Better Prisons: Less Crime (Justice and Home Affairs Committee Report)

Lord Timpson Excerpts

Thursday 12th February 2026 Lords Chamber

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

My Lords, it is a privilege to close this debate on a topic that is very close to my heart. I was thrilled to see that so many new noble Lords chose this occasion to make their maiden speeches. It was heartening to hear references to the late Lord Ramsbotham, who many of us have so many fond memories of.

We clearly have a super-talented bunch of new noble Lords. My noble friend Lady Bi is a champion for the active participation of disadvantaged communities in public life. The noble Baroness, Lady Neate, has worked tirelessly to raise awareness of homelessness, and on behalf of domestic abuse survivors and their children. The noble Baroness, Lady Davies of Devonport, has been a determined campaigner on behalf of disabled sports in England and SportsAid. The noble Baroness is no stranger to navigating choppy waters, so I am sure that she will fit right in here. My noble friend Lord Babudu has brought about lasting change to the lives of countless young people as a former chair of the Blagrave Trust. The noble Lord, Lord Redwood, brings a wealth of experience, after almost 40 years in the other place. It is a privilege to welcome these noble Lords to your Lordships’ House, along with the expertise that they bring.

I thank the noble Lord, Lord Foster of Bath, for his opening remarks and for securing this important debate. I thank the whole Justice and Home Affairs Committee and its officials for the report, as well as everyone who has contributed to the inquiry, including our recognised trade unions.

The strength of feeling in this report is clear and justified. This Government do not shy away from the fact that our prison system is in crisis. Years of underinvestment and mismanagement meant that we inherited a system on the verge of collapse. At one point, we had fewer than 100 places left in the adult male estate—that is one bad weekend or one surge in remand away from a total breakdown of law and order.

The previous Government could have tackled these problems, but they were more concerned with looking tough on crime, blindly slashing budgets and engaging in disastrous and costly ideological reforms. As a result, this Government were forced to take urgent action. Through the Sentencing Act and an historic expansion of the prison estate, we are putting the system on to a sustainable footing, but that is not job done. I did not accept this role just to prevent disaster. I took the role because I want to make our Prison and Probation Service a world-class organisation—and I mean the whole organisation: prisons and probation, working together as two sides of the same coin, because the public deserve better. They deserve a system that punishes offenders and protects the public but also rehabilitates and reduces reoffending—but we are a long way from that.

Reoffending rates are still far too high, creating more victims and costing billions to the British taxpayer. We need serious reform, and we are doing serious reform. We need to tackle the underlying causes of crime and help offenders to find a new path out of crime. We need to make sure that our hard-working prison staff and leaders have the time and resources to make a real difference. That is what they joined the service to do. Most importantly, we need to put victims first, to make sure they are protected and can see justice is done, but also to make sure that others do not suffer as they did. There is a long road ahead. I am therefore grateful for the committee’s report and this opportunity to take stock. I recognise the problems that it identified. I am in the business of finding solutions and championing the green shoots that we are beginning to see.

We accepted, or partially accepted, all but one of the committee’s recommendations and today I will address each of the report’s key themes. The report, as many noble Lords have raised today, rightly stresses the importance of clearly articulating the purpose of prisons and the importance of reducing reoffending. I completely agree. That is why I insisted on adding “reducing reoffending” to my job title. When we release someone, we should be confident that we have done all we can to make sure that they do not end up back inside. That means treating addiction and mental health issues, ensuring they can learn new skills and prepare for work, and making sure that they have somewhere to live upon release. For far too many, however, we are failing to meet these basic needs, leading many back to the revolving doors of crime. That means we are also failing victims.

However, this is not always straightforward to communicate, so we must do more to communicate the purpose of prisons and the work that our amazing staff do. That is why the “extraordinary jobs” campaign highlights the vital work our staff do to change lives. It is why our communications focus on proven approaches to cutting crime and reducing reoffending. It is why our Sentencing Act incentivises rehabilitation and prioritises punishment that works. It is also why we are investing up to £700 million more in probation by the end of this spending review period.

The committee highlighted the need for more collaboration between public and private prisons. I agree that there is a lot more room for improvement, and we have made progress. We are developing a digital platform for sharing information and good practice across the public and private estate. We will also build on events such as the HMPPS Insights Festival, where over 8,000 staff from the public, private and voluntary sectors registered. It will take time and commitment, and I am determined to get it right.

The committee is absolutely correct that all our staff deserve to be supported by strong leadership. It is also vital to say that prison governors have uniquely challenging jobs. Every time I visit a prison—something I do most weeks—I am reminded of the stark reality of the job. It is difficult enough at the best of times, but when you are constantly struggling for spare beds, your buildings are crumbling, and you cannot hire or keep staff, then even the best cannot lead; they can only cope. We are therefore bringing stability and increasing capacity. This space enables governors to drive performance, to set their culture and to lead. I also recognise that we need to trust and empower governors to do what works for them, their prison and their staff. That is how I ran the Timpson business. I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Wheatcroft, for her kind words—if I ever went back to the business and had an advertising department, I would like to consult her on how I should approach things. Let us take Mick, the governor of HMP Hatfield. He is often out and about all day meeting employers, working with local partners and seeing how employment benefits offenders out on licence. Six months after release, 86% of his prisoners are in employment. Mick is doing it his way, and it is clearly working.

We will prioritise autonomy through the HMPPS’s “free, flex, fixed” framework, and we will give leaders more flexibility with their budgets, including introducing a new self-service procurement process for low-value items, allowing governors to source routine goods and services more quickly. The committee also emphasised the importance of governor development and succession planning. Through our Enable programme, an induction programme is now in place for first-time governors and those moving to new posts. And we are producing a development scheme for governors ready to take on the toughest challenges.

We are also tackling what I call the “EuroMillions problem”. If a dozen governors won tomorrow night, that would be a serious loss of leadership. We need more future leaders lining up, ready to lead. That is why the first cohort of our Future Prison Leaders programme has started, and our national talent committee is identifying high-potential individuals as well as prisons where succession risk is most acute.

Prison staff are some of our finest public servants, but they too need the space to succeed. They need opportunities to build real relationships with the prisoners they manage so they can make a real difference, but they too are often just trying to get through the day. So, as my noble friend Lord Moraes and other noble Lords pointed out, we need to boost recruitment, fix vetting and bring down sickness rates. We have secured a temporary exemption to the visa rules for foreign nationals working as prison officers to prevent an urgent staffing crisis, but that is not a long-term solution. We will improve training and make sure staff get the recognition they deserve. Of course, that is easier with consistent leadership, and I hope I am doing my bit. My goal is to be the longest-serving Prisons Minister. I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Lucas: I hope that I am not offered an early release.

We are also helping potential officers to understand the realities of prison work. This includes supporting governors to offer familiarisation visits to applicants. Informed by my own independent review, we are improving training through the Enable programme, and we are rewriting initial prison officer training so that it goes well beyond the current 10 weeks. It will instead become part of a year-long induction. This means that officers will get the best possible start.

We also know that, despite brilliant work, prison staff can often go unnoticed. I will continue to champion their work in public life, which is why our proposal for a King’s Prison Service medal to recognise excellence in the Prison Service is going to the honours committee this month. We are seeing continued progress in retention. In the latest published data, the resignation rate for officers in bands 3 to 5 was 7%, the lowest in four years. These green shoots are very welcome.

Let me turn to the power of purposeful activity. Noble Lords will be aware of the importance I place on prisoner skills and employment. I saw at first hand in the workshops I opened and the prisons I recruited from in the Timpson business how employment helps. The data is clear. Access to in-prison education and employment upon release can both reduce reoffending by up to nine percentage points, but, once again, we also need to tackle the broader issues. Prisons cannot run consistent and meaningful programmes if they are at full capacity or if their facilities are falling down, so we must bring stability and sustainability to the system.

But I know that is not the only challenge. The education budget has not kept pace with rising costs. Despite contracts that improve quality, we can buy fewer hours overall, so we are making sure that as many prisoners possible can access the training on offer. We are increasing the potential of digital systems to help more prisoners learn, and we are expanding literacy initiatives—I am delighted that Lee Child is our first ever Prison Reading Laureate. We will continue to support governors to commission vocational courses and link up with employers, charities and local partners. That includes our new regional employment councils which are furthering the work of prison employment advisory boards. It is also important that prisoners maintain positive relationships with their family and the outside world, as the noble Lord, Lord Farmer, continually champions. That is why I negotiated a 20% reduction in phone call costs for prisoners—because maintaining those links helps to turn lives around.

The committee’s final theme was accountability and oversight. I greatly value the independent scrutiny of our chief inspectors, Charlie Taylor, Martin Jones and Martyn Oliver. I meet them regularly, but I agree that there is room for more collaboration. We are reviewing the role of the independent monitoring boards, alongside other oversight bodies, and I will update your Lordships’ House on our conclusions in due course.

Parliamentary accountability is also vital, and the Deputy Prime Minister and I regularly appear before Select Committees. I hope noble Lords know that I am always keen to discuss any proposals to reduce reoffending and help people turn their lives around. It is important to note that we are seeing an uptick in HMIP scores, but there is still a very long way to go. I do not want to settle for “good enough”. I am really competitive and I want to run world-class prisons. We are starting to see things move, and that deserves recognition.

It is clear that we inherited a system in crisis and we are putting in the hard work to fix it, but we are also being incredibly ambitious, with our target to halve the number of prisoners released with nowhere to live—an agreed cross-government commitment—our once-in-a-generation reforms of our courts and sentencing, and innovations such as intensive supervision courts. Transformation will take several years but, if we get this right, reoffending will fall, the public will be safer and we will have fewer victims.

I thank noble Lords again for the opportunity to respond to this important debate. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Foster, for securing it and the members of the committee for the work that has gone into this report. I confirm that I will provide them with an update in March. I also thank noble Lords who have contributed today. I am very happy to meet the right reverend Prelate in due course. I have tried to respond to as many of the points raised as possible but, due to the fantastically high number of noble Lords taking part and the limitations on time, I regret that I cannot cover everything. I will specifically update the noble Lords, Lord Hogan-Howe and Lord Farmer, and the noble Baroness, Lady Hyde, on the points that they raised. Of course, I also give my continued thanks for the dedication of our prison and probation staff who keep the system running day in, day out. I am proud to have them as colleagues.