Ministerial role
Minister of State for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending
Organisations:
Ministry of Justice
Current role holder:
Catherine McKinnell MP
Responsibilities
- Prison capacity and related policy
- Prison operations policy, reform, industrial relations and workforce
- Probation policy, operations, industrial relations, and transparency
- His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service administration
- Sentencing Act implementation
- Dame Lynne Owen Review into Release in Error
- Public Protection (incl. Critical Public Protection Cases)
- Parole Policy
- Trans Prisoners
- Female Offenders
- Reducing Reoffending
- Electronic Monitoring(EM)
- Offender health and drugs
- Prisoner Escort Contracts
- Counter Terrorism
- Amber Rudd Independent Review
Current role holder
Catherine McKinnell MP
Catherine McKinnell was appointed Minister of State for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending at the Ministry of Justice on 21 July 2026.
She was previously Minister of State (Minister for School Standards) at the Department for Education between 8 July 2024 and 6 September 2025.
She was elected as the Labour MP for Newcastle Upon Tyne North in May 2010.
Previous holders of this role
Lord Timpson OBE
2024 to 2026