Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the education budget for (1) women's prisons, and (2) men's prisons, in each of the last five years.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
To provide figures that show education budgets broken down by men’s and women’s prisons over the period requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. The budget encompasses various different services which are managed in different ways and are not all apportioned on a per-prison level.
Figures for the budget across both men and women’s prisons are shown in the table below. This only covers education, it does not cover broader skills training and employment work, for example that is delivered through prison industries and workshops.
Financial Year | Total Education Budget for Male and Female estate in millions |
2021/22 | £146.8 |
2022/23 | £153.2 |
2023/24 | £166.2 |
2024/25 | £170.4 |
2025/26 | £176.3 |
Budgets for locally commissioned services are allocated to individual prisons based on size of population, type of establishment and geographic area. Other services are commissioned nationally, such as Higher Education provision through the Open University and Distance Learning through the Prisoners’ Education Trust. We are focusing on improving attendance and driving up quality to ensure that every pound spent has greater impact on learners.
Both contracts through which core education was delivered during the period allocated a greater per-prisoner amount to women's prisons.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to improve the fitting quality of electronic monitoring tags.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The field and monitoring service contract, with the provider Serco, has clear contractual requirements governing the delivery of the Electronic Monitoring service, including the fitting of electronic monitoring tags. The latest performance data from Serco evidenced continued improved performance with all contractual KPIs met.
The relevant contract can be found on contract finder via the following links, and have also been attached for ease: Electronic Monitoring Field and Monitoring Service (FMS) - Contracts Finder and Electronic Monitoring - MDSS contract - Contracts Finder.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 25 February (HL14473), when they expect the co-produced action and implementation plan to be published.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has no plans at present to publish the action plan. The action plan is a partnership with HM Prison and Probation Service and other Government departments, and NHS England has a governance route through which it holds itself accountable.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they will publish an action and implementation plan to ensure the recommendations of the report by the Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody Investigating deaths under the Mental Health Act: The need for independence and parity, published in September 2025, are quickly progressed.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is very grateful to the Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody for its report, which highlights the critical issue that there are still too many deaths in mental health services and provides valuable insights and recommendations for change.
The Government is currently considering the report and its recommendation to establish an independent investigative mechanism. We will consider the most suitable way to share the Government’s response to this report in due course and will continue to work with the panel to explore how we can deliver further improvements to the way deaths in mental health detention are investigated.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people in prison or a Young Offenders Institute self-describe their ethnicity as Romany.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This information is published in Table 1_A_21 of the Offender Management Statistics ‘annual’ prison population tables.
As of 30 June 2025, the most recent date for which statistics are available, 79 of those in custody described their ethnicity as Roma.
To note, the ‘Roma’ ethnicity code is a recent addition to the prison offender management system, and the ‘as at 30 June 2025’ data is the first publication of these figures. As such, we would expect numbers to increase over time as new prisoners entering the system are able to self-identify as ‘Roma’.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to implement the recommendations of the report by the Chief Medical Officer for England, The health of people in prison, on probation and in the secure NHS estate in England, published on 6 November 2025.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department welcomed the Chief Medical Officer’s report and is working across NHS England, HM Prison and Probation Service, and other Government departments on the implementation of its recommendations and the co-production of an action and implementation plan.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many times, and in which NHS regions of England, the outcome of commissioned health and justice service contracts have been referred to the Independent Patient and Procurement Panel in each of the past two years.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The panel has received two representations regarding Health and Justice services. The panel accepted one case for review and did not review the other case. The case that the panel accepted was in the North West of England.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 30 January (HL13777), when they will publish the results of the consultation on proposals to extend the medicines responsibilities of four professions.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The consultation for proposals to extend medicines responsibilities for paramedics, physiotherapists, operating department practitioners, and diagnostic radiographers closed on 28 October 2025. Our team is currently analysing the large number of respondents received and a Government response detailing next steps will be published in due course.
Non-medical prescribing remains a keen area of interest since the Government took office in 2024, and we support the expansion of professional groups being able to use legal mechanisms to supply, administer, and prescribe medicines to patients, where it is safe to do so, within their scope of practice.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure greater collaboration between adult social care and the NHS.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Greater collaboration between adult social care and the National Health Service is a priority for the Government. Adult social care is a central part of our commitment to developing a Neighbourhood Health Service that shifts care from hospitals to communities, with more personalised, proactive, and joined-up health and care services that help people stay independent for as long as possible. In 2025/26, approximately £9 billion is being invested through the Better Care Fund to enable NHS bodies and local authorities to pool budgets and deliver joined-up care.
Starting in the financial year 2026/27, we will reform the Better Care Fund. This reform will provide a sharper focus on ensuring consistent joint NHS and local authority funding for those services that are essential for integrated health and social care, such as hospital discharge, intermediate care, rehabilitation and reablement. We will set out further details in due course.
We also provide improvement support to local systems to help them strengthen the delivery of integrated health and social care. This includes the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme and also work with the Local Government Association to deliver targeted and universal support to local systems through the Better Care Fund Support Fund. Information on these can be found respectively on the Neighbourhood Health and the Local Government Association websites.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what action they are taking to extend independent prescribing responsibilities to occupational therapists.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We support the expansion of non-medical professional groups being able to use legal mechanisms to prescribe, supply, and administer medicines to patients where it is safe to do so. There is a robust process in place for making such changes to ensure they are safe and beneficial for patients.
We are considering requests for the extension of existing medicines responsibilities and recently concluded a consultation on proposals to extend the medicines responsibilities of four professions. Further information can be found on the GOV.UK website.