Written questions by Mullan.

What estimate he has made of the number of prisoners in custody serving standard determinate sentences, both in total, and broken down by offence, on the latest date on which the data is available.

Awaiting answer.

What data protection safeguards are in place in relation to court lists containing home addresses and dates of birth of individuals, being provided to individuals and organisations by HM Courts & Tribunals Service, either centrally or via individual courts.

Home addresses and dates of birth of individuals are not included in Crown Court, County Court, Family Court, High Court, lists of hearings, nor in lists of hearings in the Tribunals.Standard Lists produced by the Magistrates Court do contain the home addresses and dates of birth of individuals due to appear in court and these lists are only available to approved accredited members of the media, criminal justice partners and other government departments with legitimate reasons for requiring such information.Standard lists do contain Special Category Data as defined by Data Protection Act 2018. This information is intended to assist the accurate reporting of court proceedings and should be handled appropriately by legal professionals and members of the media.HMCTS will immediately cease the sharing of this data, if there is concern about how it will be used. Such data is held subject to licencing and can only be shared in agreement with licencing agreements; abiding by those licencing agreements is part of data protection.

To provide a list of organisations and individuals that are provided court lists containing home addresses and dates of birth of individuals, by HM Courts & Tribunals Service, either centrally or via individual courts.

Home addresses and dates of birth of individuals are not included in Crown Court, County Court, Family Court, High Court, lists of hearings, nor in lists of hearings in the Tribunals.Standard lists of hearings produced by the Magistrates Court do contain the home addresses and dates of birth of individuals due to appear in court. These lists are only available to approved accredited members of the media, criminal justice partners and other government departments with legitimate reasons for requiring such information.The names of individuals and organisations provided with court lists, containing home addresses and dates of birth of individuals is not collated or stored centrally.

What steps she is taking to maintain the CourtsDesk database of court records.

Courtsdesk does not have a database of, or access to, court records. Criminal court case records are held in a variety of places including at individual courts, at The National Archives and by the Ministry of Justice. Neither the Ministry of Justice nor HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) are deleting any court records. They have always been, and will remain, available through formal requests to the relevant court.Courtsdesk has developed a historic database using courts listing data. There has been no deletion on this database.The Ministry of Justice is doing three things: first, we have launched a market engagement exercise for new providers to reuse our data under a new licensing regime (which would be open to Courtsdesk to apply for); second, in the interim, we have contacted Courtsdesk, and I have met with its CEO, with a view to potentially reestablishing their service provided they can demonstrate they will comply with our data protection requirements; third, by the end of March we will be expanding the Court and Tribunal Hearings (CaTH) service, an online portal which allows journalists and the public to access and search court-related information. By the end of March, CaTH will include Magistrates’ and Crown Court lists alongside the Civil, Family and Tribunal hearing lists already published.Court records have always been, and will remain, available through formal request to the relevant court.

To publish how many times court lists containing home addresses and dates of birth of individuals have been provided to organisations and individuals, by HM Courts & Tribunals Service, either centrally or via individual courts broken down by day for every day of the last 12 months.

Home addresses and dates of birth of individuals are not included in Crown Court, County Court, Family Court, High Court, lists of hearings, nor in lists of hearings in the Tribunals.Standard lists produced by the Magistrates’ Courts do contain the home addresses and dates of birth of individuals. Standard lists are only available to approved accredited members of the media, criminal justice partners and other government departments with legitimate reasons for requiring such information.The management systems in Magistrates’ Courts do not collate the number of times courts lists containing home addresses and dates of birth of individuals are provided to organisations. This data is not held centrally.

What plans he has to build new female prisons during this Parliament.

We are committed to delivering an additional 14,000 prison places and aim to do so by 2031; we have already delivered more than 2,900 of these places since taking office.The 10-Year Prison Capacity Strategy set out our ambition to establish a pipeline of future supply beyond these 14,000 places. Decisions regarding the female estate are kept under continuous review and are balanced against government ambition, demand for places, and the need to protect both prisoner and public safety.

How many prisoners who are biologically (a) male and (b) female are housed in prisons designated for the opposite sex.

As of 1 February 2026, there were seven prisoners on E Wing, the separate unit for transgender women at HMP Downview.The information requested cannot be provided for the general female or male prison estates without breaching our legal obligations under data protection legislation. Where a request is made for statistical information and the total figure amounts to five or fewer, we must consider whether this would be likely to lead to the identification of individuals, and whether disclosure of this information would be in breach of our statutory obligations under the General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018.Transgender women with birth genitalia and/or any history of violent or sexual offending cannot be placed in the general women’s estate except in exceptional circumstances, where an exemption has been granted by Ministers. No transgender women have received such an exemption under this Government.

How many probation officers have been recruited since 5 July 2024.

Between 5 July 2024 and 30 September 2025, 55 qualified Band 4 probation officers joined HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS). This figure reflects only those who already held the required qualification at the point of appointment.The majority of Band 4 probation officers join HMPPS as trainees and qualify within the Department, rather than being recruited directly into Band 4 roles.

How many prison officers have been recruited since 5 July 2024.

There have been 2,623 Band 3–5 prison officers who joined HMPPS between 5 July 2024 and 30 September 2025.This data only covers Public Sector Prison establishments in England and does not include Private Sector Prison establishments.

What estimate he has made of the number of new prisons places that will result from the building of prisons that received planning approval since 5 July 2024; what his proposed timetable is for these prison places to become available.

As set out in the December 2024 10-Year Prison Capacity Strategy, we are committed to delivering an additional 14,000 prison places and aim to do so by 2031. Around 4,300 of these places have received planning permission since 5 July 2024. This includes full planning permission for a c.1,500 place prison near the existing HMPs Grendon and Springhill and outline planning permission for a c.1,700 place prison near the existing HMPs Garth and Wymott. We will seek to deliver these new places as quickly as possible and continue to identify opportunities to accelerate delivery of places wherever possible.There are currently c.5,000 places under construction across the prison estate, including c.1,700 at our next new prison, HMP Welland Oaks, in Leicestershire.

If he will publish the modelling, estimates or projections for the numbers of offenders that will be immediately eligible for release post the introduction of the changes to the automatic release points as part of the Sentencing Bill 2025; and to include a breakdown of any such modelling, estimates or projections by offence and release numbers by individual days.

As set out in the Sentencing Bill Impact Assessment, the Bill will ensure that the country has sufficient prison places by reducing demand by 7,500 places in 2028. The Bill will help ensure that the Criminal Justice System can continue to function with arrests and court trials continuing to go ahead, so avoiding a breakdown of law and order. The public will continue to be protected from the most serious offenders by ensuring prison places are available.We are working across agencies to prepare and plan for implementation of the changes, and this Government is committed to ensuring that measures impacting sentencing and release are introduced safely, transparently and in a way that protects the public.Release volumes for current prisoners will depend on whether they are subject to any ongoing criminal investigations or charges and therefore any additional sentences handed down by the Courts, and whether they are given added days for bad behaviour.Around 17,000 prisoners are entirely excluded from the release point changes being brought forward in the Sentencing Bill.The Ministry of Justice routinely publishes Accredited Official Statistics on prisoner releases as part of the Offender Management Statistics Quarterly (OMSQ) publication.

Pursuant the Answer of 11 November 2025 to Question 87889 on Prisoners' Release, how many of the current prisoner population would be (a) excluded from the earned progression model earlier release points, (b) included in the earned progression model and eligible for release at half way, broken down by offence and (c) included in the earned progression model and eligible for release at one third, broken down by offence.

Around 17,000 prisoners are entirely excluded from the release point changes being brought forward in the Sentencing Bill. We are working across agencies to prepare and plan for implementation of the changes, and this Government is committed to ensuring that measures impacting sentencing and release are introduced safely, transparently and in a way that protects the public. This information is not held as release volumes for current prisoners will depend on whether they are subject to any ongoing criminal investigations or charges and therefore any additional sentences handed down by the Courts, and whether they are given added days for bad behaviour. The Ministry of Justice routinely publishes Accredited Official Statistics on prisoner releases as part of the Offender Management Statistics Quarterly (OMSQ) publication.

How many and what proportion of current prisoners would be included in the earned progression model and eligible for release after completing (a) half of their sentence instead of two thirds and (b) one third of their sentence instead of half on (i) the day immediately after the Sentencing Bill is brought into force and (ii) each of the next 27 subsequent days, broken down by offence.

Around 17,000 prisoners are entirely excluded from the release point changes being brought forward in the Sentencing Bill. We are working across agencies to prepare and plan for implementation of the changes, and this Government is committed to ensuring that measures impacting sentencing and release are introduced safely, transparently and in a way that protects the public. This information is not held as release volumes for current prisoners will depend on whether they are subject to any ongoing criminal investigations or charges and therefore any additional sentences handed down by the Courts, and whether they are given added days for bad behaviour. The Ministry of Justice routinely publishes Accredited Official Statistics on prisoner releases as part of the Offender Management Statistics Quarterly (OMSQ) publication.

What estimate he has made of the additional number of offenders will be entitled to release from prison on each day of the 28 days and then each month of the subsequent 11 months following the day of enactment of the Sentencing Bill alterations to automatic release points, broken down by offence.

Around 17,000 prisoners are entirely excluded from the release point changes being brought forward in the Sentencing Bill. We are working across agencies to prepare and plan for implementation of the changes, and this Government is committed to ensuring that measures impacting sentencing and release are introduced safely, transparently and in a way that protects the public.Release volumes will depend on the crimes committed, the sentences given by the Court and whether the prisoner is given added days for bad behaviour.

If he will provide the prison population figures by (a) offence type and (b) sentence length in the most recent period for which data is available.

Detailed statistics on offenders in custody (including offence groups and sentence lengths) are published quarterly at Offender management statistics quarterly - GOV.UK.Answers to the specific questions asked here can be found on Table 1.A.17 of the “Annual Prison Population: 2025” table on the most recent release.

Whether any Ministers in her Department met with Sir Brian Leveson in relation to the Independent Review of the Criminal Courts.

This Government has maintained open dialogue and a constructive relationship with Sir Brian Leveson and Ministers have met with him in his capacity as Chair of the Independent Review of the Criminal Courts (IRCC), as is the usual convention when Governments commission independent reviews. This has included meetings with myself as Minister for Courts and Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede who has held responsibility for Magistrates’ policy and engagement, as well as meetings with the Lord Chancellor.

What recent discussions she has had with Serco on electronic tagging.

Lord Timpson, Minister of State for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending, has met regularly with senior representatives from Serco. The most recent of these meetings took place on Tuesday 22 July 2025. At that meeting, the Minister welcomed the improvements observed in Serco’s recent performance but emphasised the need for continued progress at pace to meet the standards set out in the contract. Serco’s performance continues to be monitored closely and we will not hesitate to apply financial penalties should our high-performance targets not be met.

What negotiations she has had with prisoner escort contractors on reducing the number of court trials that are cancelled as a result of contractors not bring the defendant to court on time.

The Prisoner Escort and Custody Service (PECS), which is part of HM Prison & Probation Service (HMPPS), provides Ministers with regular updates on performance of prisoner escort contractors against delivery targets.It is recognised that there are many factors that can lead to trials being cancelled and that the efficient running of the criminal justice system requires a whole-system approach. PECS’ contractual performance against the indicator for timely delivery to court currently stands at 99.93%.HMPPS closely monitors the operation of the contracts, and works with criminal justice partners through its Strategic Partnership Board, which includes representatives from His Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service and the police, as well as the contractors which deliver PECS services, to ensure that prisoners get to court on time, and that courts are prepared for their arrival.

If she will make it her policy to utilise all court sitting days made available by the Lady Chief Justice in the (a) 2026–27, (b) 2027–28 and (c) 2028–29 financial years.

The Lord Chancellor will begin the Concordat process with the judiciary in due course, and this is how sitting days will be allocated. The Lord Chancellor has been clear she is committed to tackling the outstanding caseload, but the number of sitting days allocated is just one factor in achieving this. The Lord Chancellor must be mindful of managing the wider system capacity—the availability not just of judges to sit in the Crown court but of the lawyers, prosecutors, legal aid and defence barristers that underpin the rest of the system.

How many prisoners have been on probation without an electronic tag since 4 July 2024, broken down by the length of time.

Electronic Monitoring can be one part of robust licence conditions to support the management of offenders in the community. It is a mandatory requirement for those released under the Home Detention Curfew scheme and for those released onto the Acquisitive Crime programme. Electronic Monitoring can also be used on a discretionary basis where it is available, and probation practitioners consider it a proportionate and necessary part of a risk management plan. The requested information for all those offenders released without an electronic monitoring requirement is not held centrally and could only be provided at a disproportionate cost.