Minister of State for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending

The Minister of State for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending (or simply Prisons Minister) is a mid-level ministerial office in the Ministry of Justice.^[1]

Minister of State for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending
Royal Arms of His Majesty's Government
Incumbent The Lord Timpson since 5 July 2024
Ministry of Justice
Seat	Westminster, London
Appointer	The Monarch on the advice of the Prime Minister
Term length	At His Majesty's pleasure
Website	www.gov.uk/government/ministers/minister-of-state--147

On 5 July 2024 James Timpson was appointed by Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Responsibilities

The minister currently has responsibility of the following policy areas:^[2]

• Prison operations, policy, reform and industrial relations
• Probation policy and operations
• Youth justice
• Parole
• Offender health
• Offender Cohorts
• Extremism
• Home Detention Curfew (HDC)
• Release on Temporary Licence (ROTL) schemes
• Drugs
• Reducing reoffending
• Female offenders
• Foreign National Offenders

The minister also provides support on Global Britain and the promotion of legal services.

List of ministers for prisons

Name		Portrait	Took office	Left office	Political party	Prime Minister
Position created out of Minister of State for Home Affairs Minister of State for Prisons
	Ann Widdecombe MP for Maidstone		28 February 1995	2 May 1997	Conservative		John Major (ll)
	Joyce Quin MP for Gateshead East and Washington West		2 May 1997	28 July 1998	Labour		Tony Blair (I)
	The Lord Williams of Mostyn		28 July 1998	28 July 1999
	Charles Clarke MP for Norwich South		July 1999	June 2001
	Keith Bradley MP for Manchester, Withington		June 2001	May 2002			Tony Blair (II)
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Prisons and Probation
	Hilary Benn MP for Leeds Central		29 May 2002	13 May 2003	Labour		Tony Blair (II)
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Criminal Justice, Race and Victims
	Fiona Mactaggart MP for Slough		13 June 2003	5 May 2006	Labour		Tony Blair (II+III)
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Prisons and Probation Services
	Gerry Sutcliffe MP for Bradford South		5 May 2006	29 June 2007	Labour		Tony Blair (III)
Minister of State for Justice and Equalities
	Maria Eagle MP for Liverpool Garston		2 July 2007	6 May 2010	Labour		Gordon Brown (I)
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Prisons and Youth Justice
	Crispin Blunt MP for Reigate, Surrey		6 May 2010	4 September 2012	Conservative		David Cameron (Coalition)
	Jeremy Wright MP for Kenilworth and Southam		6 September 2012	15 July 2014
	Andrew Selous MP for South West Bedfordshire		16 July 2014	16 July 2016
							David Cameron (II)
	Sam Gyimah MP for East Surrey		17 July 2016	9 January 2018			Theresa May (I)
							Theresa May (II)
Minister of State for Prisons
	Rory Stewart MP for Penrith and The Border		9 January 2018	1 May 2019	Conservative		Theresa May (II)
	Robert Buckland MP for South Swindon		9 May 2019	24 July 2019
Minister of State for Prisons and Probation
	Lucy Frazer MP for South East Cambridgeshire		25 July 2019	4 March 2021	Conservative		Boris Johnson (I)
							Boris Johnson (II)
	Alex Chalk MP for Cheltenham		4 March 2021	10 September 2021
	Lucy Frazer MP for South East Cambridgeshire		10 September 2021	16 September 2021
	Victoria Atkins MP for Louth and Horncastle		16 September 2021	6 July 2022
	Stuart Andrew MP for Pudsey		8 July 2022	7 September 2022
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Prisons and Probation
	Rob Butler MP for Aylesbury		20 September 2022	27 October 2022	Conservative		Liz Truss (I)
Minister of State for Prisons, Parole and Probation
	Damian Hinds MP for East Hampshire		27 October 2022	13 November 2023	Conservative		Rishi Sunak (I)
	Edward Argar MP for Charnwood		14 November 2023	5 July 2024
Minister of State for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending
	The Lord Timpson Member of the House of Lords		5 July 2024	Incumbent	Labour		Keir Starmer (I)

See also

• Ministry of Justice (United Kingdom)
• His Majesty's Prison Service