Prisoners' Release: Isle of Wight
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the Early Release Scheme on (a) local probation services, (b) policing and (c) housing on the Isle of Wight.
Answered by Ministry of Justice
The Sentencing Act 2026 reforms will result in certain offenders being released from custody earlier through the Progression Model. The Government has assessed the impact of the Sentencing Act 2026 reforms through its published Impact Assessment and is working with probation, policing and local partners to manage implementation, including on the Isle of Wight. The Impact Assessment can be accessed here: Sentencing Act Impact Assessment.
This Government is committed to ensuring the Probation Service has the capacity it needs to manage offenders safely in the community, including those released on licence from October 2026. We are investing up to £700 million in probation and community services by the final year of the spending review period to support the expansion of tagging, accommodation provision and increasing capacity. We have committed to onboarding at least 1,300 more trainee probation officers in 2026/27. This builds on the success of previous years’ campaigns with 1,057 trainees onboarded in 2024/25, and 1,389 in 2025/26.
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