Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Victims and Courts Act 2026 on people falsely accused of serious crime.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government considered the impacts of the measures in the Victims and Courts Act 2026 on those affected by them, including defendants and offenders, as part of the Bill’s impact assessments, equality analysis and assessment of compatibility with the European Convention on Human Rights. These considered, among other matters, fair trial rights and relevant safeguards for defendants.
No separate assessment was made of people described as having been falsely accused of a crime. However, making a false allegation of a criminal offence is a serious matter which may itself amount to the commission of an offence such as perverting the course of justice or wasting police time. Where an individual intentionally makes a false allegation and their conduct amounts to a criminal offence, prosecutions may be brought for offences including perverting the course of justice or wasting police time.
Asked by: Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many cases have been referred to HM Prison and Probation Service's Restorative Practice Hub in each of the last five years; and how many of those have been approved for a restorative justice to proceed.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This Government supports the use of restorative justice. We know that restorative justice can improve victim satisfaction and reduce reoffending when delivered in the right circumstances. This not only benefits the victims and the offender but also their community.
The HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) Restorative Practice Hub was established to help ensure that HMPPS facilitates restorative justice in complex and sensitive cases only where it is safe to do so. The team has four permanent full-time members of staff.
The work of the Restorative Practice Hub often requires input from a wide range of professionals, including prison and probation staff, victim liaison officers, psychologists, police officers, health practitioners and social workers. These individuals and their parent organisations contribute to cases as part of their wider operational responsibilities and are not dedicated solely to the work of the Restorative Practice Hub. Consequently, it is not possible to provide a reliable estimate of the total annual resource cost associated with the Restorative Practice Hub’s activities.
HMPPS does not hold the requested historical information on referrals, outcomes and decision-making timescales. The work of the Restorative Practice Hub has evolved over time and management information on referrals and outcomes has not previously been collected consistently in a way that would support robust year-on-year reporting.
However, HMPPS introduced a new case management system this year which records all referrals received by the Restorative Practice Hub. This will improve the ability to report on referral volumes, outcomes and decision-making timescales in future. As the system has only recently been implemented, there are not yet sufficient data available to provide robust information on outcomes or decision-making timescales.
Asked by: Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average time elapsed is between a referral of a case to HM Prison and Probation Service's Restorative Practice Hub and a decision being advised to the referrer by that hub.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This Government supports the use of restorative justice. We know that restorative justice can improve victim satisfaction and reduce reoffending when delivered in the right circumstances. This not only benefits the victims and the offender but also their community.
The HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) Restorative Practice Hub was established to help ensure that HMPPS facilitates restorative justice in complex and sensitive cases only where it is safe to do so. The team has four permanent full-time members of staff.
The work of the Restorative Practice Hub often requires input from a wide range of professionals, including prison and probation staff, victim liaison officers, psychologists, police officers, health practitioners and social workers. These individuals and their parent organisations contribute to cases as part of their wider operational responsibilities and are not dedicated solely to the work of the Restorative Practice Hub. Consequently, it is not possible to provide a reliable estimate of the total annual resource cost associated with the Restorative Practice Hub’s activities.
HMPPS does not hold the requested historical information on referrals, outcomes and decision-making timescales. The work of the Restorative Practice Hub has evolved over time and management information on referrals and outcomes has not previously been collected consistently in a way that would support robust year-on-year reporting.
However, HMPPS introduced a new case management system this year which records all referrals received by the Restorative Practice Hub. This will improve the ability to report on referral volumes, outcomes and decision-making timescales in future. As the system has only recently been implemented, there are not yet sufficient data available to provide robust information on outcomes or decision-making timescales.
Asked by: Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the annual cost of HM Prison and Probation Service's Restorative Practice Hub.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This Government supports the use of restorative justice. We know that restorative justice can improve victim satisfaction and reduce reoffending when delivered in the right circumstances. This not only benefits the victims and the offender but also their community.
The HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) Restorative Practice Hub was established to help ensure that HMPPS facilitates restorative justice in complex and sensitive cases only where it is safe to do so. The team has four permanent full-time members of staff.
The work of the Restorative Practice Hub often requires input from a wide range of professionals, including prison and probation staff, victim liaison officers, psychologists, police officers, health practitioners and social workers. These individuals and their parent organisations contribute to cases as part of their wider operational responsibilities and are not dedicated solely to the work of the Restorative Practice Hub. Consequently, it is not possible to provide a reliable estimate of the total annual resource cost associated with the Restorative Practice Hub’s activities.
HMPPS does not hold the requested historical information on referrals, outcomes and decision-making timescales. The work of the Restorative Practice Hub has evolved over time and management information on referrals and outcomes has not previously been collected consistently in a way that would support robust year-on-year reporting.
However, HMPPS introduced a new case management system this year which records all referrals received by the Restorative Practice Hub. This will improve the ability to report on referral volumes, outcomes and decision-making timescales in future. As the system has only recently been implemented, there are not yet sufficient data available to provide robust information on outcomes or decision-making timescales.
Asked by: Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what staffing resource is assigned to HM Prison and Probation Service's Restorative Practice Hub.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This Government supports the use of restorative justice. We know that restorative justice can improve victim satisfaction and reduce reoffending when delivered in the right circumstances. This not only benefits the victims and the offender but also their community.
The HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) Restorative Practice Hub was established to help ensure that HMPPS facilitates restorative justice in complex and sensitive cases only where it is safe to do so. The team has four permanent full-time members of staff.
The work of the Restorative Practice Hub often requires input from a wide range of professionals, including prison and probation staff, victim liaison officers, psychologists, police officers, health practitioners and social workers. These individuals and their parent organisations contribute to cases as part of their wider operational responsibilities and are not dedicated solely to the work of the Restorative Practice Hub. Consequently, it is not possible to provide a reliable estimate of the total annual resource cost associated with the Restorative Practice Hub’s activities.
HMPPS does not hold the requested historical information on referrals, outcomes and decision-making timescales. The work of the Restorative Practice Hub has evolved over time and management information on referrals and outcomes has not previously been collected consistently in a way that would support robust year-on-year reporting.
However, HMPPS introduced a new case management system this year which records all referrals received by the Restorative Practice Hub. This will improve the ability to report on referral volumes, outcomes and decision-making timescales in future. As the system has only recently been implemented, there are not yet sufficient data available to provide robust information on outcomes or decision-making timescales.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, (a) what work his Department is doing to combat substance misuse by inmates in the prison estate and (b) how his Department is supporting staff to tackle the problem.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We recognise that illicit drug use in prison is too high, and we are committed to tackling this to improve safety, support rehabilitation and reduce reoffending. We are investing an extra £35 million this year to improve counter drone measures at the most at-risk prisons. This builds on over £40 million already invested in physical security across 34 prison sites since July 2024.
HMPPS work closely with health partners to identify prisoners with a drug problem and support them into treatment. To create the environment and incentives for prisons to make the right choices, the Government has funded Incentivised Substance Free Living Units in 88 prisons, which provides a dedicated, supportive environment for any prisoner who wants to live drug-free in prison, using regular drug testing alongside incentives. We have committed to expanding these to a further 12 prisons by the end of 2027/28.
To bring together rehabilitative and security focused activity in prison, the Government has funded 54 Heads of Drug and Alcohol Strategy to ensure local drug strategies are effectively implemented, and to coordinate a whole system approach to tackling drugs. We have also recruited 17 Group Drug and Alcohol Leads, who support work on drugs and alcohol across their prison groups, and establish links with community providers and local authority partnerships.
Dedicated drug and alcohol staff and non-specialist staff in prisons have a range of support and development including access to a dedicated e-learning and practice hub, access to communities of practice and ongoing Continuing Professional Development including targeted development days for specific roles. In addition, drug and alcohol awareness forms part of the foundation training for new operational staff. Wherever possible, learning and development is offered in partnership with health and drug treatment providers and is informed by evidence, assessments of need and lived experience of those in recovery.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he plans to develop a national workforce strategy for the prison workforce.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government recognises the importance of the prison workforce to delivering safe, secure and rehabilitative prison regimes. Whilst we do not have a formal prison workforce strategy, we have strong existing internal workforce planning processes that inform our strategic approach to recruitment, retention, capability and our resourcing models. Internally, there is a HMPPS People Strategy which sets out our approach to building and sustaining the workforce required to deliver prison and probation services, focused on recruiting and retaining great people, strengthening capability and productivity, supporting staff wellbeing, embedding high professional standards and developing strong leaders.
Our current priority is stabilisation of the workforce, but we continue to embed good practice across the prison workforce, including learning best practice from, and working with, other government departments. We are working to improve the efficiency of national recruitment pipelines and targeting interventions where they are most needed.
This includes taking an evidence-led approach to tackling the causes of attrition through insights from an exit interview process and developing interventions such as the Careers Pathway Framework. We are also strengthening learning and development through the Enable programme which will transform Prison Officer Foundation Training into a 12-month learning journey, combining structured learning with sustained workplace experience to better equip new officers with the skills, confidence and professional judgement they need to operate safely and effectively.
To ensure that staffing budgets across the prison estate are aligned to our agreed delivery priorities, and that we have a clear and transparent staffing position, a new prisons staffing resource model has been created during three years of extensive engagement and research, to provide a standardised baseline for target staffing of directly employed staff within adult public sector prisons.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he plans to reintroduce the prison officer apprenticeship.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government recognises the value of apprenticeships in supporting the development and progression of prison officers.
The previous Custody and Detention Apprenticeship closed in August 2025 following a review of its operational sustainability and delivery arrangements.
There are currently no plans to reintroduce the apprenticeship in its previous form. HMPPS is introducing a new foundation learning programme for prison officers from April 2027, and the Ministry of Justice is undertaking a wider procurement of apprenticeship provision.
The Department remains supportive of apprenticeship opportunities for prison officers and will consider how these might support future development and progression, taking account of operational requirements, the implementation and evaluation of the new foundation learning programme, and opportunities available through wider apprenticeship provision.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the estimated cost is of increasing capacity in the Magistrates’ Courts to meet the requirements set out in the Courts and Tribunals Bill.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Magistrates handle more than 90% of all criminal cases, completing around 1.5 million criminal cases each year. The estimated costs and benefits of the measures proposed in the Courts and Tribunals Bill are set out in the published Courts and Tribunals Bill (Structural Criminal Court Reform) Impact Assessment.
The Government is investing in magistrates’ court capacity and modernisation to ensure they are able to meet expected demand. We are increasing funded sitting days for magistrates’ courts – from 114,000 last year to 125,800 next year, rising to a target of 131,000 sitting days by 2028/29 – and investing in recruitment programmes to ensure we have sufficient magistrate, legal advisers, and District Judge capacity to support that increase..
On 24 September 2026 we launched our revamped multi-million pound magistrates’ recruitment campaign “You’ve got the makings of a magistrate” to encourage more people to consider becoming a magistrate. Alongside this, in 2025 we recruited 50 new Deputy District Judges, and identified a reserve list of 86 additional candidates, whose appointments are now underway. Since April 2025 we have appointed 166 more legal advisers and have a new campaign live now for 80 more. The Government has also increased the funding available for magistrates' training, in line with the Judicial College’s estimates for the additional resources required to support the training needs of a larger magistracy.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Restore Britain - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average time taken is by (a) probation officers and (b) police to respond to breaches of electronic monitoring conditions by people convicted of domestic abuse offences.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost as it would require all records to be looked at individually.