Imprisonment for Public Protection Prisoners

Lord Marks of Henley-on-Thames Excerpts

Monday 6th July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Timpson (Lab)]

Noble Lords who know me will know that I do not lack ambition. Although I cannot put any figures on it, I can say that we are doing all that we can. I work with incredibly professional and dedicated teams within the Ministry of Justice. Whenever I go round a prison, I always meet an IPP prisoner; I sit in their cell and talk to them about where they are up to. I sense their hope as well as that of the staff who work with them, because it is very much a team effort.

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

My Lords, the House understands the need to balance risk to the public from release against the injustice to IPP prisoners of their continued detention long after they have served their tariffs. Granted that we are making progress, does the Minister think that we yet have the balance right—even now, 13 years after the IPP sentence was abolished—when, every day, we release prisoners who have served determinate sentences and now need to do so to relieve pressure on space without the need for determination that their release is risk-free?

[Lord Timpson (Lab)]

Release is never risk-free, but we need to balance the opportunity and the risk. I am seeing a much more stable Prison and Probation Service. By that, I mean that we have the right number of people in the right places with the right resources. I have been going round the country doing probation roadshows, talking to probation staff up and down the country about what our plan is to get through to next April, when we will have supply matching demand. Even though the focus of many of these conversations is on prisons, if we do not sort out and support probation—that is where the heavy lifting in the justice system is done—we will never make the progress that we all want to achieve.