Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to reduce repeat offending.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
We are tackling the root causes of reoffending by investing in a range of interventions which address offenders’ underlying criminogenic needs and support their rehabilitation journey. This includes education, employment, accommodation and access to substance misuse treatment.
We know that education, employment, and accommodation can reduce the chance of reoffending. That is why we are delivering vocational courses, a future skills programme, and expanding the prisoner apprenticeship scheme. All 93 resettlement prisons have key roles in place to prepare prisoners for employment on release, and we have launched regional Employment Councils, which for the first time bring businesses together with prisons, probation, and the Department for Work and Pensions to support prison leavers. We are also expanding our community accommodation service - to support prison leavers at risk of homelessness by providing up to 12 weeks of temporary accommodation for those under probation supervision.
We also know that drug treatment is effective in reducing the risk of reoffending. We work closely with health partners to identify prisoners with a drug need, refer them into treatment, and support recovery. We have funded Incentivised Substance-Free Living units (ISFLs) in 85 prisons, where prisoners sign a behaviour compact, agree to be regularly drug tested and can access enhanced opportunities compared to a standard wing.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to improve the quality of video links used for remote court proceedings.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
All prisons in England and Wales now have some modern video provision to support remote court hearings. In 2024/25, prisons facilitated almost 440,000 video links: over 212,000 of these related to remote court hearings, an increase of 17% on the previous year.
The backbone of video delivery in prisons is the high-capacity, high-quality Video Conferencing Centres (VCCs). These purpose-built facilities are designed to improve the quality of defendants’ interactions with courts during remote hearings. To date 18, VCCs are operational in prisons, and they account for almost half of all video links facilitated. We have delivered two VCCs this year, with one more under construction, and the investment case for more is being considered.
While decisions about remote participation for any parties or witnesses in any jurisdiction is ultimately judicial, HMCTS has the digital and audio technology available to facilitate remote links in all criminal court centres. It is currently investing in the upgrade of that technology through its Digital Audio & Visual Evolution project. This is replacing screens, cameras and audio equipment with modernised hardware which improves the experience for participants where a video link is being used.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether translation (a) cards or (b) services are provided to foreign national prison officers to aid communication with prisoners.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Translation cards or services are not provided to any prison officers working in Public Sector Prisons (PSPs). The process for recruiting prison officers across all PSPs is the same for all applicants, both UK and non-UK nationals, with candidates being appointed to the role based on merit, in line with the fair and open Civil Service recruitment principles. The assessment process for prison officers includes assessments of spoken and written language skills, which will be to the same standard for all candidates, regardless of nationality, and fitness and medical checks.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners who have been wrongly released have committed a crime before being brought back to prison in each of the last five years.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
This information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many trials have been delayed and court days lost because a prisoner has failed to be delivered to the Court by the Prisoner Escort and Custody Services.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The question has been interpreted to mean ineffective trials that do not start on their intended start date and need rescheduling. Trials can become ineffective for many reasons, owing to the action or inaction of stakeholders responsible for producing prisoners to court, or of the courts themselves. Delays or failures to bring prisoners to court are one such reason.
Data on trial effectiveness at the criminal courts, by reason for ineffectiveness, is published as part of the Criminal court statistics quarterly series. Applying the “reason” filter in the pivot table in Trial Effectiveness at Criminal Courts document enables the reader to select reasons why trials have been ineffective. Tab 14 shows instances where the defendant’s not having been produced by Prisoner Escort and Custody Services led to an ineffective trial. This includes all instances where a prisoner was not produced on time, regardless of whether the contractor was at fault. The most recent publication can be accessed via the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-court-statistics-quarterly-april-to-june-2025.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what prison construction projects were due to be completed by ISG Construction.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Construction projects were planned for completion by ISG Construction Limited at the below prisons:
HMP Birmingham
HMP Liverpool
HMP Prescoed
HMP The Verne
HMP Kirklevington Grange
HMP Warren Hill
HMP Guys Marsh
HMP Erlestoke
HMP Leyhill
HMP Ford
HMP Standford Hill
The planned new prison in Buckinghamshire
Work is underway to recommence delivery across these projects. We are committed to delivering an additional 14,000 prison places and are on track to do so by 2031. We have already delivered c.2,600 of these since taking office.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of his prison capacity strategy on the number of Category A prison places that will be created.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 2 June 2025 to Question 57465.
Asked by: Charlie Maynard (Liberal Democrat - Witney)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to increase (a) recruitment and (b) retention of prison officers.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
We know that sufficient and skilled frontline staffing is fundamental to delivering safe, secure, and rehabilitative prisons. We remain committed to ensuring prisons are sufficiently resourced and that we retain and build levels of experience.
Substantive recruitment efforts will continue at all prisons where vacancies exist or are projected, with targeted interventions applied to those prisons with the most need. We closely monitor staffing levels across the estate and look to provide short-term support where needed. All prison expansion projects, whether new prisons or smaller builds, are factored into our staffing forecasts to ensure we recruit on time and build up the experience needed to continue to deliver safe and secure regimes.
To help increase retention, HMPPS has a retention strategy in place which is linked to wider activities around employee experience, employee lifecycle, and staff engagement at work. Alongside the strategy a retention toolkit has been introduced which identifies local, regional, and national interventions against the drivers of attrition, which are utilised by establishments to ensure that they are embedding individual Retention Plans.
Asked by: Charlie Maynard (Liberal Democrat - Witney)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to reduce delays in the escorting of defendants to Court which can result in a trial being (a) deferred or (b) cancelled.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The HMPPS Prisoner Escort and Custody Services (PECS) Contract Management Team continues to work collaboratively with criminal justice system partners through Strategic Partnership Boards to review performance and agree strategies to drive and sustain improvements.
PECS provides quarterly reports to Ministers, detailing supplier performance against journey-time targets and the timeliness of prison vehicle turnaround.
Asked by: Charlie Maynard (Liberal Democrat - Witney)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to resolve delays in the court system.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government is committed to bearing down on the outstanding caseload and delivering swifter justice for victims, but the challenge facing the Crown Court is significant.
Courts are sitting at, or close to, maximum judicial capacity in almost every jurisdiction, including family and civil, with record investment this year. We are also continuing to invest in the recruitment of c.1,000 judges and tribunal members annually across all jurisdictions.
In the criminal courts, we have announced funding for a record 111,250 Crown Court sitting days for this financial year. This is 5,000 higher than the previous Government funded for the last financial year. There are a range of initiatives underway across the criminal justice system to enhance efficiency within different parts of the system.
But we need to go further and deliver sustainable longer-term reform to make the system fit for the future. This is why we have launched an independent review into the efficiency of the criminal courts, led by Sir Brian Leveson, to deliver once-in-a-generation reform. We welcome the publication of the first part of the Review. We are considering the recommendations and will respond in due course, ahead of legislating, where necessary, when Parliamentary time allows.
In the civil courts, we are seeing a reduction in the time taken between claims being made and trials.
The Family Justice Board has agreed system-wide targets for 2025/26, focused on further reducing delay and outstanding caseloads. Areas delivering the Pathfinder model in private family law have made significant progress addressing delays.