Written questions by Lewis.

What assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of face-to-face civil legal aid provision for the residents of Norwich South constituency; when the provision was last reviewed; and what steps his Department is taking to improve local access to justice.

Legal aid is a vital part of the justice system and underpins our plans to build a justice system that works fairly for all parties.The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) continuously assesses the available supply of legal aid services throughout England and Wales across all categories of law. Details about volumes of contracted legal aid providers are published in the LAA’s official statistics (Tables 9.1–9.9). These figures help the LAA monitor the availability of services. Additionally, the LAA’s network of regional contract managers in England and Wales provide intelligence-led information regarding provision of legal aid based on contact with legal aid service providers. The LAA takes operational action, where it can, to respond to market pressures that may arise.For civil contracts, the LAA commissions legal aid services across larger geographic areas called procurement areas, rather than by local authority or parliamentary constituency. The relevant procurement area serving the Norwich South constituency varies depending on the type of civil law.Constituents in Norwich South can access face to face services across all civil categories of law for which legal aid is available. All procurement areas serving Norwich South exceed the minimum required number of legal aid providers. The LAA is satisfied there is adequate provision of legal aid services in Norwich South.We are committed to sustaining the long-term future of the legal aid sector and ensuring access to justice. That is why we are uplifting immigration and housing legal aid fees, areas identified by the Review of Civil Legal Aid as facing particularly acute challenges. This is a significant investment of £20 million a year once fully implemented – the first major increase since 1996.

What steps he is taking to (a) train and (b) recruit staff in the prison workforce.

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.HMPPS believes that having a high-quality training offer for prison officers ensures that they feel competent in their roles, and that they can do their vital job of reducing reoffending and protecting the public. All new entrants are expected to undergo 10 weeks of initial training, comprised of an induction process that aims to familiarise them with the prison environment by meeting their line manager and colleagues and learning about security procedures. This is followed by face-to-face training at a central or local learning venue of 7 weeks for staff going into the adult male estate, 8 weeks for staff going into the female estate or 9 weeks for those going into the Youth Custody Service. They then return to their establishment for a final week of consolidation and shadowing.HMPPS is committed to improving prison officer training. Through the ‘Enable Programme’, a dedicated workforce transformation programme, HMPPS is leading a full redesign of prison officer training, aiming to strengthen the training offer through more robust, evidence-based approach. This will include a new 12-month modular package of learning which will support the development of the knowledge, skills, behaviours and confidence needed for the modern prison officer role.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.

What data his Department holds on retention rates for prison officers.

The Department does not publish a ‘retention rate’ for prison officers. The quarterly HMPPS workforce statistics includes resignation rates for prison officers, which refers to the percentage of staff with a permanent contract of employment who resigned from HMPPS, and leaving rates, which refers to the percentage of staff with a permanent contract of employment who left HMPPS, including individuals who have retired early, but excluding staff who left due to voluntary early departure schemes and redundancy.The latest data in the quarterly HMPPS workforce statistics covers the period up to the end of June 2025 and are available here: HM Prison and Probation Service workforce quarterly: June 2025 - GOV.UK.We remain committed to ensuring prisons are sufficiently resourced and that we retain levels of experience, both of which are fundamental to delivering quality outcomes in prisons. To help increase retention, HMPPS has created a retention strategy 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.

What assessment she has made of the implications for her Department’s policies on trans people in prison of the Supreme Court's decision on 16 April 2025.

The Supreme Court ruling brings clarity and confidence for women and service providers.This Government inherited the policy regarding allocation of transgender prisoners from the previous Government, and have not moved any transgender women into the women’s estate since taking office.Following the Supreme Court ruling in the For Women Scotland case, the Lord Chancellor has commissioned a review of transgender prisoner allocation policy.

How many times prisons in Norfolk operated an (a) amber and (b) red regime in each the last 10 years.

As this information demonstrates, the new Government inherited a criminal justice system in crisis, with prisons on the point of collapse.All public sector prisons have systems in place for the day-to-day management of staff resources and regime delivery, to ensure that regimes are safe, decent, secure, resilient and sustainable.The recorded information relating to regimes in prisons in Norfolk is available from September 2022 onwards, and is as follows:Red Regime – NoneAmber/Red – 151 timesGreen/Amber – 450 times.

Pursuant to the Answer of 11 October 2024 to Question 6326 on Probation Service, what new funding has been allocated to (a) the Probation Service, (b) the Electronic Monitoring Service and (c) support other services provided to offenders in the community, in the context of the early prisoner release scheme.

Recognising the Probation Service’s crucial role in protecting the public and rehabilitation, the Department has committed to funding at least 1,000 additional trainee probation officers by the end of March 2025.Given the multitude of factors involved, each with its own budget, it is not feasible to isolate a single expense figure for SDS40 borne by the Probation Service. Commercial discussions are ongoing to confirm the level of additional expenditure the electronic monitoring service provider may charge.Throughout the SDS40 implementation process, HMPPS and partnered agencies have ensured robust support is in place for offenders leaving custody, including continuity of health and substance misuse provision and access to employment, benefits, and accommodation. For example, the Lord Chancellor has authorised probation directors to use alternative arrangements for accommodation which can include budget hotels and B&Bs. This has been funded through reprioritisation of existing budgets. This is a temporary measure and we will ensure all appropriate safeguards are in place.

If her Department will publish data on how many and what proportion of young people in prison in Norfolk had special educational needs and disabilities in (a) 2022-23, (b) 2021-22, (c) the last five years and (d) the last ten years.

Data relating to special educational needs and disabilities are not collected in a format that would enable the specified information to be provided.

Whether her Department made an assessment of the potential impact of the early prisoner release scheme on the probation service.

Amending the automatic release point for eligible Standard Determinate Sentences to 40% (SDS40) has allowed us to end more challenging measures like End of Custody Supervised Licence and move to a more transparent system.SDS40 will result in some offenders being released earlier from custody. This change will lead to longer periods on licence in the community, which will incur additional costs to the Probation Service and Electronic Monitoring Service. Additionally, there will be increased demand for services provided to offenders in the community, such as substance misuse services. The impact of this will be managed carefully to ensure the Probation Service has time to prepare and plan for release.Further information on impact on the Probation Service is set out in the published Impact Assessment available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukia/2024/117/pdfs/ukia_20240117_en.pdf

What recent discussions her Department has had with Napo on the impact of the prisoner early release scheme on workers in the probation service.

Probation Service officials meet regularly with Napo officials. In addition to weekly briefings, matters of note concerning the Probation Service, such as prison capacity measures, are discussed at quarterly consultative meetings, and at bi-monthly ‘stock takes’ with the Chief Probation Officer.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of Imprisonment for Public Protection sentences on (a) rehabilitation and (b) recidivism rates.

At its peak in 2012, there were over 6,000 offenders serving an Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentence in custody. As of 30 June 2024, this had reduced to 2,734, of which 1,132 had never been released. As of 31 March 2024, there were 3,000 individuals serving an IPP sentence on licence in the community. For those in the community the Parole Board would have assessed that it is no longer necessary for the protection of the public for that person to be in prison. From April 2016 to March 2021 the annual proportion of IPP sentenced individuals who reoffend each year is between 5.4% and 15.8%. The most recent published data is available online: Proven reoffending statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The Government is determined to make further progress towards a safe and sustainable release for those serving the IPP sentence, but not in a way that impacts public protection. We believe that it is right that these sentences were abolished and, in opposition, we supported changes made in the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 to the IPP licence period and the introduction of a statutory requirement for the Government to publish an IPP annual report on the steps taken to support rehabilitation and progress towards release from prison or licence termination. Most of these changes will commence on 1 November 2024 and all will be implemented by 1 February 2025. His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service continues to provide additional support to those still in custody, including improved access to mental health support and rehabilitation programmes for eligible and suitable IPP prisoners to provide them with vital skills aimed at securing future release and employment.