Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of releasing low-risk prisoners to ease overcrowding during the course of the covid-19 outbreak.

HMPPS is doing everything it can to prevent the spread of COVID-19, based on the very latest scientific and medical advice. We are working closely with Public Health England, the NHS and the Department of Health and Social Care to manage the challenges we face.

The safety and wellbeing of staff, prisoners and visitors is paramount and at the heart of our approach.

We have robust contingency plans in place, which are informed by advice from Public Health authorities. Part of our contingency planning involves the ability to deploy staff flexibly. We are taking steps to boost staff availability so that we can look after prisoners properly and minimise the impacts on regimes of staff absences.

We are not planning to release prisoners in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.