Ministry of Justice

Prison officers work in difficult environments every day, with some of the most challenging people in our society and we recognise their critical importance in keeping the public safe. We strive to ensure that they work in safe and decent conditions.

To protect staff from serious assaults, PAVA, a synthetic pepper spray, is available for prison officers to use in the adult male estate. Over 13,000 next generation Body Worn Video Cameras are available across public sector prisons, meaning every Band 3-5 officer can wear a camera whilst on shift. This provides high-quality evidence to support prosecutions against those who commit assaults on staff.

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. We offer a range of services to support staff wellbeing, which include Care Teams and Mental Health Allies, who are trained to provide support and signposting to any member of staff involved in an incident within the prison or when conducting official duties, present in all public sector prisons.

We recognise prison officers deserve a fair reward for their challenging work. That is why one of the first actions of this Government was accepting the independent pay review body recommendations for 2024/2025, delivering a 5% pay rise, raising officers’ starting salaries to over £34,000. We value the work of our recognised Trade Unions in representing the views of their members, and Ministers will continue to engage with them to improve working conditions going forward.

This Government has committed to reviewing the scheme after 18 months of implementation.

Safety in prisons is a key priority and we are working hard to make prisons as safe as possible for those who live and work in them.

Safe prisons are vital to enable prisoners to engage in rehabilitative activities that reduce reoffending.

We are supporting prisons to effectively manage individuals who are violent or at risk of self-harm or suicide and providing prison officers with the right tools to do their jobs.

Prisons have a range of physical security measures to counter the smuggling of contraband such as drugs, mobile phones and weapons – that drive prison violence and undermine safety. We have rolled out over 13,000 Body Worn Video Cameras across adult public sector prisons which means that every Band 3-5 officer has access to a camera whilst on shift.

All new members of staff with prisoner contact receive training on suicide and self-harm prevention, and violence reduction. In addition, a violence reduction, and a gangs and harmful group behaviour training module are available to help staff better understand the drivers of violence and how to mitigate and manage these risks. All staff who undertake key roles relating to risk assessment and case management for those at a raised risk of suicide and self-harm or of being violent also receive specific training relating to these roles.

The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the prison population as part of its Offender Management Statistics Quarterly. The requested data (based on the prison population as at 31 December 2024; latest available published data) can be found at Table 1_Q_12 in the attached link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6799631cd4f0d327e77071ae/prison-population-31-Dec-2024.ods

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. 23% more foreign national offenders were removed during the period July 2024 to January 2025 compared with the equivalent period in 2023-24.

The most recent available data for the veterans prison population is from the 2024 edition of our annual publication on “Ex-service personnel in the prison population”, which is taken from a snapshot of the prison population on 30 June 2024. Any request for information ahead of this would give an indication of data scheduled for future publication, and so we are not able to provide the figures for 24 February 2025 at this time.

As per our 2024 publication, an estimated 3.6% of the prison population declared that they had served in the armed forces (based on 1,810 out of 50,700 prisoners who provided a response to that question at point of reception into prison). The publication can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67218d8d3aa14203d06ef453/Ex-service_personnel_in_the_prison_population_2024.pdf

Tackling violence against women and girls is a top priority for this Government and our manifesto included the mission to halve levels of these crimes in a decade.

Most domestic abuse cases are heard in magistrates’ courts, where cases move more swiftly than at the Crown Court. The average number of days from charge to completion was 67 days in Q3 2024. However, we recognise that some cases are taking longer to work through the system. This financial year, we have funded 108,500 sitting days at the Crown Court, the highest level in almost 10 years (since FY15/16). The Lord Chancellor has also commissioned an independent review of the Criminal Courts, led by Sir Brian Leveson, which will consider how the criminal courts could operate as efficiently as possible to deliver swifter justice for all victims, including victims of domestic abuse.

We are also working to improve protection for victims. Greater Manchester was one of the first areas in England and Wales to offer greater protection for victims of domestic abuse, through our Domestic Abuse Protection Order pilot, launched last November.

At the national level, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and National Police Chiefs’ Council are working together to transform how cases are investigated and prosecuted. Their Domestic Abuse Joint Justice Plan, launched last November, is grounded in the recognition that better communication between police and CPS, throughout the life of a case, improves outcomes for victims.

Expenditure data for irregular migrants across all legal aid schemes is not held centrally.

Where proceedings are before a court or tribunal in England or Wales, legal aid is available to individuals who qualify for services irrespective of their immigration status.

The Legal Aid Agency publishes information about case volumes and expenditure data for the immigration and asylum category as part of its official statistics. Please see tables 5.2-5.3 for volume an expenditure data for Legal Help and Controlled Legal Representation – this covers advice and representation before the Immigration Tribunal. Tables 6.1-6.10 set out volume and expenditure date for Civil Representation – this covers representation before the county courts and higher courts including High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.

HMCTS contracts with external suppliers to provide court transcripts. Management information from these suppliers for the period January to December 2024 was extracted as follows:

• Total number of court and tribunal transcripts produced: 45,178
• The average cost of a transcript order between January and December 2024 based on the transcripts produced: £117.00 (excl. VAT)

Court and tribunal hearings differ significantly in length (from hearings that last less than a day to trials that can last several weeks or months) and transcript costs are in proportion to the volume of audio that must be transcribed and checked on a case-by-case basis. The cost may also vary depending on whether the transcript is new of a copy and the speed of delivery requested.

While costs of shorter hearings may be lower, transcripts of full hearings or trials can incur charges of £25,000 or more. Therefore, the average cost calculated above using supplier data is not reflective of the full range of court and tribunal hearings.

We continue to monitor how AI develops and how it could be used to provide access to court transcripts in future, however, it is important that court transcripts have an extremely high accuracy rate.

This Government inherited a record and rising Crown Court backlog. The outstanding caseload remains one of the biggest challenges facing the criminal justice system and stood at 73,105 as of 30 September 2024. Even if we were to sit at maximum capacity in the Crown Court, without further action, the number of cases entering the system, and therefore the caseload backlog, would continue to rise.

We have already taken steps to increase the capacity of the Crown Court to allow as many cases as possible to be heard. These include increasing magistrates’ court sentencing powers from 6 to 12 months to free up capacity in the Crown Court and funding 108,500 sitting days at the Crown Court this financial year (FY24/25), the highest level in almost 10 years (since FY15/16).

The number of cases entering the Crown Court is now so great that bold action is required, and all options are on the table. This is why the Lord Chancellor has commissioned an Independent Review of the Criminal Courts, led by Sir Brian Leveson, which will consider how the criminal courts could operate as efficiently as possible and longer-term reform to reduce the backlog.

We are committed to reducing the Crown Court outstanding caseload and will therefore look to act on recommendations from Sir Brian’s review swiftly to deliver improvements as soon as possible.

This Government inherited a record and rising Crown Court backlog. The outstanding caseload remains one of the biggest challenges facing the criminal justice system and stood at 73,105 as of 30 September 2024. Even if we were to sit at maximum capacity in the Crown Court, without further action, the number of cases entering the system, and therefore the caseload backlog, would continue to rise.

We have already taken steps to increase the capacity of the Crown Court to allow as many cases as possible to be heard. These include increasing magistrates’ court sentencing powers from 6 to 12 months to free up capacity in the Crown Court and funding 108,500 sitting days at the Crown Court this financial year (FY24/25), the highest level in almost 10 years (since FY15/16).

The number of cases entering the Crown Court is now so great that bold action is required, and all options are on the table. This is why the Lord Chancellor has commissioned an Independent Review of the Criminal Courts, led by Sir Brian Leveson, which will consider how the criminal courts could operate as efficiently as possible and longer-term reform to reduce the backlog.

We are committed to reducing the Crown Court outstanding caseload and will therefore look to act on recommendations from Sir Brian’s review swiftly to deliver improvements as soon as possible.

Coroner services are locally funded and administered across 77 coroner areas in England and Wales. Statutory responsibility for coroner appointments lies with the funding local authority in each area, and the assessment of resource is based on local caseload and other relevant factors. The Chief Coroner has published guidance and advice to support local authorities in this context.

The Government is committed to supporting an inquest process which is as swift as possible and which puts bereaved families at the heart of the process. We recognise the impact of delays on bereaved families and wider systems and we will continue to work closely with the Chief Coroner, local authorities and other key partners to reform and deliver a framework for the future development of coroner services.

The previous Government announced the Review into the Presumption of Parental Involvement in November 2020, following the recommendation of the Harm Panel Report. Research into the courts’ application of the presumption was commissioned and carried out, however the outcome of the Review was not published before the 2024 general election was announced.

The Government is committed to improving outcomes for all children and families involved in the family courts. Ministers are considering the evidence gathered and the Government's response will be published in due course.

The Government is clear that Prevention of Future Death (PFD) reports are vital in contributing to public safety through learning from death investigation. We expect recipients to have a framework in place for considering any reports they receive, and to take their responses – and related actions - very seriously.

However, we recognise that more needs to be done to improve accessibility to information from PFD reports; and to ensure, particularly across government, that lessons are learned; that this learning is disseminated as quickly and widely as possible; and that it is effectively monitored and evaluated.

We are addressing this issue as part of the reformed, forward-looking framework for coroner services which we intend to deliver in light of the Justice Committee’s recent Inquiries into the Coroner Service, working closely with the Chief Coroner, local authorities and other key partners. The Government’s formal responses to the Committee were provided on 10 September 2021 and 10 December 2024 respectively.

The Ministry of Justice’s Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Fund (RASASF) was recommissioned in 2023, under Government Commercial Function processes. Grant awards were made to successful applicants following an open competition. Grant amounts were dependent on the population formula amount allocated to the Police and Crime Commissioner area, and the application score. On 2 December 2024, I confirmed to RASASF grant recipients, including Safeline, that grant awards would be maintained through 2025-26 at 2024-25 levels.

The majority of cases are decided within 12 months, although some more complicated cases can take significantly longer.

The table below shows the average time for decisions to be made on applications* for criminal injuries compensation by people resident in Salford**.

The table below shows the average time for decisions to be made on applications* for criminal injuries compensation by people resident in Wigan**.

*The tables do not include archived bereavement applications because the address of the applicant is not retained. In most cases, applications are archived three years after the case has been closed.

**The above tables include all awards where the applicant named Wigan or Salford as the town in their home address in their application.

The Law Commission is currently undertaking its “Burial, Cremation and New Funerary Methods” project which seeks to create a future-proof legal framework to address what happens to our bodies after we die and to make recommendations that will provide modern, certain and consistent regulation across different funerary methods. As part of this project, the Law Commission has considered issues surrounding direct cremation. Its recent “Burial and Cremation” consultation document invited evidence from consultees as to whether, in relation to direct cremations, there are cases where an applicant for the cremation will not know which crematorium will be used at the time of application.

The Government does not currently have plans to require all funeral directors and crematoria to publish their schedule of planned direct cremations. Direct cremations are subject to the same legislation as any other cremation. The Government will consider any changes to the legal framework governing direct cremations as part of any wider recommendations made by the Law Commission in due course. As the Law Commission project is still ongoing, we do not want to pre-empt its recommendations. We look forward to carefully considering these once published, which we expect to be towards the end of 2025.

At present there is no mandatory time period within which all funeral directors across England and Wales should collect the body of a person who has died and take them into their care.

The introduction of regulation into the funeral director sector requires thorough consideration due to the complexity and sensitive nature of the area. It is essential to ensure that the rights and dignity of deceased individuals and their bereaved family members are protected, while implementing measures that are proportionate.

For that reason, the Government is considering the full range of possible next steps to ensure appropriate standards are in place, including the potential for introducing some form of appropriate, proportionate regulation of funeral directors. An update on next steps will be provided in due course.

The table below provides the number of compensation awards paid in each of the last five calendar years to applicants living in Salford, and the value of those awards.

Salford

The table below provides the number of compensation awards paid in each of the last five calendar years to applicants living in Wigan, and the value of those awards.

Wigan

*The tables do not include archived bereavement applications because the address of the applicant is not retained. In most cases, applications are archived three years after the case has been closed.

**The above tables include all awards where the applicant named Wigan or Salford as the town in their home address in their application.

Sexual offences, including child sexual assault, are heard in the criminal courts. In some cases, the family courts will hear allegations of sexual abuse in public and private law cases but while this information would be recorded in case files it is not centrally recorded.

In order to provide this information, the Ministry of Justice would need to examine multiple individual case files. In 2023 for example (the last full year for which data is available) over 66,000 public and private law cases started in the family courts which involved over 104,000 children.(1)

The Ministry of Justice routinely publishes data concerning defendants dealt with at criminal courts by detailed offence codes as part of the Criminal Justice Statistics Quarterly series. The “outcome by offences” tool allows users to select offence descriptions as set out in legislation and the latest data is available to June 2024 - Criminal Justice System statistics quarterly: June 2024 - GOV.UK.

(1) Family_Court_Tables__Jul-Sep_2024_.ods

This Government inherited a criminal justice system in crisis, with prisons running at over 99% capacity and on the brink of total collapse. If our prisons overflowed, police would have been unable to make arrests and we would have faced the total breakdown of law and order. We had to take emergency measures in order avoid disaster. Our priority now is to ensure there is enough capacity in the prison estate in the short and longer term.

Our 10-year Prison Capacity strategy published on 11 December sets out plans to deliver 14,000 prison places and maintain the places in our estate to ensure we have sufficient accommodation and explore the acquisition of land should we need to build more prison places.

We have also launched an Independent Sentencing Review, chaired by former Lord Chancellor, David Gauke. The Review’s aim is to ensure we are never again left in a position where we have more prisoners than places available.

The Lord Chancellor also announced a series of measures in October 2024 to manage the pressures on the prison estate until longer term reforms come into effect. This includes reforming our recall practices and an extension of the maximum period offenders can spend on Home Detention Curfew from 6 – 12 months.

HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) does have management information that includes data on telephony performance, such as volumes of answered and unanswered calls. This information does not specifically detail metrics related to unanswered calls for counter appointment bookings at County Courts.

However, centralising calls into our national contact centre has provided improved visibility into true call demand and the volume of unanswered calls. By combining this with post call data and speech analysis from answered calls, we can identify trends and make informed assumptions about the key drivers behind unanswered calls.

Individual County Courts may have their own procedures for managing appointment bookings. For instance, some courts require appointments to be made via specific phone numbers or email addresses. For example, Birmingham Civil & Family Justice Centre schedules counter appointments through a dedicated phone line our centralised telephony team would sign post our customers to.

The information requested is not held. The Ministry of Justice publishes data about possession proceedings at: Mortgage and landlord possession statistics: October to December 2024 - GOV.UK.

The Probation Service this Government inherited was burdened with a workload which often exceeded what staff should be expected to handle. Probation staff are drawn to the profession because it is a vocation, it is right that we recognise the resilience and dedication of our staff.

To achieve this and support our hardworking probation staff, in October, we brought forward planned increases to pay, impacting the majority of staff by six months enabling access to improved pay earlier than planned.

We shortly intend to engage with Trade Union colleagues about a new pay deal effective April 2025, following the current multi-year deal coming to an end in March 2025.

The Ministry of Justice routinely publishes data concerning sentence outcomes by offence as part of the Criminal Justice Statistics Quarterly ‘Outcomes by offence’ tool which is available at this link: Criminal justice statistics quarterly.

However, information is not held and separately identifiable concerning outcomes relating to non-payment of fines imposed following a conviction for the offence of failure to comply with a School Attendance Order (section 443 of the Education Act 1996). To provide this information would require a review of individual case files and would be disproportionate to costs incurred.

Table: Self-inflicted deaths of offenders serving an Imprisonment for Public Protection sentence supervised on licence in the community, financial year 2019/20 to 2023/24, England and Wales (1) (2) (3)

(p) The 2023/24 figures are provisional and may be updated in future publications to account for any changes or additions to the data since they were originally collected.

(1) Apparent cause is as reported in annual returns (prior to 2020/21 only) or the national Delius case management system (nDelius), and has not been independently verified.

(2) The reporting period for these statistics (financial year 1 April to 31 March) relates to when the death occurred.

(3) A new set of death classifications was implemented on 1 April 2022 and, as such, figures for 2022/23 onwards are not comparable to those presented for previous years. The category of 'self-inflicted death' up to 31 March 2022 includes any death of a person who has apparently taken his or her own life, irrespective of intent. The category of 'self-inflicted death' from 1 April 2022 includes any death of a person at their own hand, including where intent is undetermined. This includes some drug poisonings (e.g. where a suicide note is found or the circumstances are suspicious) but not drug poisonings which appear to have been the accidental result of consumption for another purpose. Refer to the guide to deaths of offenders supervised in the community statistics for further details about the new set of classifications.

Data Sources and Quality

The figures in this table 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.

Source: National Delius case management system.

Data is only provided from April 2019 as prior to this the data was collected via manual returns and identifying IPP offenders in this data would require a manual matching exercise of thousands of offender records. Therefore, information for the period before April 2019 could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

We are committed to supporting probation staff. We brought forward planned increases to pay, impacting the majority of staff, from 1 October 2024 to 1 April 2024, enabling access to improved pay earlier than planned. These improvements will benefit staff at a time of exceptional pressure for the Probation Service and recognises their resilience and dedication.

We shortly intend to engage with Trade Union colleagues about a new pay deal effective April 2025 following the current multi-year deal coming to an end in March 2025. Recruitment and Retention data is a critical piece of information used to inform pay discussions.

Probation Officer leaving rates to September 2024 can be found in Table 11 of our published statistics: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/673de4672ff787d4e01b0886/hmpps-workforce-statistics-tables-sep-2024.ods

Probation is currently in a multi-year pay deal covering the period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2025.

This pay deal has provided certainty in pay increases throughout the period while securing necessary reforms to the pay structure helping to resolve some longstanding pay issues. Engagement will shortly commence with Trade Unions about a new pay deal effective 1 April 2025, working within the parameters set by the Civil Service Pay Remit Guidance. We have already brought forward the pay increase for 2024/25 from October to April of that year to provide earlier access to increased pay for our hardworking probation officers, who we acknowledge are under acute pressure.

Guidance on the application of the New Fair Deal was included in the Invitation to Tender for the current procurement for prisoner education services. Successful bidders will be supported to mobilise new services, including addressing any questions relating to New Fair Deal. Further information can be found using the following links: Prisoner Education Services Panel (Inc. Core Education) - Find a Tender (find-tender.service.gov.uk) and Procurement for the Provision of Prisoner Education Services (Careers Information, Advice and Guidance (CIAG)) - Find a Tender.

There are 13 Category D (or “open”) prisons in the adult male prison estate, as well as two open units linked to closed establishments. There are two open prisons in the women’s estate. HM Prison & Probation Service has developed and implemented a ‘National Allocation Protocol’ and ‘National Offender Flows’ to guide prisons on allocating male prisoners from a reception prison to the next-stage establishment. Together, these two documents determine how prisoners are moved, to help ensure that they are in the right prison at the right time during their sentence to access the services they need to manage their risks. Depending on their behaviour and progress, prisoners may be transferred to different prisons with varying security levels, including open conditions. As in the men's estate, women are assigned to the lowest security category appropriate to managing their risks.

There has not been any need to review resources for transitions or the open estate, other than as part of general reviews of staffing levels as and when additional capacity is added. In those cases, the time to recruit additional staff is factored into the process for capacity expansion.

The criteria for transferring prisoners to open conditions ensure that only those whose risk is assessed as suitable will be transferred. This process balances rehabilitation opportunities with public safety concerns.

The safety of prisoners and prison staff is our priority, and measures are in place to assess and manage risks associated with transfers to open conditions.

Tackling violence against women and girls is a priority for this Government. Violence against women and girls is a term which encapsulates a wide range of behaviours and offences including domestic abuse, so-called honour-based abuse and sexual offences, many of which carry high maximum penalties, including life imprisonment. It does not relate to any single offence.

Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for our independent courts. When deciding what sentence to impose, courts must consider the circumstances of the case, including the culpability of the offender, the harm they caused, and any aggravating and mitigating factors.

Section 65 of Sentencing Act 2020 provides a statutory aggravating factor, that a court must ‘treat each previous conviction as an aggravating factor if (in the case of that conviction) the court considers that it can reasonably be so treated having regard’. Judges must consider the appropriate level of any sentence uplift justified by the factor, as part of considering the full circumstances of the case.

The Government is of course dedicated to ensuring that the harm caused by this form of offending is appropriately and proportionally reflected in the sentencing framework. Our manifesto committed to a review of sentencing to ensure the framework is up to date. The Independent Sentencing Review has been asked to specifically look at the sentencing of offences primarily committed against women and girls.

To keep our prisons safe and secure, we are investing £220 million in prison and probation service maintenance in 2024-25, and up to £300 million in 2025-26. This is the largest investment in maintenance per annum since 2021-22.

It is correct that the in-cell facilities at HMP Isle of Wight are not on par with newer built prisons. This does mean that some cells on the Albany site do not have any in-cell toiletry or washing facilities, however alternative provisions are provided. Feedback from prisoners on these facilities is always welcomed, and filters into the establishments wider business, maintenance, and improvement plans.

Prison staff are committed to ensuring that the religious needs of all prisoners are respected and accommodated, in line with the Equality Act 2010 and human rights legislation. It is recognised that Muslim prisoners, especially during periods such as Ramadan, may require additional time for washing rituals associated with prayer. While the standard time limit is seven minutes, the control room has the discretion to make reasonable adjustments for individual requests on a case-by-case basis. During the Holy Month of Ramadan, the system is adjusted to allow 12 minutes instead of the usual seven minutes to accommodate this important religious time.

The current system at HMP Isle of Wight (Albany) aims to provide regular access to sanitation facilities while maintaining necessary security measures. Prisoners are allowed up to five exits each night, which provides multiple opportunities for accessing facilities. Staff remain committed to ongoing assessment and improvement of policies to ensure they adequately support prisoner health and wellbeing.

Prison staff are committed to ensuring that all prisoners, including those with disabilities, have equal access to facilities and opportunities, in line with the Disability Discrimination Act. Although no issues have been raised directly with staff by any prisoner who is visually impaired, staff do recognise that the electronic keypad system may present challenges for visually impaired prisoners. Visually impaired prisoners can also call the control room on their intercom to request assistance with re-locking their doors, ensuring they can safely return to their cells after accessing communal facilities.

It is correct that the in-cell facilities at HMP Isle of Wight are not on par with newer built prisons. This does mean that some cells on the Albany site do not have any in-cell toiletry or washing facilities, however alternative provisions are provided. Feedback from prisoners on these facilities is always welcomed, and filters into the establishments wider business, maintenance, and improvement plans.

Prison staff are committed to ensuring that the religious needs of all prisoners are respected and accommodated, in line with the Equality Act 2010 and human rights legislation. It is recognised that Muslim prisoners, especially during periods such as Ramadan, may require additional time for washing rituals associated with prayer. While the standard time limit is seven minutes, the control room has the discretion to make reasonable adjustments for individual requests on a case-by-case basis. During the Holy Month of Ramadan, the system is adjusted to allow 12 minutes instead of the usual seven minutes to accommodate this important religious time.

The current system at HMP Isle of Wight (Albany) aims to provide regular access to sanitation facilities while maintaining necessary security measures. Prisoners are allowed up to five exits each night, which provides multiple opportunities for accessing facilities. Staff remain committed to ongoing assessment and improvement of policies to ensure they adequately support prisoner health and wellbeing.

Prison staff are committed to ensuring that all prisoners, including those with disabilities, have equal access to facilities and opportunities, in line with the Disability Discrimination Act. Although no issues have been raised directly with staff by any prisoner who is visually impaired, staff do recognise that the electronic keypad system may present challenges for visually impaired prisoners. Visually impaired prisoners can also call the control room on their intercom to request assistance with re-locking their doors, ensuring they can safely return to their cells after accessing communal facilities.

It is correct that the in-cell facilities at HMP Isle of Wight are not on par with newer built prisons. This does mean that some cells on the Albany site do not have any in-cell toiletry or washing facilities, however alternative provisions are provided. Feedback from prisoners on these facilities is always welcomed, and filters into the establishments wider business, maintenance, and improvement plans.

Prison staff are committed to ensuring that the religious needs of all prisoners are respected and accommodated, in line with the Equality Act 2010 and human rights legislation. It is recognised that Muslim prisoners, especially during periods such as Ramadan, may require additional time for washing rituals associated with prayer. While the standard time limit is seven minutes, the control room has the discretion to make reasonable adjustments for individual requests on a case-by-case basis. During the Holy Month of Ramadan, the system is adjusted to allow 12 minutes instead of the usual seven minutes to accommodate this important religious time.

The current system at HMP Isle of Wight (Albany) aims to provide regular access to sanitation facilities while maintaining necessary security measures. Prisoners are allowed up to five exits each night, which provides multiple opportunities for accessing facilities. Staff remain committed to ongoing assessment and improvement of policies to ensure they adequately support prisoner health and wellbeing.

Prison staff are committed to ensuring that all prisoners, including those with disabilities, have equal access to facilities and opportunities, in line with the Disability Discrimination Act. Although no issues have been raised directly with staff by any prisoner who is visually impaired, staff do recognise that the electronic keypad system may present challenges for visually impaired prisoners. Visually impaired prisoners can also call the control room on their intercom to request assistance with re-locking their doors, ensuring they can safely return to their cells after accessing communal facilities.

It is correct that the in-cell facilities at HMP Isle of Wight are not on par with newer built prisons. This does mean that some cells on the Albany site do not have any in-cell toiletry or washing facilities, however alternative provisions are provided. Feedback from prisoners on these facilities is always welcomed, and filters into the establishments wider business, maintenance, and improvement plans.

Prison staff are committed to ensuring that the religious needs of all prisoners are respected and accommodated, in line with the Equality Act 2010 and human rights legislation. It is recognised that Muslim prisoners, especially during periods such as Ramadan, may require additional time for washing rituals associated with prayer. While the standard time limit is seven minutes, the control room has the discretion to make reasonable adjustments for individual requests on a case-by-case basis. During the Holy Month of Ramadan, the system is adjusted to allow 12 minutes instead of the usual seven minutes to accommodate this important religious time.

The current system at HMP Isle of Wight (Albany) aims to provide regular access to sanitation facilities while maintaining necessary security measures. Prisoners are allowed up to five exits each night, which provides multiple opportunities for accessing facilities. Staff remain committed to ongoing assessment and improvement of policies to ensure they adequately support prisoner health and wellbeing.

Prison staff are committed to ensuring that all prisoners, including those with disabilities, have equal access to facilities and opportunities, in line with the Disability Discrimination Act. Although no issues have been raised directly with staff by any prisoner who is visually impaired, staff do recognise that the electronic keypad system may present challenges for visually impaired prisoners. Visually impaired prisoners can also call the control room on their intercom to request assistance with re-locking their doors, ensuring they can safely return to their cells after accessing communal facilities.

The Lord Chancellor has not yet had discussions with Ministers in the Northern Ireland Executive. Justice in Northern Ireland is devolved, and therefore a matter for the Executive – although we are always interested to learn from the insights and experiences of devolved governments.

The information requested is in the public domain. The names of contractors are published via Contracts Finder - GOV.UK. For ease of reference, Prison Education Services entered into in the last 12 months are provided below:

All prisons are legally required to offer a library service, and all prisoners are regularly able to access appropriately stocked libraries that support them in their learning and personal development.

HMPPS has recently issued best practice guidance to all prisons across England to ensure the quality of library services can be maximised regardless of a prison’s cohort, function or available resource.

In Wales, we have well-established library services across the Welsh estate with several satellite library services for extra accessibility in prison residential areas, and the national reading strategy is in progress.

Reading is a priority for HMPPS, and every prison now has a reading strategy which has been supported by the donation of over 150,000 books to prisons by publishing houses through the ‘Bang-Up-Books’ campaign. We also engage with experts as part of a National Reading Group which advises on improvement work that includes better initial assessments of prisoners’ reading ability.

In addition, prisons in England and Wales frequently work with voluntary and community sector providers who provide reading support delivered by peer mentors as well as workshops to encourage creative writing, reading and book groups.

All prisons are legally required to offer a library service, and all prisoners are regularly able to access appropriately stocked libraries that support them in their learning and personal development.

HMPPS has recently issued best practice guidance to all prisons across England to ensure the quality of library services can be maximised regardless of a prison’s cohort, function or available resource.

In Wales, we have well-established library services across the Welsh estate with several satellite library services for extra accessibility in prison residential areas, and the national reading strategy is in progress.

Reading is a priority for HMPPS, and every prison now has a reading strategy which has been supported by the donation of over 150,000 books to prisons by publishing houses through the ‘Bang-Up-Books’ campaign. We also engage with experts as part of a National Reading Group which advises on improvement work that includes better initial assessments of prisoners’ reading ability.

In addition, prisons in England and Wales frequently work with voluntary and community sector providers who provide reading support delivered by peer mentors as well as workshops to encourage creative writing, reading and book groups.

We recognise the importance of prisoners having access to purposeful activity, including education. We know that this significantly reduces the likelihood of re-offending – by up to nine percentage points.

After the previous Government ran the prison estate at over 99% capacity for years, our prison system is on the brink of collapse. It is very difficult to run an effective regime that rehabilitates prisoners and cuts reoffending, when prisons are so full. This Government is beginning to address the capacity crisis we inherited, to ensure that our prisons create better citizens, not better criminals.

HM Prison & Probation Service (HMPPS) has introduced the National Regime Model, which creates a national infrastructure for planning, reviewing, and measuring purposeful activity. Every prison must now deliver a minimum of 60 minutes each day in the open air, and 120 minutes out of cell. Prisons are also required to set out how they are improving their regime offer year-on-year.

All prisons are required to provide physical education (PE). HMPPS promotes participation in PE which it defines as activities supervised and organised as part of an establishment’s agreed PE programme. Prison Service Instruction (PSI) 58/2011 Physical Education for Prisoners specifies the requirement for prisons to offer a range of sport and gym-based activity for a minimum of two and half hours a week.

We recognise the importance of prisoners having access to purposeful activity, including education. We know that this significantly reduces the likelihood of re-offending – by up to nine percentage points.

After the previous Government ran the prison estate at over 99% capacity for years, our prison system is on the brink of collapse. It is very difficult to run an effective regime that rehabilitates prisoners and cuts reoffending, when prisons are so full. This Government is beginning to address the capacity crisis we inherited, to ensure that our prisons create better citizens, not better criminals.

HM Prison & Probation Service (HMPPS) has introduced the National Regime Model, which creates a national infrastructure for planning, reviewing, and measuring purposeful activity. Every prison must now deliver a minimum of 60 minutes each day in the open air, and 120 minutes out of cell. Prisons are also required to set out how they are improving their regime offer year-on-year.

All prisons are required to provide physical education (PE). HMPPS promotes participation in PE which it defines as activities supervised and organised as part of an establishment’s agreed PE programme. Prison Service Instruction (PSI) 58/2011 Physical Education for Prisoners specifies the requirement for prisons to offer a range of sport and gym-based activity for a minimum of two and half hours a week.

HMPPS is committed to ensuring that we have a fair, transparent and effective pay and reward system, which reflects the demands of public-sector prisons. HMPPS uses an externally and independently designed, bespoke job evaluation scheme to evaluate the relative size and weight of the different roles across the Prison Service, including Prison Officers. The job evaluation scheme was developed using wide-ranging research and consultation with staff and trade unions.

Prison Officer roles (and all roles within the Prison Service) have job descriptions which focus on the activities that occupy the majority of their time, setting out the main responsibilities, activities and duties of the role. Through the job evaluation process, jobs are scored and grouped together in pay bands. Prison Officers are employed on pay band 3.

Pay for Prison Officers is informed by the independent recommendations made by the Prison Service Pay Review Body (PSPRB) each year.

In making their recommendations, the PSPRB takes account of the written and oral evidence submitted by Government as well as evidence and representations made by the recognised Trade Unions, including the Prison Officers’ Association. The PSPRB considers a range of factors including perceived or actual changes to the roles and responsibilities of Prison Officers as presented through the evidence, as well as financial indicators such as private sector wage growth, inflation, and future Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecasts.

There has been significant recent investment in Prison Officer pay. The 2024/25 Prison Service pay award delivered a pay rise of at 5% for all band 3 to 5 Prison Officers, Supervising Officers and Custodial Managers on modernised terms and conditions. This brings the starting salary for an entry level officer (on the national rate, 39 hours with unsocial hours) from £32,851 (as at 1 April 2023) to £34,494 (as at 1 April 2024).

The requested information has been provided as an Excel file alongside this response. The dataset for December 2024 is a subset of data scheduled to be published as part of the Offender management statistics quarterly - GOV.UK release and cannot be provided in advance of that publication. In addition, the numbers 1 and 2 have been replaced with the symbol ‘≤2’ to avoid any risk of individual identification.

Around 99% of prisoners have an origin location - i.e. addresses that are recorded in our central IT system. If no address is given, an offender’s committal court address is used as a proxy for the area in which they are resident.

This information is included in the data provided in the tables attached. No address has been recorded and no court information is available for around 1% of all offenders; these figures are excluded from the tables attached.

The requested information has been provided as an Excel file alongside this response. The dataset for December 2024 is a subset of data scheduled to be published as part of the Offender management statistics quarterly - GOV.UK release and cannot be provided in advance of that publication. In addition, the numbers 1 and 2 have been replaced with the symbol ‘≤2’ to avoid any risk of individual identification.

Around 99% of prisoners have an origin location - i.e. addresses that are recorded in our central IT system. If no address is given, an offender’s committal court address is used as a proxy for the area in which they are resident.

This information is included in the data provided in the tables attached. No address has been recorded and no court information is available for around 1% of all offenders; these figures are excluded from the tables attached.