Recommendations & Conclusions
5 items
14
Recommendation
15th Report - Prison estate capacity
Deferred
MoJ confirmed that it is relying on the Government’s response to the sentencing review to help it manage the expected gap between capacity and demand.46 Given its forecasts suggest it could run out of places again in early 2026, we challenged MoJ on whether there would be sufficient time to …
Government response. HMPPS will provide an update within two months of the publication of the next phase of the Sentencing Review in spring 2025, detailing the impact on the forecast prison place shortage and any further mitigation required, as well as reporting …
HM Treasury
17
Recommendation
15th Report - Prison estate capacity
Deferred
HMPPS told us that probation officers and probation services officers were already dealing with a workload equivalent to 102% of capacity.60 We raised the potential impact on probation services if the sentencing review recommends alternatives to custody, possibly requiring more support from the probation service. HMPPS commented that if more …
Government response. HMPPS will provide an update within two months of the publication of the next phase of the Sentencing Review in spring 2025, detailing the impact on the forecast prison place shortage and any further mitigation required, as well as reporting …
HM Treasury
24
Recommendation
15th Report - Prison estate capacity
Deferred
We also received evidence on how the crisis has impacted education and pre–release services. For example, the Prisoners’ Education Trust told us that overcrowding means education departments in prisons are unlikely to have the capacity needed, and prisoners are more likely to be moved at short notice, without their educational …
Government response. The MoJ will provide an update to the Committee on plans to improve the rehabilitative environment in prisons, the implications for probation and community support, and how the impact of changes will be monitored and evaluated, two months after the …
HM Treasury
27
Conclusion
15th Report - Prison estate capacity
Deferred
MoJ and HMPPS told us that the impact of the prison capacity crisis on probation is “significant” and “rising” with pressures likely to increase further if Ministers make decisions to decrease the prison population.88 In September 2024, HMPPS had 5,413 full time equivalent probation officers in post against a target …
Government response. The government will provide an update to the Committee two months after the Independent Sentence Review publishes its final report on plans to improve the rehabilitative environment in prisons, the implications for probation and community support, and how the impact …
HM Treasury
28
Recommendation
15th Report - Prison estate capacity
Deferred
MoJ assured us that it models the impact of any demand and supply measures on staffing levels and has governance structures in place to ensure the system can cope with proposed changes.93 However, HMPPS 84 Ministry of Justice, Economic and social costs of reoffending - GOV.UK, July 2019 85 Qq …
Government response. The government will provide an update to the Committee two months after the Independent Sentence Review publishes its final report on plans to improve the rehabilitative environment in prisons, the implications for probation and community support, and how the impact …
HM Treasury