Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Timpson on 13 May (HL Deb col 2055), how much of the extra £1 billion for policing will be allocated to Northern Ireland.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

As set out in the 2025-26 final police funding settlement, overall funding for the policing system in England and Wales will be up to £19.6 billion, an increase of up to £1.1 billion when compared to the 2024-25 funding settlement

This funding is for England and Wales. Policing is devolved in Northern Ireland and so the Barnett formula was applied in the normal way to the Home Office DEL budget, providing Barnett consequentials to the Northern Ireland Executive.

The Northern Ireland Executive's Phase 1 Spending Review settlement is the largest in real terms of any settlement since devolution, at £18.2 billion in 2025-26, including an additional £1.5 billion through the operation of the Barnett formula.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Timpson on 7 May (HL6683), what potential prison sites they are considering for the 14,000 new prison places by 2031.

Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The prison population has nearly doubled in the past three decades, with just 500 extra prison places added in the last 14 years. To put an end to this crisis, the Government confirmed plans to invest £4.7 billion more in prison building, putting the Government on track to open 14,000 places by 2031. This will be the largest expansion of the prison estate since the Victorians. Since July 2024, 2,400 places have already been opened.

As outlined in the December 2024 10-Year Prison Capacity Strategy, this Government is committed to delivering an additional 14,000 prison places through the 20,000 prison place programmes. Delivery will be achieved through the construction of new prisons, the expansion and refurbishment of the existing estate and temporary accommodation. A breakdown of the prison build programmes by region and build type can be found within the Capacity Strategy.

The construction of four new prisons will deliver c.6,500 of the remaining 14,000 places. This includes the recently delivered HMP Millsike, which officially opened in March 2025. It also includes a new prison in Leicestershire which has full planning permission, a new prison in Buckinghamshire which has outline planning permission and a new prison in Lancashire which also has outline planning permission.

Found: gifts only) Shabana Mahmood Nil Return Nil Return Nil Return Nil Return Nil Return Nil Return Lord Timpson

Found: Value of Hospitality (£) Shabana Mahmood Nil Return Nil Return Nil Return Nil Return Nil Return Lord Timpson

<p>Diolch yn fawr, Julie Morgan, for those two crucially important questions, because the&nbsp;residential women's centre is a key priority for the Welsh Government, and we know it will improve the lives of women in Wales. It will be a real asset. It will provide therapeutic, rehabilitative services as part of our trauma-informed approach. And it's a key element of our women's justice blueprint, and I will be giving a statement, updating colleagues of the Senedd on those blueprints, shortly.&nbsp;It is also clear, as you say, that the independent sentencing review is firmly supporting increasing the use of non-custodial sentences for offenders. I was pleased to give evidence to David Gauke and his review, and this is something that I will discuss with Lord Timpson. I am meeting him this week, and I am attending the ministerial round-table for women in the criminal justice system—that's the Lord Chancellor's round-table. I am joining that round-table on 10 June, and I'll continue to advocate for the opening of the residential women's centre for Swansea.</p>
<p>Yes, the cancer drug development is an exciting and huge gain in terms of cancer research, not just here for Wales but globally. Wales is a small country, but we more than punch above our weight in the field of new diagnostics, treatments, therapies and vaccines. Thanks to the licensing of capivasertib, tens of thousands of patients across the NHS in Wales and across the UK are going to get the benefits from that. But the most important point to make is that this massive achievement would not have happened without our partners, funded by Health and Care Research Wales. So, it is great to see Velindre University NHS Trust acting as the trial sponsor, funded from, as I said, a variety of funding streams, and also recognising the role of the Velindre research nurses, who were supported by the Velindre cancer charity.</p>