Sarah Pochin MP: written questions
4 Jul 2025–3 Jul 2026
How these years work
Our reporting years run from 4 July to 3 July, starting with the 2024 general election. They are not official parliamentary sessions. Office costs keep IPSA’s April–March financial years. Records may cover only part of a year; a missing record does not mean no work was done.
Read what this MP said, asked and contributed in Parliament.
36 published records · newest first.
Written questions
Prisons: StaffMinistry of JusticeTabled 1 Jul 2026AnsweredUIN 15128More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many assaults on prison staff were recorded in prisons in England and Wales in each of the last five years.
Answer: Assaults on staff by year can be found in the Safety in Custody Summary Tables on row 21 in table 4 available at the following link: Safety in custody statistics - GOV.UK.
Answered 14 Jul 2026
Original Parliament recordPrisons: StaffMinistry of JusticeTabled 1 Jul 2026AnsweredUIN 15126More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of staffing levels across the prison estate.
Answer: We know that sufficient and skilled frontline staffing is fundamental to delivering safe, secure and rehabilitative prison regimes. The number of band 3-5 prison officers in post against Target Staffing Levels (the number of staff required to run an optim...
Answered 14 Jul 2026
Original Parliament recordPrison Officers: ResignationsMinistry of JusticeTabled 1 Jul 2026AnsweredUIN 15125More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison officers left the prison service in each of the last five years.
Answer: We know that sufficient and skilled frontline staffing is fundamental to delivering safe, secure and rehabilitative prison regimes. The number of band 3-5 prison officers in post against Target Staffing Levels (the number of staff required to run an optim...
Answered 14 Jul 2026
Original Parliament recordCourts: StandardsMinistry of JusticeTabled 1 Jul 2026AnsweredUIN 15124More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the impact of court backlogs on victims of crime.
Answer: As of March 2026, the Crown Court backlog stood at over 80,000 cases, with 22,000 open for over a year. Behind each of those cases is someone awaiting justice – victims putting their lives on hold and witnesses waiting to share their testimony. Justice de...
Answered 10 Jul 2026
Original Parliament recordCourts: StandardsMinistry of JusticeTabled 1 Jul 2026AnsweredUIN 15123More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many court hearings were postponed in England and Wales in each of the last five years.
Answer: We have interpreted your question to be asking for information on how many magistrates’ and Crown Court trials were ineffective in England and Wales in each of the last five years. An ineffective trial is one that does not go ahead on the scheduled trial ...
Answered 10 Jul 2026
Original Parliament recordPrisoners' ReleaseMinistry of JusticeTabled 15 Jun 2026AnsweredUIN 9978More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners were released early under emergency release schemes in each of the last five years.
Answer: This Government inherited prisons days from collapse. We had no choice but to take decisive action to stop our prisons overflowing and keep the public safe.Without the changes this Government made, courts would have had to halt trials, and the police canc...
Answered 24 Jun 2026
Original Parliament recordPrisoners: Foreign NationalsMinistry of JusticeTabled 15 Jun 2026AnsweredUIN 9976More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many foreign nationals are currently serving custodial sentences in prisons in England and Wales.
Answer: A breakdown of foreign national offenders (FNOs) by custody type is regularly published as part of the Offender Management Statistics Quarterly series. The latest published data can be found within table 1.Q.10 of the prison population tables, showing a s...
Answered 23 Jun 2026
Original Parliament recordIncest: ConvictionsMinistry of JusticeTabled 19 Jan 2026AnsweredUIN 106921More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many convictions for incest under section 25 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 have been recorded in each of the last five years, disaggregated by the ethnicity and gender of the offender.
Answer: The Ministry of Justice publishes data on prosecutions and convictions for a wide range of criminal offences including those under section 25 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 in England and Wales within the Outcomes by Offences data tool. This can be downl...
Answered 27 Jan 2026
Original Parliament recordSexual Offences: ProsecutionsMinistry of JusticeTabled 19 Jan 2026AnsweredUIN 106920More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been prosecuted under section 25 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 in each of the last five years, broken down by the recorded ethnicity of the defendant.
Answer: The Ministry of Justice publishes data on prosecutions and convictions for a wide range of criminal offences including those under section 25 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 in England and Wales within the Outcomes by Offences data tool. This can be downl...
Answered 27 Jan 2026
Original Parliament recordOffences against ChildrenMinistry of JusticeTabled 13 Jan 2026AnsweredUIN 105572More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what actions are being taken to improve compliance with the Victims’ Code for survivors of child sexual abuse, in the context of the recommendation of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.
Answer: The Government accepted recommendation 14 from the Inquiry to commission a joint inspection of compliance with the Victims’ Code in relation to victims and survivors of child sexual abuse. The Criminal Justice Joint Inspectorates have confirmed that the i...
Answered 20 Jan 2026
Original Parliament recordYouth Custody: Restraint TechniquesMinistry of JusticeTabled 13 Jan 2026AnsweredUIN 105571More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when legislation will be brought forward to prohibit the use of pain compliance techniques in custodial settings where children are detained, in the context of the recommendation of the Independent Inquiry into C
Answer: The Government has been undertaking work to determine the most suitable registration framework for the youth custody estate. A final decision on this had been planned, as set out in the Tackling Child Abuse Progress Update, for March 2026. Since the Progr...
Answered 21 Jan 2026
Original Parliament recordOffences against Children: CompensationMinistry of JusticeTabled 13 Jan 2026AnsweredUIN 105569More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what timetable has been set for establishing a single national redress scheme for survivors of child sexual abuse in England and Wales, in the context of the recommendation of the Independent Inquiry into Child S
Answer: The Government recognises the importance of victims and survivors being able to seek redress from institutions for sexual abuse suffered during childhood and that redress can take several forms.The Government is not currently taking forward any further st...
Answered 21 Jan 2026
Original Parliament recordSecure Training Centres and Young Offender Institutions: StaffMinistry of JusticeTabled 13 Jan 2026AnsweredUIN 105511More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he is taking steps to introduce professional registration for staff working with children in (a) young offender institutions and (b) secure training centres.
Answer: The Government has been undertaking work to determine the most suitable registration framework for the youth custody estate. A final decision on this had been planned, as set out in the Tackling Child Abuse Progress Update, for March 2026. Since the Progr...
Answered 21 Jan 2026
Original Parliament recordFuad AwaleMinistry of JusticeTabled 6 Jan 2026AnsweredUIN 103678More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on what statutory basis compensation was paid to Fuad Awale; and what the criteria are for such payments.
Answer: Compensation and legal costs were paid in order to comply with an order of the High Court. Failure to do so would have constituted a breach of the court order.
Answered 14 Jan 2026
Original Parliament recordPrisons: DrugsMinistry of JusticeTabled 8 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 98301More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to reduce the supply of illegal drugs into prisons, including through improved searching, staff screening and security technology.
Answer: Prisons in England and Wales have a range of specialist staff and equipment to tackle the smuggling of contraband into prisons, including drugs. This includes X-ray body scanners, airport-style Enhanced Gate Security, X-ray baggage scanners, detection dog...
Answered 16 Dec 2025
Original Parliament recordPrisons: DrugsMinistry of JusticeTabled 8 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 98300More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many drug related incidents were recorded in prisons in each of the past five years, including instances of possession, supply and related violence.
Answer: We publish the number of drugs finds in prisons in England and Wales in the HMPPS Annual Digest. Please see table 6.1 in the Finds tables and the Finds in Prison – Find Incidents data tool. The latest issue covers the 12-month period to March 2025, with a...
Answered 16 Dec 2025
Original Parliament recordPrisons: DrugsMinistry of JusticeTabled 8 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 98299More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of prisoners tested positive for illegal drugs on arrival and during their time in custody in the latest period for which data is available.
Answer: We recognise that the availability and use of drugs in prisons is too high. Tackling this is a priority in order to reduce reoffending, and improve the safety of our prisons. To drive down supply of drugs, we are investing over £40 million in physical sec...
Answered 16 Dec 2025
Original Parliament recordPrisons: DrugsMinistry of JusticeTabled 8 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 98298More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of recent trends in the availability and use of illegal drugs within the prison estate.
Answer: We recognise that the availability and use of drugs in prisons is too high. Tackling this is a priority in order to reduce reoffending, and improve the safety of our prisons. To drive down supply of drugs, we are investing over £40 million in physical sec...
Answered 16 Dec 2025
Original Parliament recordPrisoners' ReleaseMinistry of JusticeTabled 8 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 98296More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the impact of the scale of erroneous prisoner releases on public confidence and public safety.
Answer: Releases in error have been increasing for several years and are another symptom of the prison system crisis inherited by this Government. The safety of the public is our absolute priority.While the overwhelming majority of offenders are released correctl...
Answered 16 Dec 2025
Original Parliament recordPrisoners' ReleaseMinistry of JusticeTabled 8 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 98295More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he has taken to prevent mistaken releases of prisoners; and whether he plans to (a) allocate additional resource for and (b) implement systemic reforms to prisoner-release protocols.
Answer: Releases in error are never acceptable, and we are bearing down on those errors that do occur.Following the release in error of Hadush Kebatu from HMP Chelmsford, the Deputy Prime Minister took immediate steps to make the processes that take place when a ...
Answered 16 Dec 2025
Original Parliament recordPrisoners' Release: Crimes of Violence and Sexual OffencesMinistry of JusticeTabled 8 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 98294More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many of the prisoners mistakenly released since April 2025 were convicted of violent, sexual or other serious offences; and what assessment he has made of the danger to the public posed by those still at larg
Answer: Releases in error have been increasing for several years and are another symptom of the prison system crisis inherited by this Government. The safety of the public is our absolute priority.While the overwhelming majority of offenders are released correctl...
Answered 16 Dec 2025
Original Parliament recordPrisoners' ReleaseMinistry of JusticeTabled 8 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 98281More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to improve the (a) accuracy and (b) oversight of prison release date calculations.
Answer: On 11 November, the Deputy Prime Minister announced a five-point action plan setting out initial steps to address issues including release in error and unlawful detention. This includes the establishment of an Urgent Warrant Query Unit supported by court ...
Answered 16 Dec 2025
Original Parliament recordPrisoners' ReleaseMinistry of JusticeTabled 8 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 98280More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of changes to early release schemes on the accuracy of release date calculations.
Answer: On 11 November, the Deputy Prime Minister announced a five-point action plan setting out initial steps to address issues including release in error and unlawful detention. This includes the establishment of an Urgent Warrant Query Unit supported by court ...
Answered 16 Dec 2025
Original Parliament recordPrisoners' ReleaseMinistry of JusticeTabled 8 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 98279More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he expects the investigation into releases in error led by Dame Lynne Owens to be (a) completed and (b) published.
Answer: Dame Lynne Owens will have completed her independent investigation and be reporting to the Deputy Prime Minister on all her findings by the end of February. We will continue to approach the issue of releases in error with an emphasis on transparency.
Answered 16 Dec 2025
Original Parliament recordPrisoners' ReleaseMinistry of JusticeTabled 8 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 98278More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the investigation into releases in error led by Dame Lynne Owens has reported any interim findings.
Answer: Dame Lynne Owens will have completed her independent investigation and be reporting to the Deputy Prime Minister on all her findings by the end of February. We will continue to approach the issue of releases in error with an emphasis on transparency.
Answered 16 Dec 2025
Original Parliament record
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4 Jul 2025–3 Jul 2026. One record per UIN and tabled date; the named department is not a measure of answer quality.
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