Prisoners' Release
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what is the full scope of the five point action plan to tackle release inaccuracy announced by him on 11 November 2025.
Answered by Jake Richards
Releases in error are never acceptable, and we are bearing down on those errors that do occur.
Releases in error have always existed, and are another long-term symptom of the prison system crisis this Government inherited. While the overwhelming majority of offenders are released correctly, we are taking decisive action to address this issue to reduce the risk of future mistakes.
On 11 November, the Deputy Prime Minister announced a five-point action plan. This includes:
- a new Justice Performance Board which will give a comprehensive view of performance across the criminal justice system;
- the introduction of an urgent query process to allow prisons to quickly escalate warrant-related queries;
- a multi-million pound investment in new technology to reduce human error;
- the simplification of release policy to reduce the scope for errors through the implementation of the Sentencing Bill; and
- an independent system-wide review, led by Dame Lynne Owens, which will report its recommendations in spring next year.
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