Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what amount of entitlement to free video calls prisoners receive; and how that amount was decided.

Secure social video calling was introduced in all prisons across England and Wales as an emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic to maintain family ties when social visits were limited in prisons. To offer fair and equal access, all prisoners are offered one 30-minute video call per month at no cost to them or their families as an alternative form of social contact. Additional video calls may also be offered at local discretion.

We are committed to continue providing secure social video calling as an additional method of communication, in line with our commitment in the Prisons Strategy White Paper and we will use lessons learnt from the roll out during the pandemic to inform future long-term policy direction.