Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make an estimate of the annual cost of imprisonment due to cannabis-related offences.

As at 31 December 2024, the number of prisoners with cannabis-related offences recorded as their main offence was 1,073. This figure only includes cases where a cannabis offence (offence which directly involves and specifies cannabis) was recorded as the main offence and will cover prisoners held for varying lengths depending on their sentence.

The overall average annual cost for keeping an individual in a prison is £51,108, which is taken from the latest published Prison Unit Cost statistics for 2022-23.