Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they expect to publish their response to the report of the Joint Committee on the Draft Voting Eligibility (Prisoners) Bill (HL Paper 103, Session 2013–14) published in December 2013, before the end of the current Parliament.

The Secretary of State for Justice wrote to the Joint Committee on 25 February 2014, thanking them for their recommendations. Despite continued consideration of the issues it is clear that a consensus will not be reached in this Parliament given the strongly held views across both Houses. Therefore the Government will not introduce legislation on prisoner voting rights in this Parliament, so there is nothing further the Government can report to the Joint Committee at this stage.