Work is ongoing to establish a panel to support the Independent Review, in line with the appropriate appointment process. The panel will comprise individuals with the relevant expertise and experience to support the Review’s consideration of the matters set out in its Terms of Reference. Details of panel member appointments will be confirmed in due course.

The policy inherited by this Government is that no transgender woman charged with or convicted of a sexual or violent offence, or who retains birth genitalia, can be held in the general women’s estate, other than in exceptional circumstances and where granted an exemption by a minister. No such exemptions have been granted under this Government.

We are currently reviewing transgender prisoner allocation policy in light of the recently updated EHRC Code of Practice for Services, Public Functions and Associations, and will be able to say more on this shortly.

The Department holds information on offenders' offences, sentences and release dates within the Digital Prison Services (DPS) platform and the legacy offender case management system, NOMIS. This information is not held in a single database but these systems combine information from many databases to address operational, reporting and analytical requirements

The current authoritative system of record, with synchronised data, remains the National Offender Management Information System (NOMIS).

Rehabilitative interventions are determined for each offender based on their specific needs and offending profile as part of sentence planning. There is no dedicated guidance on minimum rehabilitation requirements specifically for the offence types listed.

In custody, a range of interventions are delivered to support rehabilitation, including Accredited Programmes which are designed to target the underlying factors that can lead to offending by building skills and methods that can help improve decision making, problem solving, and self-management and regulation of emotions. Accredited Programmes are targeted at individuals assessed as presenting a medium or higher risk of reoffending with the targeted risks, as evidence indicates they are most effective for this group.

The Department has published clinical guidance on drug misuse and dependence which includes a section on the criminal justice system and stresses that take-home naloxone for previously heroin-dependent prisoners is important as they leave prison and enter a very high-risk period. The guidance advises that commissioners should agree with prison health and community providers on how best to facilitate support for naloxone provision on release.

On release from prison, NHS Substance Misuse teams in custody settings provide patients at risk of an opioid overdose who have given their consent with take home naloxone kits and training on how to use them.

The Government has amended the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 to expand access to naloxone by enabling more services and professionals to supply naloxone without needing a prescription. The Department published guidance on the GOV.UK website in 2025 setting out essential practical information such as who can supply naloxone, the products available, how to use naloxone, and other basic lifesaving tools, and the training required.

In addition to the changes made in 2024, we published a United Kingdom wide public consultation which closed on 9 March, to seek views on further legislative options to expand access to take-home and emergency use naloxone. We are analysing the responses to this consultation, and we will be setting out the next steps soon.

Provision of these groups is determined locally by Governors, in partnership with NHS providers, which are responsible for statutory mental health services. The Ministry of Justice has not formally evaluated or assessed the effectiveness of such groups to date.

H M Prison & Probation Service takes an evidence-informed approach to interventions, and recognises the contribution that well-structured peer support can play in rehabilitation.

The information requested relating to Ozempic injections cannot be provided without incurring disproportionate cost.

The latest published statistics for all drug finds in prisons can be found via this link: HMPPS Annual Digest, April 2024 to March 2025 - GOV.UK

The government has a manifesto commitment to recognise and support children affected by parental imprisonment, as part of the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and enable all children to achieve and thrive. Pilots to progress this work were announced on 8 July, detailing a new scheme launching this summer to join up information held across public services to improve how children affected by parental imprisonment can be recognised and offered appropriate support at an earlier stage. We will share more information about which areas are participating and the funding arrangements for the pilots in due course.

Local areas will design their own systems to meet local needs and specific circumstances. Information shared to enable the recognition of children affected by parental imprisonment will be limited and proportionate, with appropriate legal and data-sharing arrangements in place. A project privacy notice will be issued to all prison governors to share with the general prison population, this will explain what data is being shared, to which organisations, and for what purpose.

The government has a manifesto commitment to recognise and support children affected by parental imprisonment, as part of the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and enable all children to achieve and thrive. Pilots to progress this work were announced on 8 July, detailing a new scheme launching this summer to join up information held across public services to improve how children affected by parental imprisonment can be recognised and offered appropriate support at an earlier stage. We will share more information about which areas are participating and the funding arrangements for the pilots in due course.

Local areas will design their own systems to meet local needs and specific circumstances. Information shared to enable the recognition of children affected by parental imprisonment will be limited and proportionate, with appropriate legal and data-sharing arrangements in place. A project privacy notice will be issued to all prison governors to share with the general prison population, this will explain what data is being shared, to which organisations, and for what purpose.

The government has a manifesto commitment to recognise and support children affected by parental imprisonment, as part of the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and enable all children to achieve and thrive. Pilots to progress this work were announced on 8 July, detailing a new scheme launching this summer to join up information held across public services to improve how children affected by parental imprisonment can be recognised and offered appropriate support at an earlier stage. We will share more information about which areas are participating and the funding arrangements for the pilots in due course.

Local areas will design their own systems to meet local needs and specific circumstances. Information shared to enable the recognition of children affected by parental imprisonment will be limited and proportionate, with appropriate legal and data-sharing arrangements in place. A project privacy notice will be issued to all prison governors to share with the general prison population, this will explain what data is being shared, to which organisations, and for what purpose.

The Ministry of Justice publishes annual prison population projections for England and Wales in the Prison Capacity Annual Statement. The 2025 Annual Statement is available here: Annual Statement on Prison Capacity: 2025 - GOV.UK. The next Statement is scheduled for publication this winter.

We continually monitor the prison population and use a range of planning assumptions to monitor future demand of prison places. Our published and have established contingency arrangements should acute capacity pressures arise.

The Government has taken decisive action to put the prison system on a sustainable footing, including through the largest prison expansion programme since the Victorian era, and the landmark reforms in the Sentencing Act 2026, which ensure we will never again have more prisoners than prison places.

As set out in the annual statement, when the estimated impact of the Sentencing Act measures are factored in, supply is expected to keep pace with demand for the total adult estate.

I refer the Honourable member to the answer I gave on 1 June 2026 to Question 2708: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2026-05-19/2708/.

The Government recognises that high-quality education and vocational training are central to rehabilitation and reducing reoffending. Prisoners have access to a broad curriculum, including English, maths, digital skills, further and higher education, vocational training and employment-focused learning. Reading is a priority and every prison should now have a reading strategy in place. We are expanding vocational opportunities through prison industries, employer partnerships and apprenticeships to help prisoners develop the skills needed to secure sustainable employment on release.

Ofsted inspects education and training provision in prisons, and inspection outcomes have shown a recent improving trend. Improvements in reading were noted in a recent report by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP). The Ministry of Justice is also undertaking a comprehensive evaluation of prison education, which will strengthen our understanding of what works and support evidence-based decisions on future improvements to education and skills provision across the prison estate.

As the data collected in relation to telephone credit do not include the nationality of the prisoner, it is not possible to provide the information requested without incurring disproportionate cost.

We are focused on removing foreign national offenders (FNOs), to protect the public and ease the burden on taxpayers. We have already changed the law so that most foreign prisoners can be deported after serving 30% of their prison time, rather than 50%.

In the year to 31 March, deportations of FNOs were up 13% compared with the previous year, with more than 5,800 removed.

As the library services at HMP Belmarsh, HMP Manchester and HMP Wormwood Scrubs are contracted out to the local authority, the library catalogues for those prisons are not held by the Ministry of Justice.

The catalogue for HMP Highpoint is attached.