Prisoner Early Release

Debate between Baroness Gohir and Lord Timpson

Wednesday 1st July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Gohir (CB)]

Can the Minister tell us the projected number of rapists and child groomers who will be released, and over what period? Are we expecting hotspots around the country?

[Lord Timpson (Lab)]

What is important is that we get the numbers right. While we are here today, our incredibly hard-working and talented staff in our offender management units are working out the release dates of a large number of people who are currently in prison. We have already stated that we think, as part of our impact assessment, that there will be 7,500 prison place savings, but there is more work to be done. We have a quarterly update that we publish, and that is where this sort of information goes. But the most important thing throughout all this is that we cannot run out of prison places. We need to make sure we do this safely, with great communication with victims, but we need to make sure we do not run out of prison places again.

Prisons: Mothers and Babies

Debate between Baroness Gohir and Lord Timpson

Monday 7th July 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Gohir (CB)]

My Lords, is the Minister able to share what support is given to women once they leave prison and how long it is provided for?

[Lord Timpson (Lab)]

The general rule is that babies can stay with mothers in prison for up to 18 months, but there is flexibility so they can stay longer if required. It is really important that when women leave prison with their babies, they have somewhere to live and a wraparound support network. That is why it is important that we give them a soft landing when they leave prison. This is where probation comes in and where the £700 million in extra funding that we have will be really important to make sure that we get that first night accommodation, because we do not want anybody leaving prison with no fixed abode.