Asked by: Lorraine Beavers (Labour - Blackpool North and Fleetwood)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how his Department plans to promote the National Year of Reading within the criminal justice system.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The National Year of Reading is a welcome opportunity to promote a wide range of activity to improve literacy and engagement with reading for people in custody and on probation.
As part of this work we have appointed the first ever Prison Reading Laureate, the author Lee Child. He will champion the transformative power of reading across the criminal justice system, continue expansion of his successful literacy pilot programme which has been running in a number of prisons since 2025 and will bring in more authors to work with prisons across the country, promoting the benefits of reading to rehabilitation.
Reading is a priority for HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) who work with many voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations such as the Reading Agency and National Literacy Trust. A programme of work is planned throughout this year to improve national access to books and facilitate workshops with authors. The Youth Custody Service is also launching its first ever Literacy Festival to inspire reading amongst some of the most complex children in our society.
Asked by: Lorraine Beavers (Labour - Blackpool North and Fleetwood)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of extending the deadline for applications to the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
I understand the Honourable Member’s interest here and I thank her for her letter to the Attorney General’s Office on this issue.
Parliament intended the Unduly Lenient Sentence Scheme to be an exceptional power but it is important for victims and offenders that there is finality in sentencing.
The Law Commission has helpfully launched a consultation on reforms to the Scheme which runs until 30 May.