Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people serving an imprisonment for public protection sentence were in prison on recall as of 1 December 2025 following a breach of licence conditions where no further criminal charge was brought; and how many of those people have been continuously in custody since their most recent recall for (1) fewer than 12 months, (2) 1–2 years, (3) 2–3 years, (4) 3–4 years, (5) 4–5 years, (6) 5–6 years, (7) 6–7 years, (8) 7–8 years, (9) 8–9 years, (10) 9–10 years, and (11) more than 11 years.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people serving an imprisonment for public protection sentence were in prison on recall as of 1 December 2025 following a breach of licence conditions where no further criminal charge was brought; and to provide a breakdown of that number by the continuous length of time spent in custody since their most recent recall in increments of (1) less than 12 months, (2) one to two years, (3) two to three years, (4) three to four years, (5) four to five years, (6) five to six years), (7) six to seven years, (8) seven to eight years, (9) eight to nine years, (10) nine to ten years, and (11) more than ten years.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Data on the prison population is published as part of the Department’s Offender Management Statistics Quarterly (OMSQ) release, with the latest publication including prison population data as at 30 September 2025.
The requested information (based on the prison population as at 1 December 2025) cannot be provided at the current time because it would provide an early indication of the data underpinning the next iteration of these Accredited Official Statistics, which will be published on 29 January 2026
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Timpson on 9 April (HL6405), whether they have taken steps to assess the potential for reducing costs and increasing productivity from retaining Gov Facilities Services Limited in-house.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Government Facility Services Limited was created in 2018 as a government company to ensure continuity of facilities management services to prisons in the South and East of England following the collapse of the previous contracted supplier, Carillion. This was always planned to be a transient organisation whilst the Department decided on how the Prison and Probation estate would be maintained in the future.
A 2023 assessment conducted in partnership with the Cabinet Office determined that an insourced solution was not the preferred option for future prison maintenance services. The assessment was conducted in line with Cabinet Office guidance and was consistent with the options appraisal approach prescribed by HM Treasury Green Book. Financial analysis determined that an outsourced option would be more cost effective and deliver the best value for money. The value and performance of the Department’s service providers are subject to ongoing contract management and are reviewed and changed, where appropriate, to align with the business requirements.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what recent analysis has been undertaken of additional costs or savings arising from the decision to outsource Gov Facilities Services Limited, and what steps have been taken to revisit this decision since July 2024.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government has initiated a programme of work to secure new, competitively tendered contracts for the provision of maintenance services for prisons. As the procurement process is currently live, information regarding costs and savings is commercially and market sensitive and therefore not able to be disclosed at the current time. In November 2024, I approved plans to proceed with re-procuring the delivery of facilities management services through the private sector, with a focus on ensuring that future contracts incentivise suppliers’ performance and maintain a focus on delivery outcomes. This approach is kept under constant review to ensure we get the best value for taxpayers’ money.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of prisoners who have been mis-sentenced to imprisonment for public protection after the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 came into force to abolish the sentence.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 abolished the Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentence and it could not be imposed for anyone convicted on or after 03 December 2012.
No individuals were convicted after 03 December 2012 and subsequently given an IPP sentence.
Nine people were given an IPP sentence in 2013 but all were convicted before the sentence was abolished.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many prisoners were recalled to prison under (1) imprisonment for public protection sentences, and (2) all categories, in 2023.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to remarks by Lord Stewart of Dirleton on 29 April (HL Deb col 1704), what are (1) the make-up, and (2) the objectives, of the Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) safety team, in relation to prisoners on IPP sentences in danger of self-harm.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
HMPPS Safety Group supports the safety of all prisoners, and within the group, one member of staff focuses on IPP prisoners, which includes taking forward the safety actions identified in the IPP Action Plan.
Our refreshed IPP Action Plan, which will be published this summer along with our IPP Annual Report, now has a workstream dedicated to Safety with the main objective of supporting prisons to deliver safety improvements for those serving an IPP sentence.
Our primary focus is on raising awareness of the heightened risk of self-harm and suicide of IPP prisoners and we have developed an IPP Safety Toolkit to support prisons.
We will continue to monitor, analyse and share any changing or emerging trends in published IPP prisoner data with staff and to inform and update our guidance where appropriate.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what specific budget is allocated for the implementation of the current Imprisonment for Public Protection action plan.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
HM Prison and Probation Service is using existing resources to deliver the requirements of the IPP Action Plan, ensuring that it is used to best effect to support those serving IPP sentences to achieve their sentence plan objectives and reduce their risks. HMPPS does not allocate funding in such a way as it would be possible to disaggregate specific amounts dedicated to sentence planning, offender management and support for IPP offenders.
Unto that end, the Action Plan focuses on ensuring offenders can access the required services or interventions in order to take positive steps towards a future release, a sustainable life in the community and, ultimately, the end of their sentence altogether. Further, when it comes to those serving the IPP sentence in prison, the Action Plan requires that they have an up to date sentence plan and are held in a prison which provides the intervention(s) specified in the sentence plan. It is expected that the latest IPP Annual Report and Action Plan will be published in mid-May.
We have taken significant action through the Victims and Prisoners Bill to curtail IPP licence periods to give offenders the opportunity to move on with their lives. In addition to these changes, the actions this Government is taking are working; the number of prisoners serving the IPP sentence who have never been released now stands at 1,180 as of 31 March 2024, down from more than 6,000 in 2012.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to update the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
This government has recently reviewed and made significant changes to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (ROA) 1974. The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 amended the ROA to significantly reduce the length of time that someone needs to disclose most criminal records. These reforms will improve access to employment, which we know is a key factor in supporting rehabilitation and enabling former offenders to reintegrate into the community. Serious violent, sexual, or terrorist offences are excluded from these changes and continue to never be spent.
Where a person has a conviction disclosed, we are clear that this should not be an automatic bar to employment. Our guidance for employers states that they should make a balanced judgment on whether someone’s convictions make them unsuitable for a particular job. This should take into account the person’s age at the time of the offence, how long ago it took place, the nature of the offence and its relevance to the position in question, among other factors.
The ROA is kept under review. There are no current plans to make further changes, but please see further the answer I gave on 4 April to Question HL3362.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government, excluding sexual or violent offences, under what circumstances can someone subject to an Imprisonment for Public Protection sentence who has completed their license period have earlier, minor offences dropped from their record.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (the ROA) sets out when an offender is considered to be ‘rehabilitated’ for the purposes of the Act and the relevant rehabilitation periods for cautions and convictions (also referred to as when a caution or a conviction become ‘spent’). This does not mean that an offence is dropped from their record, rather that the offender only needs to disclose the spent caution or conviction in some circumstances.
The ROA also provides that where a person commits another offence before the first has become spent, then the rehabilitation periods for all sentences are extended to the longest period. This is set out in section 6 of the ROA and referred to as ‘the drag on effect’. The ROA sets out that Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) and Detention for Public Protection (DPP) sentences are excluded from rehabilitation and therefore can never become spent, regardless of whether the licence is terminated or not.
A conviction imposed on an offender before a sentence of IPP will not be spent if, at the time the IPP or DPP was imposed, the sentence for that conviction was still in its rehabilitation period. However, any sentence which is not excluded from rehabilitation, and is received after an IPP or DPP sentence is imposed, will become spent in respect of the usual rehabilitation periods set out in section 5 and 6 of the ROA.
The ROA is kept under review but there are no plans to make further changes at this time.