Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of people in custody had a (a) virtual visit and (b) physical visit in each custodial facility in England and Wales in August 2020.

This information in relation to physical visits can only be obtained at disproportionate cost. This information is not held centrally, and so there would be a need for all prison establishments in England and Wales to check local visits records.

However, I can confirm that during the period 3 August to 30 August 2020, a total of 7,785 video calls were completed across the public sector prison establishments which were able to offer live calls. This period coincided with significant expansion of the live service across the estate.