Imprisonment for Public Protection

Baroness Ludford Excerpts

Thursday 2nd July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Levitt (Lab)]

My Lords, I want to reassure all your Lordships that the Government completely understand and share the concerns about this very troubling cohort of prisoners, but the first duty of every Government is to keep the public safe, and that must come first. So, in order to try and reduce this cohort safely, through the action plan the Government are working on licence reform, progression work, recall improvements and support for those prisoners in order to demonstrate risk reduction. We have now provided those serving the IPP sentence with an earlier opportunity for licence termination and an additional opportunity for those serving these sentences thereafter. The IPP annual report and action plan for 2026-27 will be published in July.

[Baroness Ludford (LD)]

My Lords, Ministers are facing three Oral Questions about IPP prisoners within a fortnight, the third being mine. That is because we are determined, co-ordinated and—speaking for myself—an angry bunch. Why are the Government granting early release to a group of prisoners guilty of very serious crimes when, as the noble Lord, Lord Moylan, said, 900 prisoners subjected to the scandalous and ethically outrageous injustice of indeterminate IPP sentences have never been released and are being held in prison three, four or five times longer than their court-mandated sentences for much lesser, non-violent and often minor crimes?

[Baroness Levitt (Lab)]

There is a persistent myth that people got IPP sentences for rather trivial offences, which is in fact not true. It was always required at the time that it was both a serious offence and that they had demonstrated concerns about previous offending. There is this cohort that needs to be looked at, and the Government are anxiously trying to ensure that we make every move we possibly can to make sure that they are helped to demonstrate that they are no longer a risk. However, no Government—and that includes the Government who were led by the party opposite—will release people when the independent Parole Board has adjudged that they remain a risk to the public.