Prisoner Early Release

Lord Marks of Henley-on-Thames Excerpts

Wednesday 1st July 2026 Lords Chamber

[The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Timpson) (Lab)]

First, I would like to express my sincere sympathy with the victims of all these appalling crimes. Convictions for child sex offences are at a record high, and we as a Government have made grooming an aggravated factor so that perpetrators face longer sentences. Without the Sentencing Act, the courts would be at risk of grinding to a halt, preventing sex offenders and others from being brought to justice. We have acted to avert that crisis. We are delivering the largest prison expansion since the Victorians, with 14,000 extra places by 2031, and we have already delivered 3,100 since taking office. But if we do not tackle this problem of prisons running out of space, we will be back to where we were again. Two years ago, when I first took on this job, there were some very dark days in the Ministry of Justice. When you have fewer than 100 prison places left, that is dangerous for victims and future victims.

[Lord Marks of Henley-on-Thames (LD)]

My Lords, these issues are very difficult, but we share the Government’s determination to ensure that we do not run out of prison cell space as a result of past serious underprovision. However, I have two questions on early release. First, can the Minister say how effectively victims notified of the impending release of their perpetrators are signposted to victim support services, and how such provision can be improved? Secondly, the Minister has often stressed the importance of technology in the context of early releases. How far away are we now from having details of prisoner release arrangements available online in all prisons, including release dates, release locations, tagging arrangements and intended addresses following release, where those are available?

[Lord Timpson (Lab)]

The noble Lord is right to raise the point about prison building, because we have to keep building these prisons. There is a role for them but there is also a role for technology. I have been keen on pushing technology in all parts of the justice system. I am pleased that we have £82 million going into the justice ID project, for example, and there is a load of AI work going on. In fact, if you walk into the Ministry of Justice and see someone who looks about 19 in jeans and a T-shirt, they are probably one of our amazing AI team, who are making a very big difference.

But it is very important that victims are notified as soon as we know. We work closely with those who sign up for the victim liaison scheme. We have the highest ever amount being invested in victim support services, over half a billion pounds, because we want to work with victims to make sure that they get transparency and all the support—for example, making sure that the exclusion zone is right, and explaining what the electronic monitoring provisions will be. It is important that we work together in the interests of victims, and that we keep investing in technology to improve accuracy and improve speed.