had an impact on case numbers.

HMPPS’s Counter-Corruption Unit detects, disrupts and deters activities of those suspected of wrongdoing. It provides support to prisons and the Probation Service, with specialist staff working with the police to support investigations.
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Jim Allister:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people released through the early release scheme in Northern Ireland were foreign nationals. \p Jake Richards: Justice, including the management of offenders and prisons, is a devolved matter in Northern Ireland. The Ministry of Justice does not hold data relating to the release of prisoners in Northern Ireland and the honourable Member would have to contact the Northern Ireland Executive for this information.
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Charlie Maynard:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to improve the welfare of staff working in the prisons system. \p Jake Richards: By the nature of their roles, staff working in the prison system can come into contact with some of the most challenging and dangerous people in society and it is essential that they are supported to carry out their important roles. Given these challenges, we provide extensive mental health support, including a 24-hour helpline, confidential counselling, and online wellbeing services. Our Trauma Risk Management practitioners and Care Teams provide further support following any incidents while on duty.

The Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) offers confidential 24/7 telephone helpline for counselling and provides a range of wellbeing and health promotion workshops. EAP also delivers reflective sessions which are a proactive mental ill health preventative intervention. The sessions focus on the impact of traumatic events at work, helping employees to develop coping strategies and preventing an adverse impact on their professional and private life.

Within prisons, we are in early stages of implementing the Enable Programme, which aims to transform prisons over the medium term, through a series of workforce and regime changes that will change how HMPPS trains, develops, leads and supports prison staff to ensure that they feel safe, supported, valued and confident in their skills and their ability to make a difference.

We are investing around £15 million in protective equipment to help keep frontline staff working in prisons safe, including expanding the use of tasers and providing more protective body armour. This investment will include provision of up to 10,000 more units of protective body armour (known as stab-proof vests) to staff for use when it is deemed as necessary, and training up to 500 more officers to use Conductive Energy Devices (known as Tasers). This means that they will be able to provide immediate intervention during certain high-threat, serious incidents.
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Charlie Maynard:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to tackle the problem of illegal deliveries of (a) phones, (b) drugs and (c) other contraband items into prisons via drones. \p Jake Richards: We are working hard to deter, detect and disrupt the illegal use of drones around prisons in England and Wales.

Whilst we cannot share our full range of countermeasures, our approach is multi-faceted and continually evolving. This includes strengthening physical security countermeasures, exploring technological developments, exploiting intelligence, bolstering legislation and working across Government and with international partners on this global issue.

HMPPS uses targeted countermeasures such as improvements to windows, specialist netting and grilles to stop drones successfully delivering contraband.

This year, we are investing over £40 million in physical security across 34 prisons. This includes £10 million on anti-drone measures including windows and secure netting across 15 prisons.
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Charlie Maynard:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will extend intervention programmes aimed at preventing reoffending to people held in prisons on remand, pre-sentencing. \p Jake Richards: We are focused on expanding appropriate rehabilitative provision for remand prisoners to ensure consistency across the country. Probation Pre-Release Teams (PRTs) support probation practitioners in the community with pre-release planning and coordinate specialist resettlement services within the prison. PRTs support all people in prison including those who are on remand or those who are held outside of their local area.

The scope of the Commissioned Rehabilitative Services (CRS) accommodation (men's) and CRS Women’s Services contracts have been extended to include those on remand. CRS does not offer intervention programmes but does offer practical support in relation to key offence related needs.

This includes the provision of accommodation support for all individuals, and, for women, additional services which address Finance Benefit and Debt (FBD), Family and Significant Others and Social Inclusion. HMPPS is also preparing to recommission its rehabilitative services and we intend that future combined-pathway contracts for both men and women will continue to support both sentenced and unsentenced prisoners. These next generation of services for men in custody, including those on remand, will also include the Community Links and FBD.

Accredited offending behaviour programmes are generally reserved for sentenced individuals, as remand periods and uncertain outcomes make it impractical to deliver these interventions before sentencing.
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Charlie Maynard:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to increase (a) recruitment and (b) retention of prison officers. \p Jake Richards: We know that sufficient and skilled frontline staffing is fundamental to delivering safe, secure, and rehabilitative prisons. We remain committed to ensuring prisons are sufficiently resourced and that we retain and build levels of experience.

Substantive recruitment efforts will continue at all prisons where vacancies exist or are projected, with targeted interventions applied to those prisons with the most need. We closely monitor staffing levels across the estate and look to provide short-term support where needed. All prison expansion projects, whether new prisons or smaller builds, are factored into our staffing forecasts to ensure we recruit on time and build up the experience needed to continue to deliver safe and secure regimes.

To help increase retention, HMPPS has a retention strategy in place which is linked to wider activities around employee experience, employee lifecycle, and staff engagement at work. Alongside the strategy a retention toolkit has been introduced which identifies local, regional, and national interventions against the drivers of attrition, which are utilised by establishments to ensure that they are embedding individual Retention Plans.
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Charlie Maynard:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to reduce delays in the escorting of defendants to Court which can result in a trial being (a) deferred or (b) cancelled. \p Jake Richards: The HMPPS Prisoner Escort and Custody Services (PECS) Contract Management Team continues to work collaboratively with criminal justice system partners through Strategic Partnership Boards to review performance and agree strategies to drive and sustain improvements.

PECS provides quarterly reports to Ministers, detailing supplier performance against journey-time targets and the timeliness of prison vehicle turnaround.
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Sarah Pochin:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners who have been wrongly released have committed a crime before being brought back to prison in each of the last five years. \p Jake Richards: This information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
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Sarah Pochin:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether translation (a) cards or (b) services are provided to foreign national prison officers to aid communication with prisoners. \p Jake Richards: Translation cards or services are not provided to any prison officers working in Public Sector Prisons (PSPs). The process for recruiting prison officers across all PSPs is the same for all applicants, both UK and non-UK nationals, with candidates being appointed to the role based on merit, in line with the fair and open Civil Service recruitment principles. The assessment process for prison officers includes assessments of spoken and written language skills, which will be to the same standard for all candidates, regardless of nationality, and fitness and medical checks.
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Ben Maguire:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many trials have been delayed and court days lost because a prisoner has failed to be delivered to the Court by the Prisoner Escort and Custody Services. \p Jake Richards: The question has been interpreted to mean ineffective trials that do not start on their intended start date and need rescheduling. Trials can become ineffective for many reasons, owing to the action or inaction of stakeholders responsible for producing prisoners to court, or of the courts themselves. Delays or failures to bring prisoners to court are one such reason.

Data on trial effectiveness at the criminal courts, by reason for ineffectiveness, is published as part of the Criminal court statistics quarterly series. Applying the “reason” filter in the pivot table in Trial Effectiveness at Criminal Courts document enables the reader to select reasons why trials have been ineffective. Tab 14 shows instances where the defendant’s not having been produced by Prisoner Escort and Custody Services led to an ineffective trial. This includes all instances where a prisoner was not produced on time, regardless of whether the contractor was at fault. The most recent publication can be accessed via the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-court-statistics-quarterly-april-to-june-2025.
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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what prison construction projects were due to be completed by ISG Construction. \p Jake Richards: Construction projects were planned for completion by ISG Construction Limited at the below prisons:

HMP Birmingham

HMP Liverpool

HMP Prescoed

HMP The Verne

HMP Kirklevington Grange

HMP Warren Hill

HMP Guys Marsh

HMP Erlestoke

HMP Leyhill

HMP Ford

HMP Standford Hill

The planned new prison in Buckinghamshire

Work is underway to recommence delivery across these projects. We are committed to delivering an additional 14,000 prison places and are on track to do so by 2031. We have already delivered c.2,600 of these since taking office.
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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of his prison capacity strategy on the number of Category A prison places that will be created. \p Jake Richards: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 2 June 2025 to Question 57465.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-11-19)

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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, in which prisons the planned new houseblocks will be constructed. \p Jake Richards: As set out in the 10-Year Prison Capacity Strategy, we are committed to delivering an additional 14,000 prison places. This consists of the construction of four new prisons, including HMP Millsike that opened in early 2025, as well as the expansion and refurbishment of the existing estate.

Our delivery plans include contingency places that act as resilience to the programme if a project becomes undeliverable or provides poor value for money and is not taken forward.

The planned expansion of the estate includes the delivery of new houseblocks at the following prisons:

HMP Fosse Way

HMP Elmley

HMP Northumberland

HMP Humber

HMP Ranby

HMP Bullingdon

HMP Erlestoke

HMP Guys Marsh

HMP Onley

HMP Lancaster Farms

HMP Parc

HMP Channings Wood

HMP Highpoint

HMP Leyhill

HMP Standford Hill

HMP Springhill

HMP Wayland

HMP Hatfield

HMP Ford

HMP Hindley

We are on track to deliver 14,000 additional places by 2031 and have already delivered c.2,600 since taking office.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-11-19)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-11-19 conversation_287

Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when HMP Welland Oaks was first planned to be built. \p Jake Richards: Plans to build four new prisons, including HMP Welland Oaks, were announced by the Ministry of Justice in June 2020. As set out in the 10-Year Prison Capacity Strategy, the four new prisons are part of this Government’s plans to deliver 14,000 additional prison places, with an aim to do so by 2031. We are currently on track to do so, having delivered c.2,600 since taking office, including c.1,500 places through the new prison HMP Millsike, which opened earlier this year.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-11-19)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-11-19 conversation_288

Jerome Mayhew:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners have been released in error from HMP Bure since July 2024. \p Jake Richards: Releases in error have been increasing for several years and are another symptom of the prison system crisis inherited by this Government. On 11 November, the Deputy Prime Minister announced a five-point action plan setting out initial steps to address this issue.

Totals for releases in error, including a breakdown by releasing prison (or Prisoner Escort Custody Services), are published each July in the HMPPS Annual Digest, available via HMPPS Annual Digest, April 2024 to March 2025 - GOV.UK, and provide data up to March 2025.

The Government is determined to fix the issue of mistaken releases and ensure the public is properly protected.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-11-19)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-11-19 conversation_289

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to improve the rehabilitation of prisoners. \p Jake Richards: We are tackling the root causes of reoffending by investing in a range of interventions which address offenders’ underlying criminogenic needs and support their rehabilitation journey. This includes education, employment, accommodation and access to substance misuse treatment.

We know that education, employment, and accommodation can reduce the chance of reoffending. That is why we are delivering vocational courses, a future skills programme, and expanding the prisoner apprenticeship scheme. All 93 resettlement prisons have key roles in place to prepare prisoners for employment on release, and we have launched regional Employment Councils, which for the first time bring businesses together with prisons, probation, and the Department for Work and Pensions to support prison leavers. We are also expanding our community accommodation service - to support prison leavers at risk of homelessness by providing up to 12 weeks of temporary accommodation for those under probation supervision.

We also know that drug treatment is effective in reducing the risk of reoffending. We work closely with health partners to identify prisoners with a drug need, refer them into treatment, and support recovery. We have funded Incentivised Substance-Free Living units (ISFLs) in 85 prisons, where prisoners sign a behaviour compact, agree to be regularly drug tested and can access enhanced opportunities compared to a standard wing.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-11-19)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-11-19 conversation_290

Jim Shannon:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to improve the quality of video links used for remote court proceedings. \p Jake Richards: All prisons in England and Wales now have some modern video provision to support remote court hearings. In 2024/25, prisons facilitated almost 440,000 video links: over 212,000 of these related to remote court hearings, an increase of 17% on the previous year.

The backbone of video delivery in prisons is the high-capacity, high-quality Video Conferencing Centres (VCCs). These purpose-built facilities are designed to improve the quality of defendants’ interactions with courts during remote hearings. To date 18, VCCs are operational in prisons, and they account for almost half of all video links facilitated. We have delivered two VCCs this year, with one more under construction, and the investment case for more is being considered.

While decisions about remote participation for any parties or witnesses in any jurisdiction is ultimately judicial, HMCTS has the digital and audio technology available to facilitate remote links in all criminal court centres. It is currently investing in the upgrade of that technology through its Digital Audio & Visual Evolution project. This is replacing screens, cameras and audio equipment with modernised hardware which improves the experience for participants where a video link is being used.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-11-19)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-11-19 conversation_291

Dr Al Pinkerton:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to improve data collection on (a) the number of veterans serving custodial sentences and (b) potential disparities in sentencing outcomes. \p Jake Richards: Sentencing decisions in individual cases are a matter for the independent judiciary, who take into account the circumstances of the offence and any aggravating and mitigating factors, in accordance with the relevant law. Sentencers also have a statutory duty to follow any relevant sentencing guidelines, developed by the Sentencing Council for England and Wales, unless in the interests of justice not to do so. Sentencing guidelines help promote consistency and transparency in sentencing.

Whilst the fact that someone is a veteran is not explicitly listed as a mitigating factor in statute nor in sentencing guidelines, judges have the flexibility to consider relevant factors in an individual case and could, for example, choose to take previous positive good character or exemplary conduct into account when determining a sentence, if considered appropriate to do so based on the full facts of the case.

We do not hold data concerning the previous military service of those sentenced at the criminal courts and so are unable to make an assessment of sentencing outcomes for this cohort relative to non-veterans. More generally, prisoners are asked on entry into custody whether they have served in the armed forces, and responses are then checked against Ministry of Defence records.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-11-19)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-11-19 conversation_292

Blake Stephenson:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of (a) consultations and (b) reviews conducted by his Department since 4 July 2024. \p Jake Richards: The information requested is not centrally held in an easily accessible form as there are no expenditure categories that just cover consultations or reviews.

Due to this any response could only be collated and verified for the purposes of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-11-19)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-11-19 conversation_293

Neil O'Brien:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) Equality Impact Assessments and (b) equality screenings have been produced by his Department in the last three months. \p Jake Richards: Under the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED), all public authorities, including Government departments, are required by law to have due regard to certain equality considerations when carrying out their functions.

While equality impact assessments and equality screenings may be produced, there is no legal requirement for these assessments to be compiled in a specific format or published.

In accordance with section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, the Ministry of Justice ensures that assessment of the equality considerations of its policy proposals is integrated into the development, implementation, and review of its policies.

We do not keep a central record of all equality impact assessments or screenings undertaken in recent months. However, and where relevant, the equality assessments undertaken are often published alongside policy consultations on the Ministry of Justice consultation hub, which is publicly available on GOV.UK: Ministry of Justice - Citizen Space.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-11-19)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-11-19 conversation_294

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of increasing sentences for serial offenders on (a) public safety and (b) crime rates. \p Jake Richards: This Government takes prolific offending extremely seriously, which is why we commissioned the Independent Sentencing Review (ISR) to specifically consider the sentencing approach in cases involving prolific offenders alongside, more broadly, how the sentencing framework could be reformed to reduce reoffending, cut crime, and make our streets safer.

We know prolific offenders are one of the most challenging cohorts with high levels of criminogenic needs, that typically commit a multitude of low-harm but high-nuisance offences, such as shoplifting, which attract maximum sentences of up to 12 months. The ISR referenced robust Ministry of Justice evidence which shows that offenders released from short prison sentences of less than 12 months reoffend at a higher rate than similar offenders given a community or suspended sentence. The ISR therefore recommended that the Government legislate to ensure that short custodial sentences are only used in exceptional circumstances. For prolific offenders specifically, the ISR recommended that the Government expand the availability of Intensive Supervision Courts (ISCs) to address prolific offending. The ISCs provide a robust alternative to custody, using enhanced community-based sentences to divert those at risk of facing custodial sentences of two years in the Crown Court, and twelve months in the Magistrates’ Court. International studies show that similar courts reduce arrests by 33% compared to standard sentences. We ran an Expression of Interest process to identify new sites which closed on 17 October 2025. We will announce successful new sites in the coming months.

The Sentencing Bill 2025 delivers many of the reforms recommended by the ISR. For instance, Clause 1 introduces a presumption for the courts to suspend short sentences of immediate custody of 12 months or less. We are not abolishing short sentences. They will continue to be available where an offender has committed an offence involving, or closely connected to, breach of a court order – including breaching the requirements of a previous suspended sentence order or committing a further offence. Short prison sentences will also be available where an individual is at significant risk of harm, and in exceptional circumstances.

Limiting the use of short sentences will not only help offenders to leave the merry-go-round of re-offending but reduce crime, leading to fewer victims and safer communities.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-11-19)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-11-19 conversation_295

Mike Wood:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department has spent on social media influencers since July 2024. \p Jake Richards: I refer the honourable Member to the reply I gave on 6 November 2025 to PQ 86469.