Written questions by Jenrick.

What meetings (a) she and (b) her Ministers have had with the (i) Albanian, (ii) Polish, (iii) Romanian, (iv) Irish and (v) Jamaican Government to discuss increasing the number of foreign national offenders returned from UK prisons in the last six months.

Increasing the numbers of foreign national offender returns from our prisons is a priority for this Government. We are working with international partners to achieve this. In the last six months, Ministers from the Ministry of Justice have met with Polish and Romanian counterparts to discuss cooperation on prisoner transfers in the context of our bilateral criminal justice cooperation. Since 05 July, there have been 1,557 Early Removal Scheme returns for foreign national offenders, which is a 26% increase compared to 1,231 in the same period 12 months prior.

Pursuant to the Answer of 23 December 2024 to Question 20393 on Prisoners’ Release: Electronic Tagging, what the longest period of time was that a person released under the standard determinate sentence (SDS40) release scheme was without a prison tag after being released.

The longest period between receipt of an electronic monitoring requirement order by the Electronic Monitoring provider and installation for an offender with a revised SDS40 release date was 53 days for releases in tranche one. Tranche two’s performance was much improved with all visits to install tags completed by Monday 4 November.In respect of faults being reported from individuals subject to release on SDS40, we do not have data readily available to answer this question.

Whether any people released under the standard determinate sentence (SDS40) release scheme have reported faults with their tags since September 2024.

The longest period between receipt of an electronic monitoring requirement order by the Electronic Monitoring provider and installation for an offender with a revised SDS40 release date was 53 days for releases in tranche one. Tranche two’s performance was much improved with all visits to install tags completed by Monday 4 November.In respect of faults being reported from individuals subject to release on SDS40, we do not have data readily available to answer this question.

Pursuant to the Answer of 23 December 2024 to Question 20393 on Prisoners’ Release: Electronic Tagging, how many SDS40 releases did not have a prison tag in (a) Tranche one and (b) Tranche two.

The Ministry of Justice published transparent data on Tranche 1 and Tranche 2 SDS40 releases on 7 November 2024. Whilst some of these releases would have had a tag as a licence condition, the data the Department holds on electronic monitoring does not delineate between SDS40 and SDS50 releases.

How many people have been (a) prosecuted and (b) sentenced for grooming gang-related offences in their absence in the last 10 years.

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the number of prosecutions and sentences for sexual and grooming related offences at criminal courts in England and Wales in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, which can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics Quarterly: June 2024.Data held centrally does not include if the defendant is prosecuted or sentenced in their absence. This information may be held in the court records but to examine individual court records would be of disproportionate costs.Furthermore, information on whether defendants dealt with are part of ‘grooming gangs’ is not centrally identified in the criminal courts data systems relevant to this question. Therefore, it is not possible to provide the specific information requested.

How many people have been (a) prosecuted and (b) sentenced for a sex offence in their absence in the last 10 years.

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the number of prosecutions and sentences for sexual and grooming related offences at criminal courts in England and Wales in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, which can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics Quarterly: June 2024.Data held centrally does not include if the defendant is prosecuted or sentenced in their absence. This information may be held in the court records but to examine individual court records would be of disproportionate costs.Furthermore, information on whether defendants dealt with are part of ‘grooming gangs’ is not centrally identified in the criminal courts data systems relevant to this question. Therefore, it is not possible to provide the specific information requested.

What her planned timetable is for ending the standard determinate sentence (SDS40) release scheme.

This Government has committed to reviewing the scheme after 18 months of implementation.

What estimate her Department has the backlog in Crown Court cases in (a) 2024-25 and (b) each of the next three financial years.

This Government inherited a record and rising Crown Court backlog. The outstanding caseload remains one of the biggest challenges facing the criminal justice system and stood at 73,105 as of 30 September 2024. Even if we were to sit at maximum capacity in the Crown Court, without further action, the number of cases entering the system, and therefore the caseload backlog, would continue to rise.We have already taken steps to increase the capacity of the Crown Court to allow as many cases as possible to be heard. These include increasing magistrates’ court sentencing powers from 6 to 12 months to free up capacity in the Crown Court and funding 108,500 sitting days at the Crown Court this financial year (FY24/25), the highest level in almost 10 years (since FY15/16).The number of cases entering the Crown Court is now so great that bold action is required, and all options are on the table. This is why the Lord Chancellor has commissioned an Independent Review of the Criminal Courts, led by Sir Brian Leveson, which will consider how the criminal courts could operate as efficiently as possible and longer-term reform to reduce the backlog.We are committed to reducing the Crown Court outstanding caseload and will therefore look to act on recommendations from Sir Brian’s review swiftly to deliver improvements as soon as possible.

What the average cost is of a transcript for a (a) court and (b) tribunal hearing.

HMCTS contracts with external suppliers to provide court transcripts. Management information from these suppliers for the period January to December 2024 was extracted as follows:Total number of court and tribunal transcripts produced: 45,178The average cost of a transcript order between January and December 2024 based on the transcripts produced: £117.00 (excl. VAT)Court and tribunal hearings differ significantly in length (from hearings that last less than a day to trials that can last several weeks or months) and transcript costs are in proportion to the volume of audio that must be transcribed and checked on a case-by-case basis. The cost may also vary depending on whether the transcript is new of a copy and the speed of delivery requested.While costs of shorter hearings may be lower, transcripts of full hearings or trials can incur charges of £25,000 or more. Therefore, the average cost calculated above using supplier data is not reflective of the full range of court and tribunal hearings.We continue to monitor how AI develops and how it could be used to provide access to court transcripts in future, however, it is important that court transcripts have an extremely high accuracy rate.

What estimate she has made of when the backlog in Crown Court cases will begin to fall.

This Government inherited a record and rising Crown Court backlog. The outstanding caseload remains one of the biggest challenges facing the criminal justice system and stood at 73,105 as of 30 September 2024. Even if we were to sit at maximum capacity in the Crown Court, without further action, the number of cases entering the system, and therefore the caseload backlog, would continue to rise.We have already taken steps to increase the capacity of the Crown Court to allow as many cases as possible to be heard. These include increasing magistrates’ court sentencing powers from 6 to 12 months to free up capacity in the Crown Court and funding 108,500 sitting days at the Crown Court this financial year (FY24/25), the highest level in almost 10 years (since FY15/16).The number of cases entering the Crown Court is now so great that bold action is required, and all options are on the table. This is why the Lord Chancellor has commissioned an Independent Review of the Criminal Courts, led by Sir Brian Leveson, which will consider how the criminal courts could operate as efficiently as possible and longer-term reform to reduce the backlog.We are committed to reducing the Crown Court outstanding caseload and will therefore look to act on recommendations from Sir Brian’s review swiftly to deliver improvements as soon as possible.

What estimate her Department has made of the cost to the public purse of providing an additional 4,000 court sitting days in the 2024-25 financial year.

I am assuming the Rt. Honourable Gentleman is referring to the Crown Court with his question. The current Lord Chancellor increased the allocation of Crown Court sitting days for the current financial year by 2,500 additional days. This takes the total allocation for FY24/25 to 108,500, the highest number in nearly a decade.The Government has since announced a record level of investment in our courts for the next financial year. It will fund up to 110,000 sitting days in FY25/26 within a total budget of £2.5 billion - 4,000 more days than the previous Government funded.

Whether she plans to implement the recommendations of the reports by HM Inspectorate of Prisons on (a) HMP Long Lartin and (b) HMP Manchester, published on 14 January 2025.

HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) and HM Inspectorate of Probation for England and Wales are independent inspectorates which provide scrutiny of the conditions for, and treatment of prisoners and offenders. They report their findings for prisons, Young Offender Institutions, and effectiveness of the work of probation, and youth offending services across England and Wales to the Ministry of Justice and His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS).In response to the report, HMPPS/the Ministry of Justice are required to draft a robust and timely action plan to address the priority and key concerns. Action plans provide specific steps and actions to address the priority and key concerns, which are clear, outcome focussed, measurable, achievable, and relevant with the owner and timescale of each step clearly identified. Action plans are sent to HMIP and published on the GOV.UK website. Progress against the implementation and delivery of the action plans will also be monitored and reported on.Actions plans are active for both HMP Manchester and HMP Long Lartin in line with this process, which seek to address the concerns of the Inspectorate.

Whether her Department has had recent discussions with security companies on the provision of technology that can jam drone signals to help tackle drones delivering weapons into prisons.

We are working hard to deter, detect and disrupt the use of drones to deliver contraband into prisons. We conduct vulnerability assessments across the prison estate to identify risks, and to develop and implement plans to manage and mitigate them.We work across Government, to examine options to mitigate the threat of drones to prisons. We are also engaging with international counterparts to support our strategy and share best practice. Owing to security sensitivities, we are not able to discuss in detail the measures used to disrupt drones.

When she plans to respond to the letter from the Rt hon. Member for Newark of 18 November 2024 on the assessment of the Government on the potential impact of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill on the criminal justice system.

Minister Davies-Jones responded to the letter from the Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP on 27 November 2024. The Government remains neutral on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill but, as the public would expect, the Government has a responsibility to make sure any legislation that passes through Parliament is effective and enforceable. The Government will continue to assess the potential impacts of the Bill, which will include publishing an Impact Assessment before MPs consider the Bill at Report Stage.

What meetings she has held with the Lady Chief Justice since her appointment.

The Lord Chancellor meets the Lady Chief Justice regularly in the course of her duties, as part of her constitutional obligation to engage the judiciary on relevant matters.

What her planned timeframe is for fixing broken (a) netting, (b) windows and (c) CCTV at (i) HMP Long Lartin and (ii) HMP Manchester.

At HMP Manchester, a project to install grills and restrictors on all windows, and to install netting around all buildings, is in the design and development phase. As the prison is a listed building, full planning permission is required. The project is expected to be fully delivered by mid-2026. Maintenance teams at HMP Manchester have completed a full CCTV survey. Work to upgrade wiring and replace faulty cameras, as well as filling gaps in coverage, is projected to complete by April 2025.Similarly, at HMP Long Lartin, a project to install grills and restrictors on all windows, and to install netting around all buildings, has been commissioned, and is expected to be fully delivered by mid-2026. A local review of the condition of all windows across the site is also being completed, and funding is being sought to begin the work in 2025-26. The local maintenance team has commissioned a full CCTV survey: this will inform a programme of rapid improvement works.In addition, major projects to upgrade security systems at both Manchester and Long Lartin form part of the 2025-26 custodial capital maintenance programme. This includes upgrading CCTV and Perimeter Intruder Detection Systems. The timescale for completing this work is dependent on completion of the design and contract stages.

Whether she has visited HMP Manchester since the urgent notification was issued by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons on 9 October 2024.

Since her appointment, the Secretary of State has made a range of Ministerial Visits across the UK. She is due to visit HMP Manchester in the coming months but will not be giving a running commentary on her diary. Lord Timpson, Minister for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending, visited the prison on 24 October, in advance of our published response to the UN on 6 November.In response to the UN, the Lord Chancellor instructed the Prison Service to make a number of significant improvements to the site. As such, the Department has published a new action plan to radically improve safety, security and conditions at HMP Manchester. This includes installing a new CCTV system, enhanced staff training and the introduction of netting across the site to combat drones and clamp down on the contraband which fuels violence behind bars.We are determined to drive improvement at HMP Manchester and Lord Timpson met with the Executive Director on 13 January 2025, to understand the progress made since the inspection. He also receives regular updates on progress at HMP Manchester from his officials.The Government is tackling the crisis it inherited from the previous Government who left our criminal justice system on the point of collapse.

On how many occasions she has visited (a) HMP Long Lartin and (b) HMP Manchester since her appointment.

Since her appointment, the Secretary of State for Justice has made a range of Ministerial Visits across the UK. She is due to visit HMP Manchester in the coming months but will not be giving a running commentary on her diary.The Minister for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending visited HMP Manchester on 24 October, in advance of our published response to the UN on 6 November. He will be visiting Long Lartin in the coming months. Details of Ministerial meetings are published on the gov.uk website.

What steps her Department is taking to help tackle the use of drones delivering (a) weapons and (b) drugs into prisons.

We are working hard to deter, detect and disrupt the use of illegal drones that deliver contraband, including weapons and drugs, so that prisoners have access to a safe and stable rehabilitative environment. Our approach is multi-faceted and includes physical security countermeasures, joint working with law enforcement agencies, and collaborating across Government and with international partners on this global issue.Whilst it is not possible to outline in detail the tactics used to disrupt drones given the security implications, HMPPS invests in targeted countermeasures such as improvements to windows, specialist netting and grills to prevent drones from successfully delivering contraband into prisons. HMPPS also conducts assessments across the estate to understand the risk and develop and implement tailored local plans to mitigate the threat.In January 2024, Restricted Fly Zones were introduced around all closed prisons and young offender institutions to disrupt illegal drone use. These restrictions make all unauthorised drone incursions a crime, and support police and prison collaboration to pursue drone operators. Those using drones to smuggle illicit items which drive violence and criminality in custody may face up to a decade behind bars.

Whether any offenders convicted of a grooming gang offence were released under the SDS40.

There is no single ‘grooming gang’ offence defined in legislation.All sex offences are automatically excluded from SDS40.