Courts, prisons and justice: this week in Parliament and GOV.UK

Week of Monday 26 October 2026 to Sunday 1 November 2026. Updated automatically every Monday from Policy Radar's archive of official sources; next update Monday 9 November 2026.

This week at a glance

Debates, statements and motions

• Causing Death by Dangerous or Careless Driving: Sentencing

  Debate, 6 items · Wed 28 Oct · hansard.parliament.uk

• Courts and Tribunals Bill

  Debate, 7 items · Tue 27 Oct · hansard.parliament.uk

Bills, amendments and new laws

• Courts and Tribunals Bill: 41 amendments tabled

  Amendments · Courts and Tribunals Bill · Sat 31 Oct · bills.parliament.uk

• Courts and Tribunals Bill

  Bill · Tue 27 Oct · bills.parliament.uk

Select committees

• Letter dated 29 October 2026 from the Rt Hon Lord Foster of Bath PC, Chair of the Justice and Home Affairs Committee to to Sarah Sackman KC MP, Minister for Courts and Legal Services regarding modernising wills

  Committee · Justice and Home Affairs Committee · Fri 30 Oct · committees.parliament.uk

• 15th Report - Drawn to the special attention of the House: Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules (HC 584), Medical Training (Prioritisation for Specialty Training Programmes) Regulations 2026, Licensing Act 2003 (Applications of Potential Strategic Importance to Greater London etc and Consequential Amendment) Regulations 2026, School Teachers' Pay and Conditions (England) Order 2026; Includes information paragraphs on: Draft Magistrates' Courts (Recording and Broadcasting) Order 2026 and one linked instrument, Global Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Sanctions Regulations 2026, Social Security (Further Methods of Recovery) Regulations 2026, Local Authorities (Functions and Responsibilities) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2026, Northern Ireland Assembly (Minimum Period) (Amendment) Order 2026, Housing (Empty Dwelling Management Orders) (Prescribed Period of Time and Prescribed Requirements) (England) (Amendment) Order 2026

  Committee report · Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee · Thu 29 Oct · committees.parliament.uk

• Letter dated 23 October 2026 from Catherine McKinnell MP, Minister of State for Justice to the Chair answering follow-up questions for the Committee's inquiry into Fire Safety in Prisons

  Committee · Justice and Home Affairs Committee · Thu 29 Oct · committees.parliament.uk

• Letter from Dr Rob Jones, Welsh Governance Centre, Cardiff University, on the Learned Society of Wales workshop on Welsh language in prisons, dated 16 October 2026

  Committee · Welsh Affairs Committee · Tue 27 Oct · committees.parliament.uk

• Letter to the Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language, Welsh Government, on the provision of Welsh language in prisons, dated 22 October 2026

  Committee · Welsh Affairs Committee · Tue 27 Oct · committees.parliament.uk

• Correspondence to Sarah Sackman KC MP, Minister for Courts and Legal Services, dated 26 October 2026: 20 October power event affecting remote hearings

  Committee · Justice Committee · Mon 26 Oct · committees.parliament.uk

• Correspondence from Catherine McKinnell MP, Minister for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending, dated 22 October 2026: The Sentencing Act 2020 (Prisons Sanctions) Regulations - Statutory Instrument

  Committee · Justice Committee · Mon 26 Oct · committees.parliament.uk

Written questions and answers

• Prison Accommodation

  2 written questions and answers · Ministry of Justice · Mon 26 Oct · questions-statements.parliament.uk

• What the average time taken is by (a) probation officers and (b) police to respond to breaches of electronic…

  Written question · Ministry of Justice · Fri 30 Oct · questions-statements.parliament.uk

• What immediate steps it is taking in response to the warning from the Scottish Prison Service that…

  Scottish Parliament · Scottish Government · Fri 30 Oct · parliament.scot

• Whether it has evaluated the frequency and sustainability of drafting staff from other prisons as mutual aid…

  Scottish Parliament · Scottish Government · Fri 30 Oct · parliament.scot

• What meetings it has had with the Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service since 1 September 2026.

  Scottish Parliament · Scottish Government · Fri 30 Oct · parliament.scot

• Prisons: Education

  Written answer · Ministry of Justice · Thu 29 Oct · questions-statements.parliament.uk

• Probation

  Written answer · Ministry of Justice · Thu 29 Oct · questions-statements.parliament.uk

• How many magistrate legal advisers are employed by the courts to advise on private-law Children Act cases,…

  Written question · Ministry of Justice · Thu 29 Oct · questions-statements.parliament.uk

• What risk assessment the Probation Service is required to complete before an offender convicted of a…

  Written question · Ministry of Justice · Thu 29 Oct · questions-statements.parliament.uk

• Prisons: Repairs and Maintenance

  Written answer · Ministry of Justice · Wed 28 Oct · questions-statements.parliament.uk

• Women's Prisons: Transgender People

  Written answer · Ministry of Justice · Wed 28 Oct · questions-statements.parliament.uk

• What the estimated cost is of increasing capacity in the Magistrates' Courts to meet the requirements set…

  Written question · Ministry of Justice · Wed 28 Oct · questions-statements.parliament.uk

And 34 more question topics this week. Policy Radar alerts you to all of them for your own keywords.

GOV.UK: consultations, news and publications

• Leicester Prison

  Publication · HMPPS, MOJ · Fri 30 Oct · gov.uk

• Probation action plans (and inspection reports)

  Publication · HMPPS, Probation Service · Thu 29 Oct · gov.uk

• Doncaster Probation Delivery Unit

  Publication · Reserve Forces' and Cadets' Associations (RFCA) · Thu 29 Oct · gov.uk

• Lewes Prison

  Publication · HMPPS, MOJ · Thu 29 Oct · gov.uk

• HM Courts and Tribunals Service information bulletins

  Publication · HMCTS · Thu 29 Oct · gov.uk

• Hatfield Prison

  Publication · HMPPS, MOJ · Thu 29 Oct · gov.uk

• Child Focused Courts delivery update

  Publication · MOJ, HMCTS · Wed 28 Oct · gov.uk

• Child Focused Courts Target Operating Model

  Publication · MOJ, HMCTS · Wed 28 Oct · gov.uk

• Independent review of the prison system: terms of reference

  Publication · MOJ · Wed 28 Oct · gov.uk

• Arrested or in prison in the USA

  Publication · FCDO · Wed 28 Oct · gov.uk

• Fees in the civil and family courts - main fees (EX50)

  Publication · HMCTS · Mon 26 Oct · gov.uk

• Arrested or in prison in Nigeria

  Publication · FCDO · Mon 26 Oct · gov.uk

And 8 more items this week. Policy Radar alerts you to all of them for your own keywords.

How this page is made

Every Monday we search the official items Policy Radar collected in the past week (Monday to Sunday) for these words in the title: courts, prisons, prison, probation, sentencing, legal aid, tribunals. Written questions on the same subject are grouped together, and amendments are grouped by bill. Matching on titles is quick but rough: some relevant items will be missing and a few may be off-topic. Each item links to the official page. For law firms, justice charities and court users.