Every parliamentary written question tabled by Robert Jenrick this session, with the full answer and department. Back to the MP page.
Showing 101–120 of 141 · this parliament
For what reason the interim Permanent Secretary spoke at the televised Ministerial press conference on prisons of 14 May 2025.
The interim Permanent Secretary attended the televised press conference on 14 May to provide a factual update on prison capacity.
How many offenders released on licence were not tagged in accordance with their licence conditions in the last 12 months for which data is available; and what proportion of that total were due to (a) equipment shortages and (b) administrative delays.
The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost by manually going through each individual’s record on the Electronic Monitoring (EM) supplier’s and probation service’s systems where this detail is recorded.
When she plans to appoint a chair to conduct the independent review of the attack on prison officers at HMP Frankland on 12 April 2025; and when the review will conclude.
On Thursday 15 May, we announced the appointment of Jonathan Hall KC as the reviewer of the HMP Frankland Independent Review. The Lord Chancellor has asked for the review to report back promptly, and to leave no stone unturned so we can prevent such an incident ever happening again.
Whether her Department has received reports on the operation of informal (a) adjudication mechanisms and (b) dispute resolution systems within prisons based on (i) Sharia and (ii) other (A) religious and (B) ideological codes.
Extremist gang activity is not tolerated in prisons. Staff act swiftly to clamp down on intimidating or threatening behaviour regardless of cultural or religious sensitivities. Anyone who threatens assaults or attempts to control others faces tough sanctions, including time added on to their sentence. Our message is clear: follow the rules or pay for breaking them.We do not tolerate any attempts by extremists to coerce others. Where we do identify evidence that this may be happening, we take a zero-tolerance approach. We have robust measures in place to manage offenders and prevent them from radicalising others. This includes specialist staff training, monitoring of communications, and targeted interventions, both in custody and upon release, to prevent the spread of harmful ideologies and reduce reoffending.
Whether her Department has received (a) intelligence and (b) operational reports referencing a group known as the Brotherhood; and whether such reports describe that group as exercising (i) influence and (ii) control over other prisoners.
Extremist gang activity is not tolerated in prisons. Staff act swiftly to clamp down on intimidating or threatening behaviour regardless of cultural or religious sensitivities. Anyone who threatens assaults or attempts to control others faces tough sanctions, including time added on to their sentence. Our message is clear: follow the rules or pay for breaking them.We do not tolerate any attempts by extremists to coerce others. Where we do identify evidence that this may be happening, we take a zero-tolerance approach. We have robust measures in place to manage offenders and prevent them from radicalising others. This includes specialist staff training, monitoring of communications, and targeted interventions, both in custody and upon release, to prevent the spread of harmful ideologies and reduce reoffending.
Whether her Department has received reports of (a) instances where inmates have been physically punished for failing to comply with informal interpretations of Sharia law and (b) other forms of (i) coercive violence and (ii) informal disciplinary practices within prisons.
Extremist gang activity is not tolerated in prisons. Staff act swiftly to clamp down on intimidating or threatening behaviour regardless of cultural or religious sensitivities. Anyone who threatens assaults or attempts to control others faces tough sanctions, including time added on to their sentence. Our message is clear: follow the rules or pay for breaking them.We do not tolerate any attempts by extremists to coerce others. Where we do identify evidence that this may be happening, we take a zero-tolerance approach. We have robust measures in place to manage offenders and prevent them from radicalising others. This includes specialist staff training, monitoring of communications, and targeted interventions, both in custody and upon release, to prevent the spread of harmful ideologies and reduce reoffending.
Whether she plans to publish the outcome of her Department's review into whether protective body armour should be made available to frontline prison staff.
HM Prison & Probation Service has commissioned an internal review to establish whether it is necessary for our brave and hard-working prison officers to wear Protective Body Armour either routinely or when working in high-risk environments within the prison estate which will report in early June. We will announce the outcome of the review and next steps to be taken following the review’s conclusion.
How many a) Separation Centres and b) segregation wings in the prison estate are currently in use; and what is their total available capacity.
There are three separation centres, all within the Long-Term High Security Estate, with a total capacity of 28 prisoner places. Two are currently operational, and the third is available for use when required.109 segregation wings or units in the prison estate are currently in use, with a capacity of 1,747 places.
Whether her Department has issued to prison governors a consolidated list of extremist material banned in prisons.
Access to kitchen facilities in Separation Centres and Close Supervision Centres was immediately suspended following the horrific attack at HMP Frankland on 12 April. A rapid review of access to, and use of, self-cook areas across the prison estate, including special units, is due to report with recommendations in June.R (De Silva) v Secretary of State for Justice [2025] EWHC 128 (Admin) concerned an individual placement review decision, rather than general use of Separation Centres. We have continued to refer and place dangerous radicalisers into Separation Centres where they meet the criteria in Rule 46A of the Prison Rules 1999. Our use of Close Supervision Centres, designed to hold the most physically violent and disruptive prisoners, has not been affected.Specialist counter-terrorism staff undertake regular assessments on the scale and nature of the terrorist threat across HMPPS, including on the radicalisation of inmates by other inmates. Assessments are conducted at establishment level, regional level, and national level to support day-to-day decision making and inform wider strategic priorities.The Joint Extremism Unit maintains a consolidated list of extremist materials that are banned within the prison estate. This list is shared with relevant teams to ensure these materials are not available to prisoners. Prison Governors also have discretion over additional materials that may not be permitted within their establishments.
What steps she has taken to suspend the use of kitchen facilities in Separation Centres within prisons.
Access to kitchen facilities in Separation Centres and Close Supervision Centres was immediately suspended following the horrific attack at HMP Frankland on 12 April. A rapid review of access to, and use of, self-cook areas across the prison estate, including special units, is due to report with recommendations in June.R (De Silva) v Secretary of State for Justice [2025] EWHC 128 (Admin) concerned an individual placement review decision, rather than general use of Separation Centres. We have continued to refer and place dangerous radicalisers into Separation Centres where they meet the criteria in Rule 46A of the Prison Rules 1999. Our use of Close Supervision Centres, designed to hold the most physically violent and disruptive prisoners, has not been affected.Specialist counter-terrorism staff undertake regular assessments on the scale and nature of the terrorist threat across HMPPS, including on the radicalisation of inmates by other inmates. Assessments are conducted at establishment level, regional level, and national level to support day-to-day decision making and inform wider strategic priorities.The Joint Extremism Unit maintains a consolidated list of extremist materials that are banned within the prison estate. This list is shared with relevant teams to ensure these materials are not available to prisoners. Prison Governors also have discretion over additional materials that may not be permitted within their establishments.
Whether her Department has assessed the potential impact for her policies of the judgement in R (De Silva) v Secretary of State for Justice [2025] EWHC 128 (Admin) on the ability of prison governors to isolate (a) extremist prisoners and (b) prisoners that present a high-risk to officers.
Access to kitchen facilities in Separation Centres and Close Supervision Centres was immediately suspended following the horrific attack at HMP Frankland on 12 April. A rapid review of access to, and use of, self-cook areas across the prison estate, including special units, is due to report with recommendations in June.R (De Silva) v Secretary of State for Justice [2025] EWHC 128 (Admin) concerned an individual placement review decision, rather than general use of Separation Centres. We have continued to refer and place dangerous radicalisers into Separation Centres where they meet the criteria in Rule 46A of the Prison Rules 1999. Our use of Close Supervision Centres, designed to hold the most physically violent and disruptive prisoners, has not been affected.Specialist counter-terrorism staff undertake regular assessments on the scale and nature of the terrorist threat across HMPPS, including on the radicalisation of inmates by other inmates. Assessments are conducted at establishment level, regional level, and national level to support day-to-day decision making and inform wider strategic priorities.The Joint Extremism Unit maintains a consolidated list of extremist materials that are banned within the prison estate. This list is shared with relevant teams to ensure these materials are not available to prisoners. Prison Governors also have discretion over additional materials that may not be permitted within their establishments.
Whether her Department has recently assessed the (a) scale and (b) nature of the threat from (i) Islamist and (ii) far-right prisoners radicalising other inmates.
Access to kitchen facilities in Separation Centres and Close Supervision Centres was immediately suspended following the horrific attack at HMP Frankland on 12 April. A rapid review of access to, and use of, self-cook areas across the prison estate, including special units, is due to report with recommendations in June.R (De Silva) v Secretary of State for Justice [2025] EWHC 128 (Admin) concerned an individual placement review decision, rather than general use of Separation Centres. We have continued to refer and place dangerous radicalisers into Separation Centres where they meet the criteria in Rule 46A of the Prison Rules 1999. Our use of Close Supervision Centres, designed to hold the most physically violent and disruptive prisoners, has not been affected.Specialist counter-terrorism staff undertake regular assessments on the scale and nature of the terrorist threat across HMPPS, including on the radicalisation of inmates by other inmates. Assessments are conducted at establishment level, regional level, and national level to support day-to-day decision making and inform wider strategic priorities.The Joint Extremism Unit maintains a consolidated list of extremist materials that are banned within the prison estate. This list is shared with relevant teams to ensure these materials are not available to prisoners. Prison Governors also have discretion over additional materials that may not be permitted within their establishments.
With reference to the Sentencing Council's guidance entitled Imposition of community and custodial sentences - Effective from 1 April 2025, whether her Department has made an (a) estimate of the (i) additional number of pre-sentence reports required and (ii) costs of those reports and (b) assessment of the potential impact of that guidance on the (A) quality of pre-sentence reports, (B) probation service, (C) time taken for sentencing and (D) number of appeals of sentencing decisions.
Where a court is considering whether an offender should receive a sentence of immediate custody, a pre-sentence report must be obtained and considered before forming an opinion unless, in the circumstances of the case, the court considers that it is unnecessary to obtain a pre-sentence report. The Probation Service plays an essential role by providing an expert assessment of the nature and causes of the offender's behaviour and the risk the offender poses. Our priority remains the safety of the public and rehabilitation of offenders, and we will take all necessary steps to support the probation service in achieving these goals.The Sentencing Council is responsible for carrying out its own impact assessments of its guidelines. The assessment for the recent Imposition of community and custodial sentences guidelines published on 5 March 2025, can be found here: https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/html-publication/item/imposition-of-community-and-custodial-sentences-overarching-guideline-final-resource-assessment/#Resource%20impacts.The Lord Chancellor has been clear that these guidelines regarding pre-sentencing reports do not represent the views of this Government. The Lord Chancellor and the Chairman of the Sentencing Council have had a constructive discussion. It was agreed that the Lord Chancellor will set out her position more fully in writing, which the Sentencing Council will then consider before the guideline is due to come into effect. It remains the case that the Lord Chancellor is reviewing the role and responsibilities of the Sentencing Council – and look at whether a greater role for elected officials is needed.
Whether she plans to set a target date to achieve a representative (a) judiciary and (b) magistracy.
The Government is strongly committed to achieving a judiciary which better represents the diversity of the population. This comprises of judges, non-legal members and magistrates.We continue to work closely with the judiciary, the Judicial Appointments Commission, the legal professions, magistrates’ representatives and employers to improve the diversity of the judiciary.
Whether she has visited HMP Long Lartin since 4 July 2024.
The Lord Chancellor has been closely involved in the response to the urgent notifications we have received. Each is a reminder of the state of crisis that the last Government left behind in our prisons.The Prisons Minister will be visiting HMP Long Lartin in the coming days and we are working closely with the prison leadership to turn these prisons around.
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.
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, 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.
How many people are prosecuted under s21 of the Solicitors Act 1974 each year.
The Crown Prosecution Service holds data on the number of prosecutions where a charge has been authorised and reached a first hearing in the magistrates’ courts for specific offences.The below table provides details of the number of offences charged under section 21 of the Solicitors Act 1974 in the last ten years.201520162017201820202021202220232024 (up to end of September)532321000
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what meetings (a) he and (b) his 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, the Foreign Secretary discussed criminal justice cooperation with Poland when he met Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski in December 2024 and with Albania when he met Albanian Foreign Minister Igli Hasani on 19 March.