Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what data his Department holds on the total cost of (a) translation and (b) interpretation services in the prison system for each of the last five years.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The requested information has been provided in the tables below.
Translation:
FY | Translation |
FY21-22 | £ 83,462.46 |
FY22-23 | £ 137,213.31 |
FY23-24 | £ 280,071.34 |
FY24-25 | £ 328,526.54 |
FY25-26 | £ 142,303.32 |
Total | £ 971,576.97 |
Interpreting:
FY | Interpreting |
FY21/22 | £ 133,776.35 |
FY22/23 | £ 125,495.41 |
FY23/24 | £ 163,546.08 |
FY24/25 | £ 161,212.42 |
FY25/26 | £ 105,987.79 |
Total | £ 690,018.05 |
The Ministry of Justice has a statutory duty to provide Language Services to enable access to justice for users whom English is not their first language. Language Service needs and spend are assessed to ensure these services offer good value for money for taxpayers whilst maintaining high standards of service delivery.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what data his Department holds on the number of prison officers who do not have English as a first language.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what data his Department holds on the total cost of (a) translation and (b) interpretation services in the court system for each of the last five years.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested can be found in the tables below.
Translation:
FY | Translation |
FY21-22 | £ 51,231.54 |
FY22-23 | £ 113,487.07 |
FY23-24 | £ 140,829.23 |
FY24-25 | £ 126,433.75 |
FY25-26 | £ 78,995.19 |
Total | £ 510,976.78 |
Interpreting:
FY | Interpreting |
FY21/22 | £ 22,225,742.45 |
FY22/23 | £ 27,362,968.49 |
FY23/24 | £ 31,022,423.14 |
FY24/25 | £ 32,390,150.55 |
FY25/26 | £ 20,517,115.66 |
Total | £ 133,518,400.29 |
The Ministry of Justice has a statutory duty to provide Language Services to enable access to justice for users whom English is not their first language. Language Service needs and spend are assessed to ensure these services offer good value for money for taxpayers whilst maintaining high standards of service delivery.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent estimate he has made of the number of foreign nationals in prison.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The number of foreign national offenders in prison is published as part of the Offender Management Quarterly statistics series. The series can be accessed with the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/offender-management-statistics-quarterly.
Foreign nationals who commit crime should be in no doubt that the law will be enforced. Where appropriate, the Ministry of Justice will work with the Home Office to pursue their deportation.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of the prison population do not have (a) English and (b) another native UK languages as a first language in each of the last five years; and what languages such prisoners did speak as a first language.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The information requested is not centrally recorded.
Collecting it would involve a search of the records of each prisoner in England and Wales over the last five years. It could not, therefore, be obtained without incurring disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Jen Craft (Labour - Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps (a) his Department and (b) its public bodies are taking to (i) develop and (ii) use artificial intelligence approaches to British Sign Language.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Providing British Sign Language (BSL) translations of pre-recorded audio and video content on public services is a legislative Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AAA criterion. As outlined in the Government Service Standard, all digital government services must as a minimum meet Level AA. AAA is best practice.
Through the Service Standard and Service Assessments, the Government Digital Service encourages Departments to incorporate BSL into service design. In May this year, DVSA (Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency) launched the UK Government’s first British Sign Language (BSL) online translation service for candidates booking their theory test online. DVSA held a series of user research session with BSL users, with one participant calling the service ‘life-changing’.
There are opportunities to use AI to accelerate the creation of accessible content across public services. If public bodies trial the use of AI in approaches to BSL, they would be required to conform with both WCAG and the Service Standard, and must conduct research with disabled people, including Deaf users and where appropriate to the service provision, those who use sign language or a sign language interpreter to interact with the service.
Regardless of if AI generated, services must also make sure any BSL video is culturally appropriate by working with the BSL community, testing it, or getting feedback.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of violence in women's prisons.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Violence in prisons may be caused, or triggered, by a range of factors, including personal characteristics such as existing patterns of behaviour, substance misuse or traumatic life experiences. Factors particularly relevant to the women’s estate include trauma, relational complexities and separation from children.
Information on the rate of assaults in female establishments in the 12 months to June 2025 can be found at the following link: Safety in Custody Statistics, England and Wales: Deaths in Prison Custody to September 2025 Assaults and Self-harm to June 2025 - GOV.UK.
The Managing Women in Crisis Working Group in His Majesty’s Prison & Probation Service (HMPPS) was established to increase understanding of complex behaviour in this group of prisoners, and to consider how best to support them. This includes developing guidance and training for staff. In addition, HMPPS’s Women’s Estate Case Advice and Support Panel supports establishments in the management of women with complex needs. It aims to help reduce risk and to enable women to progress in their sentences.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been imprisoned for growing cannabis in every year since 2010.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the number of offenders sentenced to immediate custody at criminal courts in England and Wales in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal justice statistics quarterly - GOV.UK.
The offences should be selected by using the HO offence code filter and selecting:
09221 - Production of or being concerned in production of a controlled drug - class B (cannabis, including cannabis resin, cannabinol and cannabinol derivatives)
09226 - Production or being concerned in production of a controlled drug - class C (cannabis, including cannabis resin, cannabinol and cannabinol derivatives) (historic)
09241 - Supplying or offering to supply a controlled drug - class B (cannabis, including cannabis resin, cannabinol and cannabinol derivatives)
09246 - Supplying or offering to supply a controlled drug - class C (cannabis, including cannabis resin, cannabinol and cannabinol derivatives) (historic)
09230 - Supplying or offering to supply a controlled drug - class A (cocaine)
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been imprisoned for supplying cocaine in every year since 2010.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the number of offenders sentenced to immediate custody at criminal courts in England and Wales in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal justice statistics quarterly - GOV.UK.
The offences should be selected by using the HO offence code filter and selecting:
09221 - Production of or being concerned in production of a controlled drug - class B (cannabis, including cannabis resin, cannabinol and cannabinol derivatives)
09226 - Production or being concerned in production of a controlled drug - class C (cannabis, including cannabis resin, cannabinol and cannabinol derivatives) (historic)
09241 - Supplying or offering to supply a controlled drug - class B (cannabis, including cannabis resin, cannabinol and cannabinol derivatives)
09246 - Supplying or offering to supply a controlled drug - class C (cannabis, including cannabis resin, cannabinol and cannabinol derivatives) (historic)
09230 - Supplying or offering to supply a controlled drug - class A (cocaine)
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been imprisoned for supplying cannabis in every year since 2010.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the number of offenders sentenced to immediate custody at criminal courts in England and Wales in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal justice statistics quarterly - GOV.UK.
The offences should be selected by using the HO offence code filter and selecting:
09221 - Production of or being concerned in production of a controlled drug - class B (cannabis, including cannabis resin, cannabinol and cannabinol derivatives)
09226 - Production or being concerned in production of a controlled drug - class C (cannabis, including cannabis resin, cannabinol and cannabinol derivatives) (historic)
09241 - Supplying or offering to supply a controlled drug - class B (cannabis, including cannabis resin, cannabinol and cannabinol derivatives)
09246 - Supplying or offering to supply a controlled drug - class C (cannabis, including cannabis resin, cannabinol and cannabinol derivatives) (historic)
09230 - Supplying or offering to supply a controlled drug - class A (cocaine)