Written questions by Hinds.

Pursuant to the Answer of 9 April 2025 to Question 43038 on Prisons: Overcrowding, how many and what proportion of the Operation Safeguard police cells made available overnight were used.

Operation Safeguard is an important contingency measure used to ensure that the current demand on prison places does not cause undue disruption to Criminal Justice System partners. The first places were activated by the previous Government in February 2023. Between 20 February 2023 – 4 July 2024, 86,561 Operation Safeguard police cells were made available overnight. Over the same period, there were 2,564 overnight uses of Safeguard.

Pursuant to the Answers of 9 April 2025 to Questions 43036 on Prison Accommodation: Closures and 43032 and 43033 on Prison Accommodation, what the gross addition to prison estate capacity was from (a) new-build prisons, (b) extensions, (c) rapid deployment cells and (d) other additions without netting off the removal of places in each year for which data is available.

The previous Labour Government added nearly 28,000 places to the prison estate between 1997 and 2010. However, available records do not provide a breakdown for these figures of these places by category. For the gross additions to prison estate capacity relating to (a) new-build prisons and (b) extensions, I refer you to the table provided in response to PQs 36624 & 36626. For gross additions relating to (c) rapid deployment cells, I refer you to the table provided in PQ 36625. The information requested for part (d) is not available in a format showing gross additions only. This is because this category contains significant turnover of prison places coming in and out of use for temporary reductions, such as maintenance projects, and it is not possible to distinguish the gross additional capacity added over this period. Last year this Government announced plans to build 14,000 places by 2031 as part of our 10-year Prison Capacity Strategy. We have already started the 700-place expansion at HMP Highpoint in Suffolk in March, and a new houseblock providing nearly 460 places at HMP Rye Hill in Northamptonshire recently received its first prisoners. This week has also seen the opening HMP Millsike, which will hold nearly 1,500 prisoners.

With reference to her Written Statement of 22 October 2024 on Mainstream Free Schools, HCWS150, what progress her Department has made on the review of planned mainstream free schools.

The review that my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education announced in October 2024 will put a stop to the over-supply of unnecessary places and channel funding towards improving the deteriorating condition of existing schools and colleges and enable prioritisation of capital funding where it is most needed across the education estate to counter urgent condition need.Since the review was announced, departmental officials have been working through evidence gathered from trusts and local authorities to develop robust, evidence-based recommendations. We will update trusts and local authorities on next steps in due course.

Whether she plans for the rules on school uniform contained in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to be adjustable by secondary legislation.

For too many families, the cost of uniform remains a financial burden. ​This is why the department has introduced legislation to limit the number of branded items of uniform and PE kit that schools can require, to bring down costs for parents and remove barriers from children accessing sport and other school activities. The department believes a clear and transparent limit, set out in primary legislation, is the most effective way to make schools remove unnecessary and expensive branded items and bring down costs for parents. There are no plans for this measure contained in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to be adjustable by secondary legislation.

Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of (a) the Information Commissioner’s Office and (b) Ofcom in assessing how regulated services are enforcing their minimum age limits to ensure children’s safety and data protection.

In 2024, the ICO updated its Age assurance opinion for the Children’s code, with guidance on what online services must do if they are likely to be accessed by children. We welcome the ICO’s ongoing work to assess how services are applying age assurance measures to identifying child users and through the Data (Use and Access) Bill we are taking steps to require the ICO to have regard to the fact that children merit specific protection.Under the Online Safety Act services in scope must use highly effective age assurance to prevent children from encountering the most harmful content. Additionally, services which have a minimum age limit must specify in their terms of service how these restrictions are enforced and apply these terms consistently. Ofcom must publish a report on services’ use of age assurance within 18 months of child safety duties coming into effect.

With reference to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, whether there will be a de minimis value below which a required uniform item would not count towards the limits for branded items of school uniform.

There will not be a de minimis value below which a required uniform item would not count towards the limit for branded items of school uniform. The department wants to ensure that the action we are taking to reduce the cost of uniform provides schools and parents with clarity about which items are in scope.The explanatory notes to the bill, which set out the detail of the measures included, are available here: https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3909/publications.

If she will make an assessment of the impact on participation of the change in the average cost of domestic school trips since 2019; and if she will make an assessment of the trends in the levels of the contributing factors for the changes in that average cost.

The department is providing schools with an additional £3.2 billion in the 2025/26 financial year, taking total core school budgets to over £64.8 billion. Schools have autonomy over how they use this funding to best support their pupils based on their individual circumstance, including any spending decisions on school trips.

Whether she plans to establish further Intensive Supervision Courts.

This Government is committed to expanding the use of robust community alternatives to custody, keeping offenders in the community and offering the right package of support to rehabilitate offenders and stop the revolving door of the justice system. The Independent Sentencing Review, announced by the Lord Chancellor, is due to publish its recommendations on sentencing reform in the Spring.Any future expansion of the pilot is subject to the upcoming Spending Review process. There must also be consideration of available evidence, alongside an assessment of existing capacity within the courts and probation.

What assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing auto-enrolment for free school meals.

The free school meals (FSM) scheme provides nutritious school lunches to children who could otherwise not afford them. To support take-up, the department provides an Eligibility Checking System so that eligibility can be checked as quickly and straightforwardly as possible. The department is pressing ahead with an upgraded Eligibility Checking System which will allow parents to check their own eligibility, making it quicker and easier for both families and local authorities to register eligible children for FSM.The department is aware of locally led approaches to boost take-up of free lunches. To support these approaches, we are working with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to explore options on data sharing that will make it easier to identify families who are eligible to make a claim. We expect to have these in place from spring next year, well ahead of the 2026 academic year.Officials are also working with the Department for Work and Pensions to consider how enrolment may be supported through the Universal Credit claims process.The department will monitor the impact of these policies and engage with local authorities to assess the impact that these changes are having on uptake of FSM.

What estimate she has made of the potential impact of the increase in employer National Insurance contributions on the average cost of providing free school meals.

The department is providing schools and high needs settings with over £930 million in the 2025/26 financial year to support them with their increased National Insurance contributions (NICs) costs. This support is additional to the £2.3 billion increase to core school funding announced at the Autumn Budget 2024.Schools will have flexibility in how they use funding through their NICs grant allocations to meet their overall cost increases as a result of the NICs changes.

What recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of Intensive Supervision Courts.

An interim process evaluation report, published in January 2025, indicates promising results on the effectiveness of ISCs: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6785311af029f40e50881712/process-evaluation-intensive-supervision-courts-pilot-interim-report.pdf.Offenders tested negatively for drug use two-thirds of the time and breach rates were low. The Ministry of Justice continues to be committed to an ongoing evaluation of the pilot, including a final process evaluation report to be published later this year, followed by impact and economic evaluations after the pilot concludes. These evaluations will help us understand the programme's effectiveness in reducing reoffending, improving offender outcomes and cost effectiveness.

If she will take steps to maintain the number of children eligible for free school meals at approximately the same level in the context of the maturity of the universal credit rollout.

Free school meal support is available to households receiving Universal Credit, and with an annual earned income of £7,400 or less.This government’s ambition is to drive down poverty through our Child Poverty Strategy and cross-government work to support more parents into employment and to increase their working hours.

When she next plans to review the per-meal funding rate for free school meals.

The department spends over £1.5 billion annually on the provision of free and nutritious meals to 2.1 million of the most disadvantaged school pupils, 90,000 low-income students in further education, and 1.3 million infant pupils. In addition to this, eligibility for free meals drives billions of additional pounds in disadvantage funding.The government will continue to engage with schools to ensure high-quality meals are provided for children. As with all government programmes, the department keeps free school meal provision under review.

What estimate she has made of the proportion of children educated otherwise than at school that would be eligible for free school meals and are in receipt of (a) free school meals and (b) vouchers in place of free school meals.

The department expects local authorities to consider free school meal (FSM) provision for children and young people receiving education otherwise than at school (EOTAS) in accordance with Section 61 of the Children and Families Act 2014.  This is set out in our published guidance.The department has not made a formal assessment of the proportion of children EOTAS who would be eligible for free meals and are receiving FSM or vouchers in place of FSM. We are clear, however, that local authorities should be considering food provision in line with our FSM guidance.

When she next plans to review her Department's guidance on school food standards.

It is important that children eat nutritious food at school and the department encourages schools to have a whole-school approach to healthy eating. The School Food Standards define the foods and drinks that must be provided, that are restricted and those which must not be provided.We keep our approach to school food and its guidance under continued review.

Pursuant to the Answer of 25 March 2025 to Question 36625 on Prison Accommodation, when she expects places to become available through the small house blocks programme.

As outlined in the recently published 10-Year Prison Capacity Strategy, this Government is committed to delivering 14,000 prison places the previous Government failed to get built. These places will be delivered through the expansion and refurbishment of the existing estate, including Small Secure Houseblocks, as well as the construction of four new prisons, including the recently opened HMP Millsike.As set out in the NAO Report, we expect places to become available through the Small Secure Houseblocks programme from 2027.

If she will replicate the data line items included in the ad hoc publication Estimate of the number of prison places built and closed between 2010 and 2024, published on 25 October 2025, for each year from the earliest year for which data are available to 2010.

The previous Labour Government added nearly 28,000 places to the prison estate between 1997 and 2010. However, available records do not provide a breakdown for these figures of these places by category. The annual breakdown of this net change has been provided in the table below.For the information requested relating to the period between 2010 and 2024, I refer you to the table provided in the response to PQs 36624 & 36626.Last year this Government announced plans to build 14,000 places by 2031 as part of our 10-year Prison Capacity Strategy. We have already started the 700-place expansion at HMP Highpoint in Suffolk in March, and a new houseblock providing nearly 460 places at HMP Rye Hill in Northamptonshire recently received its first prisoners. We are also opening HMP Millsike in the coming weeks, a major milestone which will hold nearly 1,500 prisoners and help put more violent offenders behind bars to make streets safer.Table 1. Annual change in Operational Capacity between May 1997 and May 2010.Date Total Operational Capacity Annual net change May-9761,927xMay-9869,5207,593May-9969,645125May-0071,1711,526May-0171,598427May-0273,5351,937May-0376,0512,516May-0477,4311,380May-0578,9871,556May-0681,2002,213May-0783,1581,958May-0885,0871,929May-0986,8051,718May-1089,7572,952Total 27,830

What proportion of capacity made available through Operation Safeguard was used between its inception and July 2024.

Operation Safeguard is an important contingency measure used to ensure that the current demand on prison places does not cause undue disruption to Criminal Justice System partners. The first places were activated by the previous Government in February 2023.Between 20 February 2023 – 4 July 2024, 86,561 Operation Safeguard police cells were made available overnight.

Pursuant to the Answer of 25 March 2025 to Question 36626 on Prison Accommodation, what breakdown is available of the figure of a net 28,000 places added to the prison estate in England between 1997 and 2010 in terms of (a) place additions (b) place removals, (i) by year and (ii) in total.

The previous Labour Government added nearly 28,000 places to the prison estate between 1997 and 2010. However, available records do not provide a breakdown for these figures of these places by category. The annual breakdown of this net change has been provided in the table below.For the information requested relating to the period between 2010 and 2024, I refer you to the table provided in the response to PQs 36624 & 36626.Last year this Government announced plans to build 14,000 places by 2031 as part of our 10-year Prison Capacity Strategy. We have already started the 700-place expansion at HMP Highpoint in Suffolk in March, and a new houseblock providing nearly 460 places at HMP Rye Hill in Northamptonshire recently received its first prisoners. We are also opening HMP Millsike in the coming weeks, a major milestone which will hold nearly 1,500 prisoners and help put more violent offenders behind bars to make streets safer.Table 1. Annual change in Operational Capacity between May 1997 and May 2010.Date Total Operational Capacity Annual net change May-9761,927xMay-9869,5207,593May-9969,645125May-0071,1711,526May-0171,598427May-0273,5351,937May-0376,0512,516May-0477,4311,380May-0578,9871,556May-0681,2002,213May-0783,1581,958May-0885,0871,929May-0986,8051,718May-1089,7572,952Total 27,830

What the gross number of prison places removed from the prison estate in England and Wales through permanent closures of whole (a) prisons and (b) wings was between (i) 1997 to 2010 and (ii) 2010 to 2024.

The previous Labour Government added nearly 28,000 places to the prison estate between 1997 and 2010. However, available records do not provide a breakdown for these figures of these places by category. The annual breakdown of this net change has been provided in the table below.For the information requested relating to the period between 2010 and 2024, I refer you to the table provided in the response to PQs 36624 & 36626.Last year this Government announced plans to build 14,000 places by 2031 as part of our 10-year Prison Capacity Strategy. We have already started the 700-place expansion at HMP Highpoint in Suffolk in March, and a new houseblock providing nearly 460 places at HMP Rye Hill in Northamptonshire recently received its first prisoners. We are also opening HMP Millsike in the coming weeks, a major milestone which will hold nearly 1,500 prisoners and help put more violent offenders behind bars to make streets safer.Table 1. Annual change in Operational Capacity between May 1997 and May 2010.Date Total Operational Capacity Annual net change May-9761,927xMay-9869,5207,593May-9969,645125May-0071,1711,526May-0171,598427May-0273,5351,937May-0376,0512,516May-0477,4311,380May-0578,9871,556May-0681,2002,213May-0783,1581,958May-0885,0871,929May-0986,8051,718May-1089,7572,952Total 27,830