Written statement on Criminal justice reform

Written statement by Alex Norris, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice

This Government inherited a prison system on the brink of collapse. In July 2024, men's prisons were operating at 99 percent capacity. At one point, there were fewer than 100 places available across the male estate. Without intervention, we risked running out of prison places, leaving courts unable to sentence offenders and police unable to make arrests.

This Government has acted to increase capacity and to reform sentencing. We have committed to delivering 14,000 prison places by 2031 and have already delivered 3,200. The last government added just c.500 net places in their time in office. We have also accelerated the removal of foreign national offenders, returning around 11,700 to their countries of origin. However, the adult male prison estate is once again operating at more than 98 percent capacity.

It is within this context that we launched the Independent Sentencing Review in October 2024 and subsequently passed the Sentencing Act 2026 to place the prison system on a more sustainable footing and ensure there is always space available for the most dangerous offenders. The Act also aimed to avoid the chaotic emergency release schemes carried out with little scrutiny or warning by the Conservatives.

The Government has listened to the concerns raised, paused implementation of the progression model and conducted an urgent review. I can now confirm that, in addition to the dangerous offenders already ineligible for the Progression Model, this Government will exclude rape and serious child sex offences from eligibility for changes to release dates under the Sentencing Act. Unlawful killings including manslaughter, causing or allowing the death of a child, and death by dangerous driving will also be excluded, as well as indecent assault, ensuring more historic child sex offences prosecuted under older laws are treated consistently with equivalent offences today. This means hundreds more dangerous criminals staying behind bars for longer, including those who killed PC Andrew Harper in the line of duty.

We recognise the significant effect that changes to release dates can have on victims. We will ensure those in the Victim Contact Scheme that are affected by these new exclusions are informed if there are any changes to the release date of the offender in their case. I have also instructed my officials to attempt to contact victims not in that scheme to provide information should they wish this. We are also boosting support to victims with a £18.9m funding package for local emotional and practical support.

The Government has a duty to ensure that sufficient prison places remain available. We have therefore fast-tracked plans to create additional headroom in the custodial estate, including creating new cells in existing prisons, accelerating current prison build programmes, and investing in new land for prisons. The largest prison building programme since the Victorian era will be accelerated through a £110m investment. Under this Government, we're spending more than three times as much on building new prisons as was spent over the previous seven years.

We must also continue to free up prison space wherever it is safe and appropriate to do so. The Government has increased removals of foreign national offenders (FNOs) in its first two years by 41 percent compared with the last two years of the previous Government. In September 2025, we expanded the Early Removal Scheme and early next year, we will go further, implementing the power in the Sentencing Act allowing eligible FNOs serving determinate sentences to be removed immediately following sentencing. As with the progression model, the most dangerous offenders will be required to serve their sentence in-line with current arrangements and all offenders removed under the Scheme will be barred from returning to the United Kingdom for life.

Alongside these measures, this Government is acting on inequities in the justice system and plans to bring a definitive end to Indeterminate Imprisonment for Public Protection sentences (IPPs) for those still serving them. Although IPP sentences were abolished in 2012, a number of prisoners sentenced under the previous framework remain in custody. Of those who have never been released, 99% are beyond the tariff imposed by the court, and 80% have served 10 years or more beyond it. Tragically, with no end of their sentence in sight, some IPP prisoners have taken their own lives.

The numbers of IPP offenders have been reducing, but the Prime Minister and I want to go further. We will soon bring forward legislation to end the IPP sentence once and for all, by the end of this Parliament. These are complex cases, and some IPP offenders have committed serious crimes. Public safety will always be the top priority, and we must balance that with fairness. It will take time to get this right, but work will begin immediately, and will be on a cross-party basis.

This Government will also consider how to improve outcomes for women and young offenders, recognising that these groups often have specific and complex needs. We want to reduce the number of women in prison where it is safe and appropriate to do so. We are exploring options to reduce the number of pregnant women and mothers of young children in custody, alongside a cross-government agenda of reform to address the drivers of women's offending.

In the long term, we will continue efforts to also reduce the number of children in custody, prioritising public protection throughout. In the shorter term, to help relieve some of the adult prison capacity challenges, we have made the decision to hold 18-year-olds for longer (on a careful case-by-case basis) in the youth estate. This will be an interim arrangement, subject to regular reviews, that we will look to end as soon as possible. For youth offenders, I am announcing £4.5m of investment for robust, community alternatives to locking children up.

We recognise that criminal justice reform cannot be delivered through prisons or sentencing policy alone. This is a system wide challenge and requires action across policing, the Crown Prosecution Service, courts, probation and prisons, and support across Whitehall and beyond.

These measures strike a balance between maintaining sustainable prison capacity, protecting the public and doing right by victims. We will continue to build capacity and reform the system for the long term, while making sure it commands the confidence of the British people.