Written questions by Goldsborough.

If his Department will work with prison governors to implement appropriate contingency plans for inmate wellbeing in the event of heating failures.

We continue to work with prison Governors to ensure appropriate contingency measures are in place to mitigate the impact of heating and hot water systems at a prison becoming inoperative.Contingency plans are in place with the Ministry of Justice’s Facilities Management providers to enable them to respond to any incidents that impact upon heating, hot water, or loss of critical services to site as a priority and these plans are regularly reviewed.

What steps his Department is taking to ensure that heating failures on the secure estate are fixed promptly.

We continue to work with prison Governors to ensure appropriate contingency measures are in place to mitigate the impact of heating and hot water systems at a prison becoming inoperative.Contingency plans are in place with the Ministry of Justice’s Facilities Management providers to enable them to respond to any incidents that impact upon heating, hot water, or loss of critical services to site as a priority and these plans are regularly reviewed.

What steps he is taking to improve community healthcare in rural areas.

The Government’s 10 Year Health Plan commits to three big shifts which includes increasingly moving services away from centralised hospitals into the wider community. Integrated care boards are responsible for the planning and commissioning of health services. In doing so ICBs must take into account the needs of their local population, which includes meeting the healthcare needs of their rural populations.

Pursuant to Written Parliamentary Questions 98665, 98666 and 98668, what recourse exists for Voluntary Controlled schools to carry out urgent repairs to the school estate when the local authority fails to provide funding.

The department is investing almost £3 billion per year in capital maintenance by 2034/35 to improve the condition of the school and college estate, rising from £2.4 billion in 2025/26. As part of this, Norfolk Council received a School Condition Allocation of almost £5.5 million for the 2025/26 financial year to invest across its maintained schools, including voluntary controlled schools in South Norfolk constituency. We expect to set out allocations for the 2026/27 financial year in the spring.The department expects local authorities to carefully prioritise investment based on evidence of need, so that school buildings remain safe, operational and compliant with relevant regulations. Voluntary controlled schools should speak to their local authority about any issues so that they are considered when prioritising current and future investment. The department provides additional advice and support to responsible bodies on a case-by-case basis where there are significant and urgent safety issues with buildings that cannot be managed independently.

A) whether Voluntary Controlled schools will be eligible for nomination under the school rebuilding programme and b) which responsible body would need to nominate a Voluntary Controlled school for the next round of the school rebuilding programme.

The government is investing almost £20 billion in the School Rebuilding Programme (SRP) from 2025/26 through to 2034/35, delivering rebuilding projects at over 500 schools across England within the existing programme and expanding the SRP with a further 250 schools to be selected.The department plans to launch a nomination process early this year to identify schools for the next 250 places. Responsible bodies will be invited to submit schools for assessment at that point. We will publish full details on GOV.UK when the process launches.Voluntary controlled schools are eligible for consideration under the SRP, alongside other state funded schools and sixth form colleges in England. The responsible body for a voluntary controlled school is the relevant local authority.

Whether his Department plans to (a) alter and (b) mitigate the National Institute for Care and Excellence's downgrading of terminal cancer to moderately severe.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has not classified terminal cancer as moderately severe. The NICE is an independent body and is responsible for developing the methods and processes it uses to evaluate whether new medicines should be recommended for routine National Health Service funding.In developing recommendations on whether medicines represent a clinically and cost effective use of NHS resources, NICE is able to apply a weighting that recognises the additional value that society places on treatments for severe conditions. The weighting that is applied is calculated for each appraisal based on information on the expected shortfall in life expectancy and quality of life of people with the condition taking into account existing treatment options. NICE has concluded for several appraisals of medicines for advanced cancer that a weighting should be applied based on the severity of the condition. The latest data for appraisals published up to September 2025, show that NICE has recommended 84.8% of treatments for advanced cancers since the severity modifier was introduced compared to 69.1% under its previous methods.NICE is monitoring the impact of the changes made following the methods review and has committed to considering modular updates to its methods and processes in the future. NICE has also commissioned research to gather further evidence on societal preferences that will inform future methods reviews.

Whether his Department plans to take steps to ensure Enhertu remains available on the NHS.

Decisions on whether new medicines should be routinely funded by the National Health Service in England are made on the basis of recommendations from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) following an evaluation of a treatment’s costs and benefits. These are very difficult decisions to make, and it is important that they are made independently and on the basis of the available evidence.NICE has recommended Enhertu (trastuzumab deruxtecan) for use through the Cancer Drugs Fund for the treatment of HER2-positive unresectable or metastatic breast cancer after one or more anti-HER 2 treatments and for treating HER2-positive unresectable or metastatic breast cancer after two or more anti-HER2 therapies. Enhertu is now funded for eligible patients in England through the Cancer Drugs Fund in line with NICE’s recommendations. NICE will consider the evidence collected on the use of Enhertu through the Cancer Drugs Fund into account in making recommendations for the NHS on whether it should be routinely funded by the NHS.NICE published guidance in July 2024 on the use of Enhertu for the treatment of HER-2 low metastatic and unresectable breast cancer and was unfortunately unable to recommend it for routine NHS funding.

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 4 November 2025 to Question 80333 if she will take steps to help increase the audience reach of her Department's digital communications on risks of personal imports, including the risks of (a) foot and mouth disease and (b) African swine fever.

Biosecurity is a priority for this Government. To protect UK farmers and animals from serious diseases like Foot and Mouth Disease and African Swine Fever, we used the Christmas period as an opportunity to remind the public about the personal imports ban on travellers from the EU and EEA countries bringing dairy and meat products to GB, that came into force last year. This included promoting awareness of the rules to the travelling public and extending our reach through partnership channels across Government and with industry. Our insights survey results indicate that over 90% of respondents are aware that they should not bring back meat and dairy products from these countries.Any decisions on funding paid campaigns will be made based on the current threat level, evidence of effectiveness and available resources, ensuring maximum impact in protecting UK biosecurity.

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 4 November 2025 to Question 80333, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of funding public awareness campaigns, including advertisements at airports and ports, on (a) foot and mouth disease and (b) African swine fever.

Biosecurity is a priority for this Government. To protect UK farmers and animals from serious diseases like Foot and Mouth Disease and African Swine Fever, we used the Christmas period as an opportunity to remind the public about the personal imports ban on travellers from the EU and EEA countries bringing dairy and meat products to GB, that came into force last year. This included promoting awareness of the rules to the travelling public and extending our reach through partnership channels across Government and with industry. Our insights survey results indicate that over 90% of respondents are aware that they should not bring back meat and dairy products from these countries. Any decisions on funding paid campaigns will be made based on the current threat level, evidence of effectiveness and available resources, ensuring maximum impact in protecting UK biosecurity.

Whether his department will work with the Department for Education to legislate to allow prisoners to obtain a student loan more than 6 years from their earliest release date.

The Ministry of Justice is committed to enabling prisoners to access higher education while in custody and, alongside HMPPS, works with partners such as the Prisoners Education Trust and the Open University to widen access to higher education for prisoners.The Ministry of Justice and the Department for Education will continue to consider access to student finance for prisoners.

How many cases of e-coli were reported in each individual prison in each of the last 10 calendar years.

Statistics on prisoners’ health are the responsibility of the NHS. I am informed that the figures that are collected do not indicate whether an illness or hospitalisation relates to unhygienic conditions or show the causes of illnesses linked to E-coli.Arrangements are in place to ensure hygiene standards are maintained across the prison estate. These include regular monitoring and cleaning delivered through a combination of prisoner working parties and contracted cleaning services.

Pursuant to the Answer of 5 November 2024 to Question 11190, what progress he has made on tackling remand numbers.

We continue to work closely with partners from across the criminal justice system to manage the growth in the prison remand population. The Sentencing Bill, currently being considered before parliament, introduces a package of amendments to the Bail Act 1976, which, alongside the presumption to suspend short sentences of 12 months or less, will help to address the unsustainable growth in the prison remand population.This package of amendments includes changing the “no real prospect” test in the Bail Act 1976 so that fewer exceptions to bail will apply where the court considers that a sentence of immediate custody is unlikely. We are also adding to the factors that the courts must consider when deciding whether to refuse or grant bail to include consideration of whether the defendant is pregnant, a primary caregiver, or a victim of domestic abuse.

If his department will provide the total number of prisoner days, aggregated across all prisoners, in which an individual prisoner with a disability received a) no time in open air and b) no time out of cell.

The information requested for adult prisoners is not held by the Ministry of Justice, as collecting data on time in and out of cell would require detailed monitoring of cell activity in each prison establishment.PSI 75/2011 (Residential Services), which includes general guidance on time-out-of-cell, can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/residential-services-psi-752011.

What assessment his department has made of the potential impact of a) being a peer mentor, or b) having a peer mentor, on reoffending rates.

Reducing reoffending is a top priority for this Government. Our approach is led by evidence on what works to support offenders in turning away from crime, focusing on addressing the underlying needs linked to offending behaviour, including housing, employment and education, substance misuse treatment, family ties and improving personal skills and behaviours.Peer mentoring already plays an important role in supporting rehabilitation within prison and probation services. It is used in various ways, including providing lived experience insights into probation requirements and direct one-to-one mentoring. Some peer-led services are also delivered by external organisations, further supporting rehabilitation efforts. Overall, there is national variation in delivery of peer-led services.While there is external evidence that peer mentoring can be beneficial, there is currently no centrally collated data on how many people in custody have served as a peer mentor or had access to one over the last 10 years.A recent study by HMPPS (Ministry of Justice, 2024, Education, Skills, and Work, Peer Mentoring in Men’s Prisons, Ministry of Justice Analytical Series) found that peer mentoring can positively influence inmates' engagement with educational programmes and enhance their skills, as well as improving staff/prisoner relationships.Every prison has been encouraged to deliver peer mentoring as part of the prison regime. This will help embed peer support across the custodial estate, promoting rehabilitative engagement and enhancing prisoners’ access to mentoring opportunities and supporting.

How many prisoners have a) served as a peer mentor and b) had access to a peer mentor, in each of the last 10 calendar years.

Reducing reoffending is a top priority for this Government. Our approach is led by evidence on what works to support offenders in turning away from crime, focusing on addressing the underlying needs linked to offending behaviour, including housing, employment and education, substance misuse treatment, family ties and improving personal skills and behaviours.Peer mentoring already plays an important role in supporting rehabilitation within prison and probation services. It is used in various ways, including providing lived experience insights into probation requirements and direct one-to-one mentoring. Some peer-led services are also delivered by external organisations, further supporting rehabilitation efforts. Overall, there is national variation in delivery of peer-led services.While there is external evidence that peer mentoring can be beneficial, there is currently no centrally collated data on how many people in custody have served as a peer mentor or had access to one over the last 10 years.A recent study by HMPPS (Ministry of Justice, 2024, Education, Skills, and Work, Peer Mentoring in Men’s Prisons, Ministry of Justice Analytical Series) found that peer mentoring can positively influence inmates' engagement with educational programmes and enhance their skills, as well as improving staff/prisoner relationships.Every prison has been encouraged to deliver peer mentoring as part of the prison regime. This will help embed peer support across the custodial estate, promoting rehabilitative engagement and enhancing prisoners’ access to mentoring opportunities and supporting.

If his department will provide the average number of visitation days, per prisoner, for a) all prisoners and b) disabled prisoners.

This information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.However, a report about Social Contact in Prison published 11 December provides information about visit frequencies. The report notes that in the 12 months prior to June 2024, almost two thirds of prisoners (63%) had at least one face-to-face visit. 31% of prisoners received remote contact only and 5% of prisoners appeared to have had no contact.The report can be accessed via the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/social-contact-in-prison-april-2019-to-june-2024.We know that visits are crucial to sustaining relationships with close relatives, partners and friends, and help prisoners maintain links with the community. HMPPS aims to encourage and assist the maintenance of relationships between prisoners and their families to support their social rehabilitation. The Help With Prison Visits scheme (HWPV) supports visitors on low incomes by providing a contribution towards visits costs for close relatives, partners or sole visitors.All visits areas must be accessible for all, including disabled prisoners and visitors.

If his department will publish the average time-in-role for prison governors in each of the last 10 calendar years.

The latest published HMPPS workforce statistics covers the period up to 30 September 2025 so the latest calendar year available is for 2024. Figures showing the average length of time spent in post for public sector prison governors in England and Wales as at 31 December 2015 to 2024 and 30 September 2025 are given in the table below.The figures relate to the governing governors’ time in the role they were in on the given date only and exclude previous governor service. In addition, figures do not include deputy governors temporarily covering a governing governor role.Table 1 - Average (mean) length of service (in years) of governors in the public sector prison role they were in on the given date, as at 31 December 2015 to 2024, and as at 30 September 2025. DateAverage years (mean)31 December 20152.231 December 20162.031 December 20172.331 December 20182.331 December 20192.331 December 20202.731 December 20212.831 December 20223.131 December 20232.731 December 20242.930 September 20252.7 Notes:1. Figures show average length of service of the prison governor role on the given date.2. Figures relate to governing governors only (band 10-11) and do not include deputy governors temporarily covering the role.3. The number of governors and prisons change over time, as vacancies arise and as prisons transfer between the public and private sector.4. Each governor is only included once per given date, though it is possible to temporarily be governor of more than one prison at a time.5. As with all HR databases, extracts are taken at a fixed point in time and is dependent on staff completing the details correctly. The database itself is dynamic and where updates to the database are made late, subsequent to the taking of the extract, or are incorrect then these updates will not be reflected in figures produced by the extract. For this reason, HR data are unlikely to be precisely accurate and may not match local data.

What steps his department is taking to improve or increase provision of training for newly appointed prison governors.

The Enable Programme is a workforce transformation programme that aims to change how HMPPS trains, develops, leads, and supports its prison staff to ensure that they feel safe, supported, valued, and confident in their skills and ability to make a difference.A key focus for the programme is to strengthen prison leadership and operational capability and build a quality pipeline of leaders for the future. This includes a new national Governor Induction programme which provides a dedicated package of learning for new Governors, offering professional, personal, and practical support to ensure they have the best start to their governing career.

What steps his department is taking to increase the autonomy of prison governors.

The Government recognises the value of autonomy for governors and the innovation this can drive, whilst also balancing this with the level of central control to achieve consistency between prisons.In 2023, HMPPS launched a framework for governor empowerment – the Free, Flex, Fixed (FFF) framework of operational policy. This clarifies the extent of governor freedoms and flexibilities to ensure that they are used to their full potential. It also provides an opportunity for governors to challenge areas of fixed policy and is a clear framework for increasing flexibility if agreed centrally.Some examples of the flexibility set out in the FFF framework are: governors are free to recruit locally for roles other than prison officer and operational support grades; they have flexibility to vary regime beyond the mandated elements; they have freedom to decide how staff time is allocated; and they flexibilities within their local budgets, such as the number of staff at different grades, provided it is within their overall pay budget.We will continue to review governor autonomy, looking at what we can do to support governors whilst maintaining value for money and national consistency. Regular HMPPS leadership meetings adopt a continuous improvement approach to finding new flexibilities and freedoms for governors. We will continue to update governors so that they are aware of how to access all their freedoms.

What steps his department is taking to reduce turnover rates of prison governors.

The Enable Programme is a workforce transformation programme that aims to change how HMPPS trains, develops, leads, and supports its prison staff to ensure that they feel safe, supported, valued, and confident in their skills and ability to make a difference.A key focus for the programme is to strengthen prison leadership and operational capability and build a quality pipeline of leaders for the future. To support this work Governor Succession Planning is managed via a National Talent Committee, that monitors tenure, identifies talent and considers succession in line with civil service rules. This senior multi-disciplinary team meet quarterly and are informed by internal management information, the leadership requirements of individual sites and the strengths of individual governors.