Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of any increase in court activity on the level of COVID-19 infection amongst the prison population.

All new receptions into prison including those received from the courts are screened for signs and symptoms of Covid-19 by healthcare professionals and are quarantined in a Reverse Cohorting Unit (RCU) until it is safe to be moved.

On 2 June, this Government published the National Framework for Prison Regimes and Services which sets out the conditional roadmap for the gradual resumption of services and regimes in prisons. One of the key objectives highlighted in this document is to ensure that we have enough space to receive from the courts and sufficient capacity to meet overall demand, while managing the risks of infection through the continued implementation of our compartmentalisation strategy.