Select committee: Justice Committee
Recommendation 7
4th Report - Coronavirus (Covid-19): The impact on prisons
Published 27 Jul 2020
Paragraph 28
Addressed to Ministry of Justice
Justice Committee Coronavirus (COVID-19): The impact on prison, probation and court systems All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
While the secure video calling service is a temporary measure implemented in direct response to the changes across the estate resulting from Covid-19, the Committee 28 Coronavirus (Covid-19): The impact on prisons believe there is scope for this service to be developed in the long-term and rolled out further across the prison estate. We recommend that the Ministry of Justice make the secure video calling service available permanently across the rest of the prison estate. The Ministry of Justice should provide costings for such extension of this service and set out a timeframe for when this service will be expanded beyond the 10 establishments due to receive it, and how establishments will be prioritised.
From: Justice Committee, 4th Report - Coronavirus (Covid-19): The impact on prisons (HC 299), paragraph 28, 27 July 2020
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 18 December 2020 (deadline 27 September 2020).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government welcomes the Committee's report and responds by describing measures already taken, setting out its position on each recommendation, and noting where it has no plans to restart some measures.
- On regimes, it says it "will seek to maintain as many establishments at Stage 3 as is possible over the winter", while responding to outbreaks. It states the minimum regime currently ranges from "around 1–3 hours a day out of cell".
- On video calling, it says it is now available in "over 110 prisons" and it expects facilities "in all establishments by the end of the year". It is "exploring the longer-term sustainability" of the service, without committing to make it permanent.
- On early release, End of Custody Temporary Release has been paused since August 2020 and it remains "a contingency measure". The government says "at present, there are no plans to re-start releases".
- On capacity, it cites more than £4 billion capital funding to make "significant progress" towards 18,000 additional prison places by the mid-2020s. Its aim is 1,000 temporary Rapid Deployment Cells in the 2021/22 financial year.