Prisoner Early Release Scheme

Baroness Foster of Aghadrumsee Excerpts

Thursday 23rd July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Katz (Lab)]

My noble friend is right. One of the things that the Sentencing Act did was eradicate—I might even call it a travesty—Friday release, whereby people were released from prison with nowhere to go and no chance of having anywhere to go. When people say they have beaten a drug or alcohol problem in prison and want to put their life straight upon release, we have to make sure that they are given adequate access to housing so that they can get their lives set up, make progress and become a useful member of society. My noble friend is right on that.

[Baroness Foster of Aghadrumsee (Non-Afl)]

My Lords—

[Lord Garnier (Con)]

My Lords—

[Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms and Chief Whip (Lord Kennedy of Southwark) (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, we will hear from the noble Baroness, Lady Foster, and then from the Conservative Benches.

[Baroness Foster of Aghadrumsee (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, as the daughter of a police officer who was the subject of an attempted murder attack by the IRA when I was a child, and as the wife of a retired police officer, I was absolutely appalled and dismayed when I heard the news that the killers of PC Harper were to be released. I implore the Minister and the Government to look at the experience of Northern Ireland and the early release of prisoners, not just the impact on prison spaces but the impact on victims and their families, the morale of the police service and, indeed, the undermining of the justice system entirely.

[Lord Katz (Lab)]

I pay tribute to the noble Baroness and the testimony that we have heard just now. We understand how difficult this is. I want to be very clear that more than 18,000 offenders will be unaffected by these reforms. We will, obviously, as part of these reforms, communicate openly with victims who have opted into the victim contact scheme. They have to be, as I have already said to your Lordships’ House, front and centre of our minds. The noble Baroness makes a valid point about learning from the experience of Northern Ireland, and I will make sure that it is fed back to colleagues.