Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of compensation payments made to prisoners in each of the last three years.
The total cost of litigation damages paid to prisoners in England and Wales in each of the last three years is provided in the table below.
Year | Litigation Damages Paid on Prisoner Claims |
2019-20 | £7,621,648 |
2020-21 | £6,074,143 |
2021-22 | £5,258,338 |
We successfully defend two-thirds of compensation cases brought by prisoners and always make sure debts to victims and the courts are paid before the offender sees a penny.
Regarding claims made under the Human Rights Act, which was introduced by the Labour Government in 1998, the Government’s upcoming Bill of Rights will repeal the HRA and implement a permission stage to ensure trivial cases do not undermine public confidence in human rights (cl.15). The introduction of a permission stage will ensure that courts focus on serious human rights claims and places responsibility on the claimant to demonstrate that they have suffered a significant disadvantage before a human rights claim can be heard in court.