Committee publication · Correspondence · 11 February 2026
Correspondence to Lord Timpson, Minister for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending, dated 10 February 2026: Ending the cycle of reoffending - part one: rehabilitation in prisons: Government Response
From: Justice Committee
Inquiry: Rehabilitation and resettlement: ending the cycle of reoffending
Summary
The Justice Committee responds to the government's reply on its 'Ending the cycle of reoffending' report, characterising the response as disappointing overall. While welcoming some developments (prison education audit, Earned Progression Model publication), the Committee expresses deep concern at a planned 20–25% reduction in prison education despite acknowledged links to reduced reoffending. The Committee challenges vague timelines, lack of new commitments, and insufficient detail on key areas including staff training implementation, governor autonomy review, ROTL policy reform, and neurodiversity action plan publication.
Key findings
- Government confirmed 20–25% national reduction in prison education, despite acknowledging education's positive link to reducing reoffending—Committee deems this unacceptable given low quality of existing provision.
- Earned Progression Model will focus on preventing bad behaviour rather than incentivising constructive engagement; Committee fears it will become an 'Earned Regression Model' contrary to the Independent Sentencing Review's intent.
- Government responses detail existing work programmes with little new commitment; timelines are vague or absent, and no mechanism for regular updates to the Committee is established.
- Committee requests clarification on 14 specific points: staff training implementation timelines, governor autonomy review completion date, prison maintenance funding, ROTL operational framework review, neurodiversity action plan publication delay, and access to youth custody site-specific action plans.
- Committee highlights disparity in performance between private sector prisons (HMP Bronzefield, HMP Oakwood) and public sector counterparts, asking how government will mitigate this difference.
Tone
CriticalTopics
Key actors
Lord Timpson, Andy Slaughter MP, Justice Committee, HMPPS (Her Majesty's Prison and Probation Service), Ministry of Justice, Department for Education, HMP Bronzefield, HMP Oakwood
Notable line
“… it is simply not acceptable that the prospects for prisoners to access good quality educational programmes are to diminish further.”
Key Quotes
“Whilst there were some promising developments outlined, overall, it was unfortunately a disappointing response.”
“… it is simply not acceptable that the prospects for prisoners to access good quality educational programmes are to diminish further.”
“… it is regrettable to learn that the model will focus on preventing bad behaviour, as opposed to incentivising constructive engagement with the regime.”
“… your responses detail existing work programmes, and very little new work has been committed to as a result of the evidence set out by our report.”
“We reiterate our call for a review of the operational framework for ROTL”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗