Sadiq Khan MP, Labour’s Shadow Justice Secretary, commenting on the Government’s announcement on sex offenders in prisons, said:

“This a monumental admission of failure by the Government. It’s their duty to ensure that offenders are punished and rehabilitated in prison. But because of their failure hundreds of sex offenders are no longer going to get the treatment programmes they need to make sure they don’t go on and reoffend once released. David Cameron’s policies have caused a prisons crisis and the growing chaos is exposing the public to increased danger.

“This shouldn’t have come out of the blue. The numbers on sex offender treatment programmes has shrunk over the last four years. The Chief Inspector of Prisons warned in June 2012 that sex offenders were being released from prison without having done any treatment programmes. The Government did nothing then, and today they’ve been forced to sneak out this major admission of failure.”