When the current Government took power, they inherited a prison system on the brink of collapse. This situation was exacerbated by a lack of action from the previous government regarding the historical backlog in Crown courts and rising remand populations. In response, the Minister announced that prisoners serving standard determinate sentences would be released earlier from 50% to 40% of their time served, preventing an immediate breakdown of law and order. However, with prison populations still increasing rapidly, further action was necessary. The Minister highlighted a record-high remand population of 17,000 prisoners, constituting nearly one-fifth of the total prison population. These prisoners are housed in reception or category B prisons and cannot be relocated elsewhere, leading to acute capacity issues. To address this issue, the Government plans to extend magistrates' sentencing powers from six months back to 12 months for single triable either-way offences, enabling more cases to be heard by magistrates courts instead of Crown courts. This change aims to alleviate pressure on remand prisoners in reception prisons and free up capacity within the Crown court system to focus on complex cases. The statutory instrument will be laid on October 28th, coming into effect on November 18th. By doing so, approximately 2,000 sitting days of capacity will be added annually to the Crown courts, in addition to the additional 500 sitting days funded by this Government upon taking office. While acknowledging a slight increase in overall prison population, the measure aims to manage prisons more efficiently and tackle both remand pressures and the Crown court backlog. The Minister emphasised that her government is committed to addressing long-term issues within the justice system, with further plans to be outlined in subsequent statements.