Adult Prison Estate: Support for Young People

Lord Bach Excerpts

Monday 3rd November 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Timpson (Lab)]

The noble Lord does amazing work in this area and I appreciate his focus on it. The trauma-informed approach is well established for the transition of women within the justice system. Stephanie Covington and others have been great on training staff. We now need to train more in the youth estate for boys and the male estate for men. That is where the Enable programme comes in. It is rolling out now; it is in five prisons at the moment and it will be the basis of training a trauma-informed approach.

It is also important to understand the complexities of young people. As someone who was brought up in a foster family with lots of young people with challenges, I know that how they transition to adulthood and the adult estate is really important. Synaptic pruning, with the connections between brain cells and how they change through adolescence, is important, as is attachment theory. Peer mentoring when someone moves from the youth estate to the adult estate, with officers following them through there and someone who meets them at the gate and makes sure they are settled in well, is equally important.

[Lord Bach (Lab)]

My Lords, I understand that the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme plays a significant role in the transition the Minister has spoken about. Can he tell us a bit more about the role that that very well-respected awards scheme plays?

[Lord Timpson (Lab)]

As someone who did a little bit of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme many years ago, and not very well, I would say that it is great to see it working well in prisons. It has been going for some time in the youth estate, but it never followed through into the adult estate. However, since 2020 it has expanded to the estate for those under 25 and is now operating in 38 adult establishments. It improves young people’s confidence and teamwork and their relationships with fellow prisoners and the adults who take them on. The volunteers who work on the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award are fantastic. If noble Lords go to Wetherby, they may well see young offenders working at local food banks, litter picking and at the Boston Spa church, all under the Duke of Edinburgh scheme.

Secure 16 to 19 Academies Bill

Lord Bach Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 24th October 2025 Lords Chamber

Moved by

[Lord Bach]

That the Bill be now read a second time.

[Lord Bach (Lab)]

My Lords, this is a short, two-clause Bill, but an important one, aimed at amending existing legislation underpinning new secure 16 to 19 academies, otherwise known as secure schools. It comes from the other place, where my honourable friend Emma Foody, the Member of Parliament for Cramlington and Killingworth, sponsored the Bill. In the other place, it enjoyed the support of all parties.

Secure schools are a new form of custody for children and young people. The last Government acted to establish secure 16 to 19 academies in legislation; this Bill will make further necessary amendments to the Academies Act 2010 to make specific provisions in that Act relevant to the establishment of new secure schools.

I will say a word about the background. In 2016, Charlie Taylor published his important review of the youth justice system. The report made a number of important recommendations, including the need, shared by all, to reimagine how we care for children who commit serious enough offences to warrant detaining them in custody. His proposal was to create a new type of custodial environment, focused on the delivery of education and offering children the opportunity to gain the skills and qualifications necessary to prepare them for their release into the community. The Taylor review made a compelling case for change. Transforming the environments in which we detain and provide care for these children is as necessary now as it was then.

The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 established secure schools in legislation as secure 16 to 19 academies under the Academies Act 2010, and secure children’s homes under the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015. This Bill is now needed to make further amendments in the 2010 Act relevant to secure 16 to 19 academies. The proposed changes cover the termination period in which government continues to fund the secure school, should there be a need to end a funding agreement into which it has entered, as Section 2 of the Academies Act 2010 says, for a secure school. The Bill will also amend the duties placed on providers that enter into funding agreements with the Government prior to opening a secure school. These changes will provide for better and more integrated services.

The Bill consists of three measures. First, it will amend Section 2 of the 2010 Act to reduce the notice period for termination of a funding agreement under Section 2(2) of the 2010 Act from seven to two years for secure 16 to 19 academies. A two-year period will enable government to prioritise value for money for the taxpayer and have more flexibility should there be any need to terminate a funding agreement with a secure school provider. Reducing this to two years in this case strikes a balance between avoiding a lengthy exit period, in which government would be committed to continuing to fund the secure school longer than necessary, and ensuring that secure school providers have the certainty of funding to avoid issues with recruiting and retaining the specialist staff required to work in this environment. The Government remain able to terminate funding agreements with secure school providers in the event of poor performance.

Secondly, the Bill will disapply Section 9 of the 2010 Act for secure 16 to 19 academies. This requires that the Secretary of State considers the impact of entering into a new academy funding agreement on other educational establishments in the area. While it is of course important that secure schools are registered as academies to ensure they mirror best practice in the community, they are fundamentally different, as secure schools do not compete with other schools.

Thirdly, the Bill will amend Section 10 of the 2010 Act, which currently requires that an academy provider consults appropriate persons on whether a funding agreement should be entered into. We recognise the importance of considering the impact on local communities when opening any new school. The Bill will amend that section to require the provider to consult appropriate persons on how the secure school should work with local partners, such as elected representatives or health and education services.

By supporting the Bill, the House would have an opportunity to create better services and thus strengthen the impact of secure schools on the lives of children within our justice system. I very much hope that colleagues across the House, as they did in the other place, will give this Bill their full support. I beg to move.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Bach (Lab)]

My Lords, seldom have I heard such unanimity in this House in any debate at any time over many years. I warmly thank all those who have taken part in this important debate. It is important, because this is such a crucial subject for our country and our future. I particularly thank the Minister for her remarks and for the Government’s support for this Private Member’s Bill. Because of the unanimity, I want to say very little at this stage, except to say thank you.

I want to make just a couple of points. One is to agree with the noble Lord, Lord Bates, whose speech I was particularly impressed by. The amount of work that had gone into the research that he had done into this subject was very impressive. The point about continuity in criminal justice policy seems one we have forgotten about for too long. Of course political parties must be free to discuss all issues that affect people, but in criminal justice, where there is automatic opposition from one side or another, it sometimes seems like a real barrier to progress. If we can act in agreement, as we have today at least, where all people of good will feel the same, then we should do so more often.

The only other point I want to make is that schemes such as this are expensive, obviously. They are bound to be and we should say that they are, but I think everyone in the House would agree that they are worth every penny if we can change the life of even one child—I hope many more than that—and give them every chance to lead a good, happy and successful life in the future. I beg to move.

Bill read a second time and committed to a Committee of the Whole House.

Sentencing Guidelines (Pre-sentence Reports) Bill

Lord Bach Excerpts

Report stage
Wednesday 4th June 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Sandhurst (Con)]

My Lords, I may be brief, having made my general observations in respect of the previous group. So far as this amendment is concerned, in appropriate cases, pre-sentence reports are of course necessary—but not in all cases. The probation officer is usually the best person to alert the court to the possible benefit of obtaining a report, or not obtaining one, in a given case. In some cases, the sentencer will also want a report, whether or not the probation officer has indicated that a report might assist. We on this side are of the view that we do not need this amendment.

[Lord Bach (Lab)]

My Lords, I agree entirely with what the noble Lord, Lord Marks, said about pre-sentence reports. A long time ago, I had much experience of defending in the Crown Court, so I know that such reports are of extreme and important value. However, I have to say—for the first time, really—that I agree with the noble Lord on the Front Bench opposite, who just said that he does not see the need for this amendment. With great respect to the noble Lord, Lord Marks, I do not see it, either, I am afraid. I know that the noble Lord needs to be satisfied by the Minister, who will no doubt follow what I have to say, but, in my view, the Government’s policy on pre-sentence reports is clear: they are in favour of them, and we need to improve them because they have been allowed to go downhill in the past number of years. I agree with that. My view is that this amendment is not something that should divide the House.

[Lord Timpson (Lab)]

Amendment 5 in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Marks, would require sentencing guidelines about pre-sentence reports to encourage their greater use, particularly in cases where a sentencing decision is likely to involve a choice between a community or custodial sentence. I am grateful to the noble Lord for moving this amendment. He was right to ask how we can encourage greater use of pre-sentence reports and ensure that we have sufficient probation resource to do so, and he made exactly the right points in speaking about the importance of pre-sentence reports. I am grateful to him for the discussions that we have had since Committee; I would welcome continued engagement with him on this issue.

I hope that the noble Lord will not mind me giving quite a full answer to his question. Although he asked the right question, I would argue that there are other levers beyond sentencing guidelines that are the better place to solve the problem. We must ensure that we have a Probation Service that is properly funded and staffed, and which has the tools it needs to deliver. We must also balance the need for sufficient and thorough pre-sentence reports with the other crucial roles that the Probation Service plays. We want more, and better-quality, PSRs.

I am mindful that the noble Lord tabled a similar amendment in Committee, where I took the opportunity to set out the steps that the Lord Chancellor and I are taking to improve the Probation Service’s capacity to deliver timely and high-quality reports. I would like to reassure noble Lords further on the steps that we are taking to support our Probation Service; if they will permit me, I will endeavour to give a thorough answer as to what the Government are doing.

First, we are increasing staffing levels. We recruited more than 1,000 new trainee probation officers last year and we aim to recruit a further 1,300 this year.

Secondly, I am delighted that we have announced a significant increase to the budget for the Probation Service and other community services for offenders. It will rise by up to £700 million by 2028-29, representing an increase of around 45% by the final year of the spending review period. This is a very significant investment and demonstrates the Government’s commitment to this vital service. I am sure that the noble Viscount, Lord Hailsham, will agree that this is needed to fund probation in a way that ensures that our probation officers can do the job they came into the service to do.

Thirdly, I am convinced that a significant part of the answer sits with new technology. The Lord Chancellor and I recently hosted a tech round table with industry experts to make sure that we are asking the right questions and working collaboratively on the best solutions. Let me give noble Lords a sense of some of the transformative impact that we are already exploring in terms of technology.

I am passionate about ensuring that probation officers are able to do the job they came in to do. For probation, as with every other public service, new technology has the potential to be really transformative. We are exploring the benefits of AI in a number of areas. We are piloting the use of transcription and summarisation tools to reduce administrative load. We are developing algorithms to support decision-making, risk assessment, case prioritisation and operational planning. AI-powered search is being explored to better support the information gathering needed for report writing. All these have the potential to save significant practitioner administration time and to improve quality, allowing probation officers to focus on face-to-face time with offenders, to support them to change, rather than on administrative tasks.

Technology can also transform how probation staff can bring the right information together to assess and manage offenders. For staff writing pre-sentence reports, we are rolling out a new service called “Prepare a case for sentence”, which links probation systems with the court’s common platform and gives probation staff in the courts the earliest possible notice of cases that are being listed, as well as new templates so that reports are timely and give the courts what they need.

We are also investing in the complete redesign of the approach to the assessment of risks, needs and the strengths of the people on probation and in prison. The resulting sentence and risk management plans will combine a new assessment and planning approach that incorporates the latest desistance research, supported by a new digital service. This new service will reduce the resource burden on front-line staff and ensure that assessment and planning practice better supports individuals, thereby achieving better rehabilitation and public protection outcomes.

Noble Lords will recognise that, although investment in staff numbers and technology are vital foundations, it is nothing without also supporting staff to have the right skills to spot risks and needs and to communicate those to the court. Our staff have access to a wide range of learning and development, including modules relating to court-specific roles and skills, ensuring that they are well equipped to work in this setting. The better trained they are, the better PSRs they will present.

The Probation Service has a dedicated court case assessment tool for line managers to quality assure pre-sentence reports. His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation also completes regular inspections of probation regions, with an assessment of court work included as a key component of this. Furthermore, the Probation Service seeks detailed feedback from sentencers on the quality of reports through an annual judicial survey. Through all this investment and improvement, our aim is that, whenever a court orders a pre-sentence report, it can be confident that it is based on the fullest information and a thorough analysis of risks and needs; and that it answers the right questions the court is wanting to understand.

I recognise that the noble Lord’s amendment now specifically refers to scenarios where a sentencer will likely need to decide between imposing a community or a custodial sentence. I completely agree with the noble Lord that pre-sentence reports can be particularly helpful in these kinds of cases. These reports provide sentencers with an effective assessment of risk and targeted assessments of the individual’s needs. This then confidently articulates suitable sentencing proposals that balance public protection, punishment and rehabilitation. In doing so, they will consider a range of disposal options, setting out the best use of credible community sentences where appropriate.

I hope that it will offer some reassurance to the noble Lord that the revised imposition guideline already includes relevant texts in this spirit, which the Bill does not impact. Specifically, it states:

“A pre-sentence report can be pivotal in helping the court decide whether to impose a custodial or community order and, where relevant, what particular requirements or combination of requirements are most suitable for an individual offender on either a community order or a suspended custodial sentence”.


Of course, it is for the sentencer to decide whether to order a pre-sentence report, and there is an existing obligation on courts to obtain a pre-sentence report unless they consider it unnecessary. The Bill does not change that.

I reiterate my thanks to the noble Lord, Lord Marks, for raising the importance of pre-sentence reports and increasing their use. As I have set out, the Government are committed to ensuring greater funding, capacity and efficiency for the Probation Service. I therefore urge the noble Lord to withdraw his amendment.

Independent Sentencing Review

Lord Bach Excerpts

Monday 2nd June 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Timpson (Lab)]

The amount of prison places that we will be building will mean that there are even more people in prison than ever before. We will build 14,000 places by 2031, which will mean that there is a large amount more space for offenders to go in. On the day I arrived in the Ministry of Justice, I had thought that it would be a day of celebration and that I would be home within an hour, but I was there for about six hours, meeting officials who were clearly concerned that we were about to run out of space, again. That is why I am delighted that David Gauke’s review has been presented to Parliament. We need to make sure that it works together with the review that Brian Leveson is carrying out, which I hope will be published soon. It is not one or the other; both are needed, as well as the investment in building new prison places to resolve the crisis that we have. It is really important to me that this is the last time we have a crisis. We need to make sure that we have a long-term and sustainable prison system.

[Lord Bach (Lab)]

From these Benches, first, I congratulate the Minister in particular for the difference that he has made in his time at the Ministry of Justice. It has been a breath of fresh air, and it is about time that a Government of either party or all parties have the courage to take on this issue. Of course, the danger for a party in taking on this issue is that the other party or parties will immediately seize on it and use it for populist effect. That has to stop—it has gone on for too long and it ruins the system.

What I am particularly concerned about is the Probation Service, because how it has been treated in the past few years is, frankly, scandalous. It has been run down and has not been able to do the very difficult and vital job that it is there to do. Can the Minister ensure, please, that the Probation Service, which is at the heart of this change if it is to be successful, is properly funded and given every support—all the support that it has lacked for so many years?

[Lord Timpson (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend for his comments. It has been the biggest privilege of my life to be given this role, and to be in your Lordships’ House to debate these crucial reforms to sentencing. I have been involved in and around the sector for most of my working life, and I have seen too many great ideas get ignored, too many wither on the vine and too many go unfunded.

I counted up the number of Prison Ministers I had met before being handed the keys to what was once their office, and it was 14, over just 20 years. I am not sure whether that happened because they enjoyed the role so much that they wanted to move on to another one or because it was too challenging and they wanted to find an easier role elsewhere, but, for me, this is the job that I have come in to do, and I am absolutely delighted that David Gauke and the panel have come up with the ideas that they have.

My noble friend is 100% right about the Probation Service. That is where the heavy lifting is done, and it is at the heart of the system. If you do not get probation funded and operating properly, the rest does not work either. I have met so many amazing probation staff who know exactly what they need to do but feel that they have not been supported enough over the years and that they spend too much time on administration and not enough time face to face with offenders, helping them turn their lives around—and that is the job that they signed up to do.

Sentencing Guidelines (Pre-sentence Reports) Bill

Lord Bach Excerpts

2nd reading
Wednesday 7th May 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bach (Lab)]

My Lords, it is an honour as well as a pleasure to be the first to congratulate my noble friend on her outstanding and, if I may say so, very moving maiden speech. She brings to this House deep experience and wisdom. She and her loving family have met challenges and setbacks that many in this House will not have experienced. She has faced adversity and knows as well as anyone what it is like to be brought up, to work and to live in a world where people do not always enjoy the good things that many of us in this House take, and have always taken, for granted.

It was clear in her speech that she understands deeply how people experience life. Her brilliant reputation, from her union work with NUPE and then with UNISON, shows that absolutely clearly. There will be many in Selby and beyond who owe a huge amount to her hard work and commitment. She told us in her speech that her values are community, resilience and public service. Whether in working for her constituents when she was a councillor, working for North Yorkshire Council for many years, her work for UNISON and her fellow workers, or performing her important and invaluable—I mean invaluable; many on this side will know exactly what I am saying—political work, she has truly lived up to her values. All of us who have had the honour of listening to her speech today look forward to hearing her many times in this House.

On the debate, I should declare some interests: first as chair of the Leicester Community Advice and Law Centre; secondly, as joint chair of the All-Party Group on Access to Justice; and, thirdly, as a member of this House’s Justice and Home Affairs Committee. Before making the few points that I intend to make, I want to stress—and I think it needs to be stressed—how the Ministry of Justice under this Government already has a record to be proud of. It is not only in the quality of its Ministers, particularly in this House, but in what, against crushing obstacles, it has already achieved, given the ridiculous, unsatisfactory budget it has to work with.

For me, the small but important increases in the legal aid area, and particularly the setting up of the Gauke and Leveson reviews, are among the MoJ’s most significant achievements. However, I cannot say that I am equally delighted to see the Bill before the House this afternoon, taking up precious parliamentary time that could be spent legislating, or at least debating, other more vital justice issues. Frankly, I find it hard to accept that we could not have resolved this impasse without the need for legislation, let alone fast-tracked legislation.

After all, there is an overwhelming consensus as to the value and necessity of pre-sentence reports. In addition, there is surely widespread agreement that the Gauke review, due out later this month, and the legislation that follows it, will be of much greater significance than the Bill as far as sentencing is concerned. It will also, of course, be relevant to the issues we are discussing this afternoon at Second Reading. The danger, it seems to me, is one of overlegislating. By not allowing something as broad as personal characteristics to be taken into account in sentencing, we may, almost by accident, be excluding other factors that are highly relevant to any sentencing decision.

This takes me to an amendment moved but not voted on in the other place. It was in the name of the right honourable Member, Jeremy Wright, a distinguished Attorney-General in the coalition and succeeding Tory Governments. He argued, cogently, that if anything that comes within the broad category of the term “personal characteristics” is forbidden from being considered by the Sentencing Council when setting out its guidelines, this could well cover other personal characteristics—he mentioned physical or learning difficulties, or severe injuries—which is surely not the intention of the Bill and could make the difficult task of the sentencer even more difficult. Jeremy Wright suggested a change in wording to “demographic cohort”, thus giving Ministers their point but not making the result confused or unintelligible. I am attracted by this approach and hope that the Government, following this Second Reading, will carefully consider Mr Wright’s proposition, if not using his actual words.

I want to make two final points. Both the current chair of the Commons Justice Committee, Andy Slaughter MP, and his predecessor, Sir Bob Neill, have expressed regret that the Bill, and particularly the events leading up to it, have been used by some to undermine judicial independence and to allow ad hominem attacks on judges under the guise of belated objections to these guidelines. I agree entirely with the two chairs of the Commons Justice Committee. Alas, today we see in other countries around the world, including, surprisingly, the United States of America, how easy it is for Governments, and Oppositions, to attack the judges. As a matter of course, we do not do that in this country, I hope, and I find it more than sad that—indeed, I am angry that—it has happened here.

Independence of the judiciary is of course a fundamental part of the rule of law. Attacking judges undermines that independence, and all of us should resist the temptation, however irresistible some politicians seem to find it. We should know better.

What unites us, and what makes this legislation quite hard to understand, is that all of us believe in the importance of pre-sentence reports, which play a vital part in sentencing. I practised criminal law for over 25 years, defending more than prosecuting. That was some time ago, of course, but in those days, it was inconceivable that a first-time offender—or any offender, really—who might face a first custodial sentence would be sentenced without a properly prepared pre-sentence report. By properly prepared, I do not mean a 10-minute interview in the cells and then back into court; I mean a well prepared and thorough report, with a probation officer being given the time and space to do their job.

We were all surely shocked to learn that the number of pre-sentence reports has fallen by 42% between 2015 and 2023, from 160,000 to 90,000. I am afraid that one has to ask the question: how many of these reports are having to be prepared much too quickly?

I hope we can all agree that pre-sentence reports are an essential part of our system and cannot be allowed to be compromised for financial reasons. That is why the future of the Probation Service is so vital to this debate, and why, in my view, it would have been better, if possible, to have waited until the Gauke review and the legislation that follows it.

Legal Aid: Social Welfare and Family Law

Lord Bach Excerpts

Monday 18th November 2024 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Bach]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to increase the amount of legal aid available for early advice in the areas of (1) social welfare, and (2) family, law.

[Lord Bach (Lab)]

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper and I refer the House to my declared interest.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede) (Lab)]

My Lords, legal aid is a vital part of the justice system. It underpins our plans to build a justice system that works for victims, supports access to justice and ultimately upholds the rule of law. The previous Government left the legal system facing significant challenges. This Government are committed to ensuring an effective, efficient and sustainable legal aid system, and we have already begun to stabilise the sector and explore ways in which we can rebuild our justice system.

[Lord Bach (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend the Minister for his reply. I know that he, like me, believes that the virtual decimation of early legal advice as a direct consequence of the LASPO Act remains an affront to access to justice. Is he aware that every report published on this issue strongly agrees that early legal advice saves the state money by avoiding court and time spent? Of course, we know how sparse resources are, but does he not agree that common sense dictates that restoring early legal advice urgently by an increase in legal aid is a necessary, humane and financially sensible thing to do?

[Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend for that question, and I agree with the sentiment behind it. The Government are committed to ensuring there is an effective, efficient and sustainable legal aid system and are working toward that end. Our response to the Crime Lower consultation was published on 14 November and confirmed that we will be uplifting the lowest police station fees, introducing a new youth court fee scheme and paying for travel time in certain circumstances. Together, these changes will provide a £24 million boost for criminal aid providers.