In December 2024, the Government published its first annual statement on prison capacity and committed to legislating to place the publication of such a statement on a statutory footing.
	Section 21 gives effect to that commitment by placing a statutory duty on the Secretary of State to publish and lay before Parliament an annual report on prison capacity.
	Section 21 also repeals section 5 of the Prison Act 1952 which requires the Secretary of State to publish an annual report on prisons, in order to avoid duplication with the new statutory reporting duty.
	The repeal of section 5 of the 1952 Act also reflects the fact that much of the information previously required to be included in the annual prison report is now published through other established channels, including the Prison Performance and Offender Management Statistics.
Policy background Part 1: Sentencing Prison capacity report