Live coverage of questions in the House of Commons to justice secretary David Gauke and his team of ministers.
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round-up of the Day in both Houses
of Parliament at 11pm tonight. | 0:00:00 | 0:00:01 | |
First, questions to the Justice
Secretary David Gower and his team | 0:00:01 | 0:00:05 | |
of ministers. With permission, I
would like to answer questions one | 0:00:05 | 0:00:20 | |
and two. Maintaining access to
justice is a key principle when | 0:00:20 | 0:00:25 | |
changes to the estate are proposed.
Reassessed travel time for court | 0:00:25 | 0:00:34 | |
users. Decisions to close a court is
never taken likely. Reform programme | 0:00:34 | 0:00:43 | |
will improve access to justice for
many users, while online proceedings | 0:00:43 | 0:00:53 | |
and video courts will make access
easier. In my constituency, Buxton | 0:00:53 | 0:01:02 | |
Court closed in 2016. Some of my
constituents now have to travel 40 | 0:01:02 | 0:01:10 | |
miles to Chesterfield Court. Police
say it takes them a whole day to | 0:01:10 | 0:01:14 | |
take someone to court, instead of
less than half a day. It impacts the | 0:01:14 | 0:01:18 | |
number of offenders they can bring
to court and to justice in my area. | 0:01:18 | 0:01:22 | |
Please will he take this into
account and the current | 0:01:22 | 0:01:28 | |
consultation? Ungrateful for those
comments, but we also have to take | 0:01:28 | 0:01:32 | |
into account that during the
financial year, 41% of court | 0:01:32 | 0:01:39 | |
tribunal is used less than half of
their available hearing capacity. | 0:01:39 | 0:01:44 | |
Across the country, courts are
utilised at 58% of their capacity. | 0:01:44 | 0:01:49 | |
In those circumstances, we have to
make decisions about the reforms we | 0:01:49 | 0:01:56 | |
undertake. Thank you. I have been
raising concerns about the closure | 0:01:56 | 0:02:01 | |
of Lambeth County Court for two
years. My constituents facing the | 0:02:01 | 0:02:06 | |
repossession of their homes must now
attempt Clerkenwell County Court | 0:02:06 | 0:02:08 | |
which lawyers report to be a chaotic
environment, impossible to contact | 0:02:08 | 0:02:16 | |
by telephone, where cases files
frequently go missing, and where the | 0:02:16 | 0:02:21 | |
number of those failing to attend is
rocketing. The reality is we are | 0:02:21 | 0:02:28 | |
undertaking a series of reforms
here, making much greater use of | 0:02:28 | 0:02:32 | |
digital technology, increasing
access to online ways of dealing | 0:02:32 | 0:02:39 | |
with this. And these are... This is
an important modernisation that the | 0:02:39 | 0:02:47 | |
court system needs. Very sadly, we
have lost our Magistrates' Court in | 0:02:47 | 0:02:51 | |
Kettering which I believe is a
mistake. It means witnesses are all | 0:02:51 | 0:02:57 | |
having to travel further. I think
the closure of courts sends up a | 0:02:57 | 0:03:03 | |
signal to the magistrate that they
are not valued. Can we get rid of | 0:03:03 | 0:03:09 | |
this ridiculous age limit where by
magistrates have to retire at 70? | 0:03:09 | 0:03:14 | |
Ungrateful to him for raising this
point. Is a matter that I have | 0:03:14 | 0:03:21 | |
received representations upon. That
is consistent with what happens | 0:03:21 | 0:03:25 | |
elsewhere in the judiciary, but I'm
conscious this will continue to be a | 0:03:25 | 0:03:30 | |
matter of some debate. The
government is continuing to cut | 0:03:30 | 0:03:40 | |
court staff, closing Court and
signing millions of pounds for the | 0:03:40 | 0:03:50 | |
digitisation programme. Will the
Minister promised not to close any | 0:03:50 | 0:03:52 | |
more courts or sign contracts until
the court bill is published and the | 0:03:52 | 0:03:57 | |
matter has been debated fully in
this chamber? I hope to be able to | 0:03:57 | 0:04:03 | |
bring forward further news, in terms
of the Courts Bill in the near | 0:04:03 | 0:04:11 | |
future. But I'm not going to give
that undertaking. I think it is | 0:04:11 | 0:04:16 | |
important that we continue to look
to get the best out of the resources | 0:04:16 | 0:04:22 | |
that we have and if that means
reforms here in making greater use | 0:04:22 | 0:04:28 | |
of digital technology and also
ensuring that our courts stay as | 0:04:28 | 0:04:37 | |
efficient as possible, we will
continue to do so. I understand that | 0:04:37 | 0:04:45 | |
the honourable member for Rochdale
has got a great interest in this | 0:04:45 | 0:04:48 | |
area and did a lot of work when he
was the PPC of Greater Manchester. | 0:04:48 | 0:04:59 | |
It is right that cases come to court
as quickly as possible. Timeliness | 0:04:59 | 0:05:05 | |
in a criminal court system is
improving. From listening to | 0:05:05 | 0:05:11 | |
completion, the average is down to
27 days. Unfortunately, as he will | 0:05:11 | 0:05:18 | |
know, there are particular
challenges in relation to six | 0:05:18 | 0:05:21 | |
offences where it takes longer for
cases to come to court. The Minister | 0:05:21 | 0:05:27 | |
is right. There are complexities,
but in cases where there are | 0:05:27 | 0:05:37 | |
legitimate adjournments this can
lead to months of delay and | 0:05:37 | 0:05:41 | |
sometimes it takes years before
victims come to court. Victims are | 0:05:41 | 0:05:46 | |
already traumatised by what has
happened to them. Can we make them a | 0:05:46 | 0:05:53 | |
priority? Here's right. We need to
be extremely careful with vulnerable | 0:05:53 | 0:06:02 | |
witnesses to ensure they have
justice. Were bringing in measures | 0:06:02 | 0:06:05 | |
and rolling out the taking of their
evidence to ensure that they can do | 0:06:05 | 0:06:09 | |
that pre-trial and therefore safely,
which will speed up justice. As he | 0:06:09 | 0:06:19 | |
knows, we are hoping to bring
forward the courts bill which will | 0:06:19 | 0:06:23 | |
ensure the streamlining of justice,
doing away with unnecessary | 0:06:23 | 0:06:27 | |
hearings, which will hopefully speed
up access to justice. Can administer | 0:06:27 | 0:06:33 | |
further outline what training
lawyers get when handling vulnerable | 0:06:33 | 0:06:40 | |
witnesses? In family court, all
judges have training regarding | 0:06:40 | 0:06:50 | |
vulnerable witnesses. I'm sure the
CPS have training as well. We are | 0:06:50 | 0:07:01 | |
committed to improving the
experiences of those who have become | 0:07:01 | 0:07:04 | |
victims of crime. By the summer, we
will publish our victim strategy. | 0:07:04 | 0:07:08 | |
The key area of which is how we can
improve interactions with the | 0:07:08 | 0:07:18 | |
criminal justice system. Does he
agree that the video hearing system | 0:07:18 | 0:07:25 | |
will improve the system and increase
capacity? He is right. Ensuring the | 0:07:25 | 0:07:39 | |
easiest possible way for people to
give evidence is part of our | 0:07:39 | 0:07:48 | |
efficiency strategy. The Serious
Case Review into the appalling | 0:07:48 | 0:07:52 | |
sexual abuse of girls and vulnerable
adults in Newcastle was published | 0:07:52 | 0:07:55 | |
last month. Whilst generally
praising the actions of local | 0:07:55 | 0:08:01 | |
authorities, it raised significant
concerns about the way victims of | 0:08:01 | 0:08:06 | |
these appalling crimes were
supported and made to relive | 0:08:06 | 0:08:10 | |
harrowing experiences. Will the
Minister be responding directly to | 0:08:10 | 0:08:14 | |
the recommendations of the Spicer
review? I thank the honourable lady | 0:08:14 | 0:08:21 | |
for her question. The Department is
aware of the Serious Case Review | 0:08:21 | 0:08:26 | |
concerning sexual exploitation of
children. The details are shocking. | 0:08:26 | 0:08:31 | |
We are looking at ways to
continually improve our service and | 0:08:31 | 0:08:35 | |
I will be writing to her with
regards to whether we will respond | 0:08:35 | 0:08:43 | |
directly to that. The Scottish
Government is bringing in | 0:08:43 | 0:08:48 | |
legislation to prevent people from
civil court fees. Discussions is he | 0:08:48 | 0:08:56 | |
having about lessons to be learned?
I think there are plenty to learn | 0:08:56 | 0:09:02 | |
from what is happening in Scotland.
Discussions continue on a regular | 0:09:02 | 0:09:09 | |
basis and I look forward to learning
from Scotland in the future. The | 0:09:09 | 0:09:14 | |
government had plans to legislate to
ban alleged domestic abusers from | 0:09:14 | 0:09:20 | |
cross examining their victims in
family courts. Did the Minister say | 0:09:20 | 0:09:25 | |
of this is still government policy?
And if so, when such a provision | 0:09:25 | 0:09:29 | |
will be put before this House? Every
time there is a delay, the more | 0:09:29 | 0:09:35 | |
vulnerable people get traumatised in
court. He is spot on. It is wrong | 0:09:35 | 0:09:47 | |
that this behaviour in the courts is
not acceptable. We will bring | 0:09:47 | 0:09:52 | |
forward details of this in our bill
later this year. The court | 0:09:52 | 0:09:56 | |
experience can be a will bewildering
one. From feeling like a different | 0:09:56 | 0:10:02 | |
planet. Not helped by the fact that
72% of court judges are men. It is | 0:10:02 | 0:10:09 | |
International Women's Day on
Thursday. Will the government commit | 0:10:09 | 0:10:16 | |
to a time still to ensuring that 50%
of judges are female? I think it | 0:10:16 | 0:10:20 | |
would be appropriate if the numbers
of women in that position in our | 0:10:20 | 0:10:24 | |
society was greater. I will be
visiting HMP Bronzefield on Thursday | 0:10:24 | 0:10:31 | |
evening. I cannot commit to a
timetable. I will take away her | 0:10:31 | 0:10:37 | |
suggestion. Thank you. As the House
will be aware, in 1988, a major | 0:10:37 | 0:10:48 | |
change in the law was brought in to
allow victims to be able to | 0:10:48 | 0:10:53 | |
challenge unduly lenient sentences.
At the moment, that applies to the | 0:10:53 | 0:10:58 | |
most serious indictable offences,
but the government has recently | 0:10:58 | 0:11:02 | |
extended it to a range of terrorist
offences. | 0:11:02 | 0:11:09 | |
I am grateful for that answer, but
the Government has promised to | 0:11:09 | 0:11:13 | |
extended to include a further range
of offences. Can I ask when the | 0:11:13 | 0:11:19 | |
Government is good to extend the
number of cases, as we have been | 0:11:19 | 0:11:23 | |
promised for quite some time?
Already said in my answer. Already | 0:11:23 | 0:11:29 | |
the most serious offences such as
murder are covered by the scheme. We | 0:11:29 | 0:11:33 | |
have extended it twice in the last
few years, but we are talking very | 0:11:33 | 0:11:37 | |
closely to my right honourable
friend the Attorney General to look | 0:11:37 | 0:11:41 | |
at other opportunities for extending
the scheme. Mr Speaker, the | 0:11:41 | 0:11:46 | |
Secretary of State will know that I
regularly writes to him about an | 0:11:46 | 0:11:51 | |
unduly lenient and unduly severe
sentences. I never seem to get a | 0:11:51 | 0:11:55 | |
reply. The fact is, too many women
are locked up for non-violent | 0:11:55 | 0:12:00 | |
offences for long periods of time,
and that is the sort of case that I | 0:12:00 | 0:12:04 | |
writes to him about. Why don't we
ever did any comeback? It is | 0:12:04 | 0:12:09 | |
reassuring to know that I am not the
only person to whom the honourable | 0:12:09 | 0:12:14 | |
gentleman regularly writes. To go to
the nub of the honourable member's | 0:12:14 | 0:12:22 | |
question, I think there is a very
serious issue here, that as it is | 0:12:22 | 0:12:25 | |
absolutely true that there are many
more women in prison than we would | 0:12:25 | 0:12:28 | |
like to see, and my honourable
friend is working very hard to juice | 0:12:28 | 0:12:33 | |
that population for exactly the
reasons the honourable member has | 0:12:33 | 0:12:39 | |
raised. -- to produce that
population. -- reduce. A criminal | 0:12:39 | 0:12:48 | |
case can be very traumatised in the
victims. Would the Minister look at | 0:12:48 | 0:12:54 | |
introducing a discretion in relation
to the 20 day limit? An interesting | 0:12:54 | 0:13:00 | |
question. Perhaps we could sit down
to discuss this interesting idea in | 0:13:00 | 0:13:04 | |
more detail. Question six. With your
permission, I would like to take | 0:13:04 | 0:13:16 | |
questions six, 14 and 23 together.
Skilled professional prison officers | 0:13:16 | 0:13:20 | |
are at the centre of running and
good prisons. That is why we are | 0:13:20 | 0:13:24 | |
committed to recruiting 2500 extra
prison officers, and we are now nine | 0:13:24 | 0:13:32 | |
months ahead of target on delivering
those officers. I welcome the | 0:13:32 | 0:13:37 | |
Government making progress in
recruiting extra prison officers, | 0:13:37 | 0:13:41 | |
but will the Minister reassure the
House that he is making every effort | 0:13:41 | 0:13:44 | |
to retain the services of
experienced and long serving | 0:13:44 | 0:13:49 | |
officers who are absolutely
essential for entering new recruits | 0:13:49 | 0:13:51 | |
into the service? Absolutely. As the
honourable member points out, this | 0:13:51 | 0:13:57 | |
is not just about numbers. Working
in a prison is very challenging, and | 0:13:57 | 0:14:01 | |
having the experience to do it is
vital, so we are bringing incentive | 0:14:01 | 0:14:06 | |
schemes in place to try to retain
our most experienced staff and | 0:14:06 | 0:14:09 | |
understanding the cases where they
do leave why they are leaving. There | 0:14:09 | 0:14:15 | |
is a huge opportunity for
rehabilitation in prisons, which is | 0:14:15 | 0:14:19 | |
often not taken, so what we have a
lot of capacity will this increase | 0:14:19 | 0:14:23 | |
in prison officers create? The
central objective of bringing in | 0:14:23 | 0:14:30 | |
2500 extra prison officers is to
allow us to pair each individual | 0:14:30 | 0:14:34 | |
prison officer with six prisoners,
which allows them to develop their | 0:14:34 | 0:14:38 | |
individual personal relationship
over time through weekly meetings, | 0:14:38 | 0:14:43 | |
exactly to achieve the
rehabilitative and educational | 0:14:43 | 0:14:45 | |
objectives that we need to reduce
reoffending and protect the public. | 0:14:45 | 0:14:49 | |
The redevelopment of one prison will
provide many employment | 0:14:49 | 0:14:58 | |
opportunities across
Northamptonshire including in my | 0:14:58 | 0:14:59 | |
constituency. What does the
Government doing to attract local | 0:14:59 | 0:15:02 | |
people into the role, including for
example former members of the Armed | 0:15:02 | 0:15:07 | |
Forces? I'm very pleased this has
been raised. Almost 40% of prison | 0:15:07 | 0:15:14 | |
officers traditionally came from the
Armed Forces. That number is | 0:15:14 | 0:15:16 | |
reduced. We are now working closely
with the MOD to explain what an | 0:15:16 | 0:15:21 | |
interesting career this can be
entered in much advertising, but | 0:15:21 | 0:15:26 | |
although it is a very challenging
career, it can also be deeply | 0:15:26 | 0:15:34 | |
fulfilling, we would like to
encourage mini more people to come | 0:15:34 | 0:15:36 | |
forward into the profession. What
effect does the Minister expect | 0:15:36 | 0:15:44 | |
regarding the shortage of prison
officers on the number of suicides | 0:15:44 | 0:15:49 | |
and self harm and prisons? There is
a number of drivers on suicide and | 0:15:49 | 0:15:55 | |
self harm, and of course numbers of
staff is one of them. There are | 0:15:55 | 0:16:00 | |
other questions around it, probably
the largest single driver that we | 0:16:00 | 0:16:03 | |
have seen, though, since 2011 is
drugs which are creating | 0:16:03 | 0:16:09 | |
extraordinary psychotic episodes and
leading to directing creases and | 0:16:09 | 0:16:11 | |
violence. We must address this. --
direct increases. This in | 0:16:11 | 0:16:19 | |
recruitment drive is welcome, but
isn't it true that we are now just | 0:16:19 | 0:16:23 | |
catching up? Staff at a young
offenders institution in my | 0:16:23 | 0:16:26 | |
constituency fell by a third in 2013
to 461, with huge impact on the | 0:16:26 | 0:16:32 | |
Government and staff, with that
institution having been deemed | 0:16:32 | 0:16:36 | |
unsafe for both staff and prisoners.
Is it not time that the Government | 0:16:36 | 0:16:40 | |
now commits to working closely with
staff and the prison officers | 0:16:40 | 0:16:43 | |
Association to tackle this crisis
and ensure we get back on track with | 0:16:43 | 0:16:47 | |
rehabilitation for young offenders?
100%, we will be working very | 0:16:47 | 0:16:52 | |
closely with prison officers on
exactly this reason, and is the | 0:16:52 | 0:16:56 | |
honourable member points out,
getting the numbers right will be | 0:16:56 | 0:16:58 | |
vital. Those 2500 ex-prison officers
are vital to get that one to sex | 0:16:58 | 0:17:04 | |
ratio we need for rehabilitation. --
one to six. Ministers talk of | 0:17:04 | 0:17:16 | |
finally addressing a crisis they
made by axing some in a prison | 0:17:16 | 0:17:19 | |
officers, yet since the so-called
recruitment drive began, over a | 0:17:19 | 0:17:23 | |
third of high security prisons have
actually had a fall in the number of | 0:17:23 | 0:17:28 | |
prison officers, so could the
Secretary of State guaranteed today | 0:17:28 | 0:17:31 | |
that these high security prisons
will have more staff by the next | 0:17:31 | 0:17:35 | |
justice questions? One of the
challenges around the high security | 0:17:35 | 0:17:41 | |
state, particularly in places like
London, has been around the | 0:17:41 | 0:17:45 | |
employment opportunities. We have
put new incentives in place to | 0:17:45 | 0:17:48 | |
recruit people in London, both a
signing on bonus and a retention | 0:17:48 | 0:17:53 | |
bonus. I am not in a position to
guarantee exactly the employment | 0:17:53 | 0:17:56 | |
market, but we are making a lot of
recruitment in places such as | 0:17:56 | 0:18:02 | |
Belmont high security prison in
London. Nearly one in four prisons | 0:18:02 | 0:18:08 | |
have seen prison officers fall since
the Government's recruitment drive | 0:18:08 | 0:18:13 | |
began. We have a problem with
experience officers leaving the | 0:18:13 | 0:18:16 | |
service, creating a dangerous
cocktail of inexperienced officers | 0:18:16 | 0:18:21 | |
and expedients prisoners. In the
last year alone, 1000 prison | 0:18:21 | 0:18:24 | |
officers with more than five years'
experience each have left the | 0:18:24 | 0:18:28 | |
service. That is the equivalent of
over 5000 years of experience lost | 0:18:28 | 0:18:32 | |
in the prison service in the last
year alone. So will be Secretary of | 0:18:32 | 0:18:37 | |
State guaranteed that there will be
more prison officers were five | 0:18:37 | 0:18:39 | |
years' experience at the end of the
year and now? -- than now? The | 0:18:39 | 0:18:49 | |
fundamental point that is right, we
need experienced prison officers. It | 0:18:49 | 0:18:52 | |
is very difficult working in a
prison. You can bring in huge | 0:18:52 | 0:18:55 | |
numbers of new junior staff, but
unless they have the experience, it | 0:18:55 | 0:18:58 | |
is good to be difficult to get those
kind of results. We therefore have a | 0:18:58 | 0:19:02 | |
plan where we have targeted the
presence was the most experienced | 0:19:02 | 0:19:05 | |
officers and understanding why that
is happening, and we are putting | 0:19:05 | 0:19:09 | |
both work with staff in place and
financial incentives in place to | 0:19:09 | 0:19:12 | |
retain those experienced staff. The
new recruits are welcome, but senior | 0:19:12 | 0:19:19 | |
officers are also important. I am
told that on certain grades, prison | 0:19:19 | 0:19:25 | |
staff acting up to higher roles are
paid more than if they accepted the | 0:19:25 | 0:19:29 | |
actual promotion, and this acts as a
disincentive to staff looking to | 0:19:29 | 0:19:33 | |
take on more responsibility. Can my
right honourable friend look into | 0:19:33 | 0:19:36 | |
this anomaly? I would like to take
this opportunity to pay tribute to | 0:19:36 | 0:19:42 | |
the work of the honourable member
for jump-start, particularly on | 0:19:42 | 0:19:45 | |
prisons and for advocating for the
prison population there. It is true | 0:19:45 | 0:19:50 | |
that there is a very strange anomaly
in the HR procedure, and we must | 0:19:50 | 0:19:54 | |
tackle this. It cannot make sense
that people are paid more to Act up | 0:19:54 | 0:19:58 | |
and occupy the role. We want people
to have career development, and we | 0:19:58 | 0:20:01 | |
will move for that immediately.
Question seven. There were an | 0:20:01 | 0:20:13 | |
average 11,200 prisoners in prison
workshops. Also in 2016, 2048 | 0:20:13 | 0:20:21 | |
individuals will do some temporary
licence for work-related purposes. | 0:20:21 | 0:20:24 | |
The new futures network will aim to
get even more prisoners working | 0:20:24 | 0:20:28 | |
during their sentence, and for that
work to lead to employment on | 0:20:28 | 0:20:30 | |
release. I know he is new in office,
but Ramby Prison has been waiting | 0:20:30 | 0:20:41 | |
for two years now to create the
sport facilities they are capable of | 0:20:41 | 0:20:52 | |
building, but the one thing they
have not been given as the | 0:20:52 | 0:20:56 | |
permission to proceed by the
Secretary of State to do this | 0:20:56 | 0:21:01 | |
commercial work. Can I incentivise
him with perhaps a cup of tea | 0:21:01 | 0:21:05 | |
afterwards in order to concentrate
his mind on why this decision needs | 0:21:05 | 0:21:11 | |
to be made urgently by him?
Certainly the prospect of a cup of | 0:21:11 | 0:21:21 | |
tea with the honourable gentleman
does concentrate the mind. And I | 0:21:21 | 0:21:27 | |
would be delighted to accept his
invitation. But in terms of what we | 0:21:27 | 0:21:31 | |
are trying to do is we are... Wants
to ensure that we have got a prison | 0:21:31 | 0:21:37 | |
system that encourages people to
progress, to have opportunities to | 0:21:37 | 0:21:45 | |
gain experience in the work, and I'm
keen to do that in this post. And | 0:21:45 | 0:21:55 | |
the honourable gentleman's officer
might be thought to be a divisional | 0:21:55 | 0:21:57 | |
proposition. The Secretary of
State's speech this morning and the | 0:21:57 | 0:22:02 | |
emphasis of more use an temporary
licence is extremely welcome and | 0:22:02 | 0:22:08 | |
constructive. Will he also bear in
mind that at the moment, they | 0:22:08 | 0:22:11 | |
through the gate programme involves
careers and implement advice | 0:22:11 | 0:22:15 | |
happening on the towards the end of
a prisoner's sentence, while all | 0:22:15 | 0:22:19 | |
evidence suggests that it should
happen much earlier? I think the | 0:22:19 | 0:22:23 | |
chair of the Justice select
committee for his comments, and it | 0:22:23 | 0:22:26 | |
is the case that we want to see what
we can do in terms of release on | 0:22:26 | 0:22:30 | |
temporary licence, whether we can
expand that provide. Trinity is more | 0:22:30 | 0:22:33 | |
widely. And in terms of his second
point, I'm keen to ensure that we | 0:22:33 | 0:22:40 | |
provide as much support as possible,
and make it clear that there is a | 0:22:40 | 0:22:45 | |
second chance for people who have
gone to prison. If they abide by the | 0:22:45 | 0:22:48 | |
rules, they comply by the system, we
want to give them the support they | 0:22:48 | 0:22:51 | |
need to turn their lives around.
We'll be Secretary of State consider | 0:22:51 | 0:22:55 | |
what can be done to facilitate
prisoners in applying for Universal | 0:22:55 | 0:22:59 | |
Credit before the release in order
that they can receive the support of | 0:22:59 | 0:23:04 | |
job centre and other staff
immediately on police to move into | 0:23:04 | 0:23:07 | |
to paid work as quickly as possible?
-- will be Secretary of State | 0:23:07 | 0:23:10 | |
consider? A good point, I am keen to
do that. A lot of good work goes on | 0:23:10 | 0:23:17 | |
in prisons, with work cultures in
particular prisons providing that | 0:23:17 | 0:23:20 | |
support. One of the challenges in
terms of access to e-mails, and we | 0:23:20 | 0:23:25 | |
need to look very careful at the
large number of questions that | 0:23:25 | 0:23:31 | |
raises, but I think you are right to
raise this point. Work experience in | 0:23:31 | 0:23:37 | |
prison is proven to reduce
reoffending, so does the Secretary | 0:23:37 | 0:23:41 | |
of State believe that while we
rightly praise those who offer | 0:23:41 | 0:23:45 | |
former offenders work experience, we
need to call out those employers who | 0:23:45 | 0:23:48 | |
have a blanket ban on employing
ex-offenders unrelated to any | 0:23:48 | 0:23:53 | |
reasonable or fair risk assessment
of doing so? I agree with my | 0:23:53 | 0:23:59 | |
honourable friend. I have certainly
seen surveys suggesting something | 0:23:59 | 0:24:02 | |
like 50% of employers and we will
not engage, and what is frustrating | 0:24:02 | 0:24:07 | |
is that when you do speak to those
employers who do take on extra | 0:24:07 | 0:24:12 | |
fenders, actually their experiences
are frequently very positive indeed. | 0:24:12 | 0:24:18 | |
I think if we can increasingly build
a culture whereby those offenders | 0:24:18 | 0:24:22 | |
are given that opportunity, think
that is good for the offenders and | 0:24:22 | 0:24:26 | |
good for society as it will reduce
reoffending. Question eight, please. | 0:24:26 | 0:24:33 | |
I believe the honourable member and
myself have discussed this issue | 0:24:33 | 0:24:37 | |
something like five times in the
last six weeks. I would like to be | 0:24:37 | 0:24:41 | |
attributed to him as being a very
firm advocate for as commodities, we | 0:24:41 | 0:24:45 | |
have listened very carefully to his
complaints. A decision on this | 0:24:45 | 0:24:49 | |
prison is not likely, the
construction is not likely to be | 0:24:49 | 0:24:51 | |
imminent, but I would like to say in
addition to listen to those | 0:24:51 | 0:24:55 | |
complaints, that a prison built in
the right place in the right way, | 0:24:55 | 0:24:59 | |
can provide is another good economic
opportunities for an area. I think | 0:24:59 | 0:25:04 | |
the Minister for his answer, but the
problem is the proposed site is | 0:25:04 | 0:25:09 | |
right next to residential areas,
schools, and a care home, surrounded | 0:25:09 | 0:25:13 | |
by very poor transport links on the
Des admitted enterprise zone on | 0:25:13 | 0:25:16 | |
marshland, and restricted by a
covenant saying that it can only be | 0:25:16 | 0:25:22 | |
used as an industrial park. --
designated enterprise zone. The | 0:25:22 | 0:25:25 | |
Minister must agree with me that the
whole idea is a nonstarter and | 0:25:25 | 0:25:28 | |
should be scrapped with immediate
effect. The honourable member has | 0:25:28 | 0:25:33 | |
made these points on a number of
occasions, we are listening | 0:25:33 | 0:25:35 | |
carefully. Indeed, two members of
our department travelled to Port | 0:25:35 | 0:25:41 | |
Talbot to a meeting where these
points were raised repeatedly. We | 0:25:41 | 0:25:44 | |
are listening very carefully to the
honourable member. Would there be an | 0:25:44 | 0:25:48 | |
answer to the honourable gentleman
on the industrial estate if any new | 0:25:48 | 0:25:51 | |
prison fully incorporated the work
of 131 Solutions, designed over six | 0:25:51 | 0:25:57 | |
years ago to increase the productive
and commercial output from | 0:25:57 | 0:26:02 | |
prisoners, and the numbers given by
the Justice Secretary right now | 0:26:02 | 0:26:05 | |
suggest we have not actually made
very much progress in the numbers of | 0:26:05 | 0:26:09 | |
prisoners who are working. Any new
prison will include 131 Solutions, | 0:26:09 | 0:26:13 | |
and how are we getting on with
prisoners working overall? | 0:26:13 | 0:26:22 | |
Thank you. Forward very much to
meeting with the Right honourable | 0:26:22 | 0:26:25 | |
member to hear more about 131
solutions. If a super present is | 0:26:25 | 0:26:37 | |
built in Port Talbot, there will be
up to 1000 more prison places than | 0:26:37 | 0:26:42 | |
there are prisoners from Wales. Is
Wales set to become a penal colony | 0:26:42 | 0:26:52 | |
for Westminster? I think we want to
be very careful with this kind of | 0:26:52 | 0:26:56 | |
language. There are currently about
85,000 prisoners within the estate. | 0:26:56 | 0:27:01 | |
Having a 1000 extra prisoners in
Wales is not the creation of an | 0:27:01 | 0:27:10 | |
English penal colony. Will he ensure
its chaplaincy avoids the | 0:27:10 | 0:27:15 | |
extraordinary carrying one that has
recently been reported at HMP | 0:27:15 | 0:27:19 | |
Brixton? I would like to take this
opportunity to pay tribute in | 0:27:19 | 0:27:29 | |
general to the work of the
chaplaincy. That is both a Christian | 0:27:29 | 0:27:33 | |
chaplaincy, the Jewish chaplaincy
and the imams with whom I have | 0:27:33 | 0:27:40 | |
recently met. We are seeking a new
deep partnership across the whole of | 0:27:40 | 0:27:56 | |
the UK. In the negotiations over
market access for the criminal | 0:27:56 | 0:28:03 | |
justice system, I want to deal with
all nations in the UK and it is why | 0:28:03 | 0:28:09 | |
my department is meeting regularly
with the devolved administrations to | 0:28:09 | 0:28:17 | |
discuss EU except. The Scottish
Government's legal continuity bill | 0:28:17 | 0:28:24 | |
gives the Scottish parliament and
enhanced role in scrutinising laws | 0:28:24 | 0:28:28 | |
due to Brexit. In terms of what is
described as the continuity bill, | 0:28:28 | 0:28:45 | |
I'm not sure in all honesty how
helpful or a useful that will prove | 0:28:45 | 0:28:49 | |
to be. Of the reality is there is
very close scrutiny in this House of | 0:28:49 | 0:28:55 | |
the measures the government is
taking and the negotiations we are | 0:28:55 | 0:28:58 | |
taking. We are saving up the Member
for the next question. He will have | 0:28:58 | 0:29:17 | |
a short wait. Can I ask the Minister
if he is looking forward to April | 0:29:17 | 0:29:23 | |
next year when the jurisdictions
across the United Kingdom will be | 0:29:23 | 0:29:34 | |
able to meet the demands of the
people across United Kingdom? As we | 0:29:34 | 0:29:41 | |
leave the European Union, new
flexibilities will arise for all | 0:29:41 | 0:29:44 | |
parts of the United Kingdom. Unlike
the EU withdrawal bill, the Scottish | 0:29:44 | 0:29:52 | |
Government's legal continuity bill
contains a power for Scots law to | 0:29:52 | 0:30:00 | |
keep pace with European law post
Brexit if appropriate. Does he agree | 0:30:00 | 0:30:10 | |
that a similar measure should be
taken for the English legal system? | 0:30:10 | 0:30:18 | |
In terms of the extent to which this
parliament decides to replicate EU | 0:30:18 | 0:30:23 | |
law, that is a matter for this
parliament and whether we put that | 0:30:23 | 0:30:26 | |
in the EU withdrawal bill or not,
that freedom will continue to exist | 0:30:26 | 0:30:32 | |
for this Parliament. Another point
of contrast between the Westminster | 0:30:32 | 0:30:40 | |
proposal and the Scottish
Government's proposal is that | 0:30:40 | 0:30:46 | |
fundamental rights are included.
What is he doing to ensure that | 0:30:46 | 0:30:53 | |
everyone in the United Kingdom keeps
their rights from the charter | 0:30:53 | 0:30:59 | |
regardless of which jurisdiction
they reside in? The argument was | 0:30:59 | 0:31:05 | |
made at that time that it was
essentially replicating rights that | 0:31:05 | 0:31:08 | |
were set out elsewhere in other
parts of EU treaties, so the extent | 0:31:08 | 0:31:20 | |
to which that fundamentally changes
matters, I think there is a debate | 0:31:20 | 0:31:24 | |
to be had on that. With your
permission, I would like to take | 0:31:24 | 0:31:32 | |
questions ten, 20 and 21 together.
It is right to give legal certainty | 0:31:32 | 0:31:42 | |
for families and individuals after
we leave the EU. The Prime Minister | 0:31:42 | 0:31:46 | |
said on Friday that part of our
arrangement will be dealing with | 0:31:46 | 0:31:50 | |
cross-border disputes. The best way
to deal with that is a close | 0:31:50 | 0:31:57 | |
encumbrance of agreement between the
UK and the EU, setting out common | 0:31:57 | 0:32:05 | |
rules. Leaving the EU is likely to
lead to additional workload for the | 0:32:05 | 0:32:11 | |
UK legal system. What additional
resources have been made available | 0:32:11 | 0:32:14 | |
to his apartment and to the legal
system more generally to ensure they | 0:32:14 | 0:32:19 | |
are fully prepared for this? I thank
him for that question. He will be | 0:32:19 | 0:32:29 | |
aware of the Treasury has made
another £3 billion worth of extra | 0:32:29 | 0:32:34 | |
funding available to departments for
2018-2020. We are in discussion with | 0:32:34 | 0:32:40 | |
the Treasury about the allocation
for the justice system and hope to | 0:32:40 | 0:32:44 | |
agree that soon. As we leave the
European Union, many aspects of our | 0:32:44 | 0:33:02 | |
legal system will return to
Brussels. Does he agree with me that | 0:33:02 | 0:33:09 | |
the SNP's disruptive bill will do
nothing but add uncertainty to our | 0:33:09 | 0:33:13 | |
country? We are committed to
providing a bill which works for all | 0:33:13 | 0:33:19 | |
parts of the UK. The government
believes that leaving the EU will | 0:33:19 | 0:33:26 | |
significantly increase the
decision-making of all devolved | 0:33:26 | 0:33:37 | |
administrations in the UK. Legal
services is a key exporter of this | 0:33:37 | 0:33:44 | |
country. What is he doing to ensure
there will be new arrangement for | 0:33:44 | 0:33:51 | |
legal recognitions of standards and
qualifications? We recognise this is | 0:33:51 | 0:33:56 | |
an important right to protect for UK
nationals, so they can continue with | 0:33:56 | 0:34:01 | |
their chosen line of work. | 0:34:01 | 0:34:12 | |
Talks on many key issues, including
mutual recognition of professional | 0:34:13 | 0:34:19 | |
qualifications will continue into
the next phase of negotiations. We | 0:34:19 | 0:34:23 | |
will seek to reach an agreement with
the EU, and the Prime Minister has | 0:34:23 | 0:34:32 | |
been clear she wants EU nationals in
the UK and UK nationals in the EU to | 0:34:32 | 0:34:37 | |
be able to continue their lives
broadly as no. | 0:34:37 | 0:34:50 | |
We are not likely to reach question
number 19. As the Prime Minister has | 0:34:52 | 0:34:59 | |
made a number of concessions
regarding the European Court of | 0:34:59 | 0:35:07 | |
Human Rights after Brexit, when
exercising devolved jurisdiction, | 0:35:07 | 0:35:14 | |
isn't it time to amend clause six of
the EU withdrawal bill to the same | 0:35:14 | 0:35:20 | |
effect? In terms of clause six and
this question more widely, let's be | 0:35:20 | 0:35:30 | |
clear. We are leaving the EU so that
jurisdiction of the ECJ will end. | 0:35:30 | 0:35:42 | |
The ECJ determines whether an
agreement is struck illegal under | 0:35:42 | 0:35:50 | |
the EU on law. Of Parliament passes
an identical law to EU law, it makes | 0:35:50 | 0:35:55 | |
sense for our courts to look at the
ECJ judgment to be consistent. We | 0:35:55 | 0:36:05 | |
have to remain our parliament would
ultimately remain sovereign and it | 0:36:05 | 0:36:08 | |
could decide not to accept these
rules, but with consequences for | 0:36:08 | 0:36:16 | |
linked market access rights. There
have been a number of challenges, | 0:36:16 | 0:36:23 | |
particularly with transition.
Reoffending has come down. In | 0:36:23 | 0:36:33 | |
Cumbria, we are performing well. We
need to focus particularly on the | 0:36:33 | 0:36:38 | |
questions of assessment, planning
and eating. This is what we focused | 0:36:38 | 0:36:43 | |
on regarding the report into London
due on Monday. Private sector | 0:36:43 | 0:36:51 | |
provision companies focus on
contract compliance, rather than the | 0:36:51 | 0:36:53 | |
true quality of supervision. It was
undermining the established values | 0:36:53 | 0:37:00 | |
of professionals. Does he agree it
is time to put proper probation | 0:37:00 | 0:37:07 | |
ahead of private profit? I had an
interesting meeting at Nottingham | 0:37:07 | 0:37:16 | |
prison where a sea RC is providing
good through the gate services. That | 0:37:16 | 0:37:21 | |
did not exist before the reforms. I
don't believe this is a question of | 0:37:21 | 0:37:29 | |
whether it is done by the private or
public or voluntary sector, but it | 0:37:29 | 0:37:34 | |
is a question of getting basic
standards right. That is what we | 0:37:34 | 0:37:40 | |
will question the London CRC on on
Thursday. Putting it bluntly, | 0:37:40 | 0:37:48 | |
privation privatisation has been a
disaster. Despite this, the | 0:37:48 | 0:37:53 | |
government is still pursuing their
privatisation agenda. Last month, | 0:37:53 | 0:38:02 | |
hostels night staff was outsourced.
Will minister fully accept | 0:38:02 | 0:38:08 | |
responsibility for any impact
regarding this ideological | 0:38:08 | 0:38:16 | |
outsourcing? He is referring to a
decision made from a government run | 0:38:16 | 0:38:25 | |
service to bring in additional
contacted staff in to provide night | 0:38:25 | 0:38:31 | |
covered by these hostels. This is
traditionally work done by contacted | 0:38:31 | 0:38:38 | |
staff, but of course I accept full
responsibility for that decision. | 0:38:38 | 0:38:44 | |
This case is a matter for the Home
Office and police. I understand the | 0:38:44 | 0:38:49 | |
Home Office is working closely with
the MPC seek to understand the | 0:38:49 | 0:38:54 | |
impact of this ruling and monitor
current claims. Failures to disclose | 0:38:54 | 0:39:01 | |
digital evidence has led to the
collapse of four rape trials in | 0:39:01 | 0:39:05 | |
recent months. In light of the
recent ruling, the lack of | 0:39:05 | 0:39:12 | |
criminality now exposes the police
to huge problems. Will he make | 0:39:12 | 0:39:20 | |
representations to the Home Office
to carry out a full impact | 0:39:20 | 0:39:26 | |
assessment of this decision? In
terms of the disclosure cases, as | 0:39:26 | 0:39:31 | |
the Attorney General has said, it is
a question of public authorities | 0:39:31 | 0:39:36 | |
performing the roles that they
should do and doing their jobs | 0:39:36 | 0:39:41 | |
properly. And clearly it is of very
great concern that have been these | 0:39:41 | 0:39:45 | |
cases with this appears not to have
happened. I would like to express, | 0:39:45 | 0:39:55 | |
as I'm sure the whole house would,
our immense gratitude to the role | 0:39:55 | 0:40:00 | |
that service animals play and have
played for a long time in public | 0:40:00 | 0:40:03 | |
life. We do things frequently that
humans would not do. Ranging from | 0:40:03 | 0:40:10 | |
detection of bombs to drug
detention, to addressing violent | 0:40:10 | 0:40:14 | |
criminals. There are very serious
circumstances which a judge can take | 0:40:14 | 0:40:19 | |
into account when sentencing and
very serious sentences can put in | 0:40:19 | 0:40:24 | |
place for anyone attacking a service
animal and that is absolutely right. | 0:40:24 | 0:40:31 | |
A police dog was brutally stabbed
several times in my constituency. It | 0:40:31 | 0:40:45 | |
is not acceptable to treat a police
dog in the same way as a computer | 0:40:45 | 0:40:52 | |
regarding criminal damage. Will he
meet with me to discuss greater | 0:40:52 | 0:41:01 | |
protection for service animals? I
would like to pay tribute to the | 0:41:01 | 0:41:03 | |
active campaign led by the
honourable member and others. I | 0:41:03 | 0:41:07 | |
would be delighted to meeting to
discuss this law. | 0:41:07 | 0:41:15 | |
Given that Canada, America,
Australia and many of the European | 0:41:15 | 0:41:18 | |
member states have a similar law,
why did the Minister order the | 0:41:18 | 0:41:21 | |
Government to block the Bill last
Friday? As we have discussed, there | 0:41:21 | 0:41:28 | |
are already very significant
sentences that could be imposed | 0:41:28 | 0:41:31 | |
about to ten years for this kind of
action, but I would be delighted to | 0:41:31 | 0:41:35 | |
meet with the right honourable
member along with my honourable | 0:41:35 | 0:41:37 | |
friend to discuss this detail in
more detail. -- discuss this issue. | 0:41:37 | 0:41:45 | |
I am grateful for that kind offer,
and I would like to make the point | 0:41:45 | 0:41:48 | |
that there is a gap in the law here.
If you prosecute under the animal | 0:41:48 | 0:41:52 | |
welfare Act, they are legal
difficulties because of the drafting | 0:41:52 | 0:41:55 | |
of section four, and if you
prosecute the criminal damage, of | 0:41:55 | 0:42:01 | |
course the value of the animal is
the thing that determines the | 0:42:01 | 0:42:03 | |
sentence. Often a police dog like
Finn, who was eight years old, he is | 0:42:03 | 0:42:10 | |
not worth that much money. He is
invaluable to the police enforcement | 0:42:10 | 0:42:14 | |
efforts of this country, but he is
not worth a lot of money, so I'm | 0:42:14 | 0:42:18 | |
grateful the Minister will talk to
as about this. We can have a debate | 0:42:18 | 0:42:28 | |
about Finn of the honourable
gentleman has not already done so. I | 0:42:28 | 0:42:31 | |
have got a ten minute rule Bill as
well. The right honourable gentleman | 0:42:31 | 0:42:36 | |
is ahead of events! I was just
enjoying the family history the | 0:42:36 | 0:42:39 | |
honourable gentleman was educating
is about just now. Minister. My | 0:42:39 | 0:42:45 | |
honourable friend is of course a
great authority on the law. There | 0:42:45 | 0:42:48 | |
are a number of issues here bulletin
from the exact sentences that can be | 0:42:48 | 0:42:52 | |
put in place today to the work that
the secretary for environment food | 0:42:52 | 0:43:00 | |
and Google affairs is introducing an
animal cruelty. I look forward to | 0:43:00 | 0:43:04 | |
discussing these issues over a cup
of tea. -- rural affairs. | 0:43:04 | 0:43:19 | |
Health services are commissioned by
NHS England who are responsible for | 0:43:19 | 0:43:24 | |
assessing treatment of mental health
prisoners in England. In Wales, this | 0:43:24 | 0:43:27 | |
is devolved to the Welsh Government
were separate arrangements are made. | 0:43:27 | 0:43:31 | |
I think the honourable gentleman
might be a bit confused. I think the | 0:43:31 | 0:43:37 | |
Minister is asking a question that
would have been put the honourable | 0:43:37 | 0:43:40 | |
gentleman from Coventry have been
called earlier on different | 0:43:40 | 0:43:42 | |
question. The question was which we
are now dealing is number 16, on | 0:43:42 | 0:43:47 | |
levels of violence and self harm. It
is quite understandable. My | 0:43:47 | 0:43:55 | |
apologies. There have been worrying
increases in levels of violence and | 0:43:55 | 0:43:59 | |
self harm. A lot of this is driven
by new drugs, as I said earlier, | 0:43:59 | 0:44:06 | |
which are increasing psychotic
episodes. We are working hard on | 0:44:06 | 0:44:09 | |
this, having provided training to an
additional 14,000 prison officers | 0:44:09 | 0:44:13 | |
focused on issues of violence and
self harm. More staffing will help, | 0:44:13 | 0:44:18 | |
but there is much to do. The
Minister will be aware that self | 0:44:18 | 0:44:21 | |
harm in prisons has risen by 75%
since 2007. Whilst I appreciate the | 0:44:21 | 0:44:31 | |
Minister giving as the drivers for
pylons and self harming in prison, | 0:44:31 | 0:44:35 | |
can he tell us in more detail how he
is good to produce self harm and | 0:44:35 | 0:44:43 | |
suicide? Candidacy agree that part
of the solution is encouraging the | 0:44:43 | 0:44:46 | |
use of mental health treatment
procedures, which has fallen by 48%? | 0:44:46 | 0:44:53 | |
Absolutely correct that mental
health is at the heart of a lot of | 0:44:53 | 0:44:56 | |
these issues. Two things, though,
one of them is the training for | 0:44:56 | 0:45:01 | |
14,000 additional officers. The
second is the use of the process | 0:45:01 | 0:45:08 | |
assessing the risk posed to the
prisoner and planning to deal with | 0:45:08 | 0:45:12 | |
that. We have managed to reduce the
levels of suicide in the last 18 | 0:45:12 | 0:45:17 | |
months, but the level is still far
too high. Any death is a great | 0:45:17 | 0:45:21 | |
tragedy, we will continue to work
hard to reduce it forward. 62 years | 0:45:21 | 0:45:29 | |
ago, the then MP for Liverpool stood
in this chamber and raised concerns | 0:45:29 | 0:45:35 | |
about Liverpool prison. In the last
two years, seven prisoners have | 0:45:35 | 0:45:44 | |
taken their lives in that prison.
The Minister said on the 22nd of | 0:45:44 | 0:45:49 | |
February that the conditions at the
prison were disturbing and | 0:45:49 | 0:45:51 | |
unacceptable. What action will be
Minister take today to ensure that | 0:45:51 | 0:45:55 | |
all prisoners' mental health needs
are met, and no other prisoner takes | 0:45:55 | 0:45:59 | |
their life in one of our prisons? As
the honourable member has mentioned, | 0:45:59 | 0:46:07 | |
Liverpool was in was very
disturbing. Mental health provision | 0:46:07 | 0:46:11 | |
is now significantly better than it
was at the time of the inspection, | 0:46:11 | 0:46:14 | |
and I spend a lot of time with the
mental health staff there. But there | 0:46:14 | 0:46:19 | |
is a broader issue, although we are
producing suicide, that is still too | 0:46:19 | 0:46:22 | |
much of it happening, and a lot of
this will be about making sure that | 0:46:22 | 0:46:25 | |
we deal not only with the drugs, but
also have the right kind of | 0:46:25 | 0:46:31 | |
purposeful activity in prisons so
that prisoners do not feel the | 0:46:31 | 0:46:34 | |
temptation to take their own lives.
Question 17. The honourable member | 0:46:34 | 0:46:42 | |
is right to highlight the value of
our legal advice, which is why the | 0:46:42 | 0:46:45 | |
Government has spent a vast amount
of money on civil cases last year. | 0:46:45 | 0:46:53 | |
The Citizens Advice Bureau has
estimated that for every £1 spent on | 0:46:53 | 0:47:02 | |
advice, the state would save over
£2. So could the Minister met to | 0:47:02 | 0:47:10 | |
commissioning some research into the
cost effectiveness of introducing | 0:47:10 | 0:47:14 | |
early legal advice on the housing
sector so we can save money in the | 0:47:14 | 0:47:17 | |
long run? There is already a that
can be taken on a telephone hotline, | 0:47:17 | 0:47:24 | |
legal aid is available where
homelessness is at risk, and that | 0:47:24 | 0:47:27 | |
the latest almost lost. There's a
whole variety of early legal advice | 0:47:27 | 0:47:31 | |
available through legal aid at the
moment, but that's the honourable | 0:47:31 | 0:47:35 | |
member will know, we are conducting
a review and this issue will be | 0:47:35 | 0:47:41 | |
considered. Number 18, Mr Speaker.
Reducing reoffending is above all | 0:47:41 | 0:47:52 | |
about having a healthy relationship
between the individual and their | 0:47:52 | 0:47:57 | |
family, the individual and society,
the individual and the state. So | 0:47:57 | 0:48:00 | |
having devolution should put family
is vital. That is partly about the | 0:48:00 | 0:48:05 | |
prisoner's entitlement to two visits
a month. Some excellent examples, | 0:48:05 | 0:48:11 | |
such as Liverpool, a fantastic
family centre for a meeting with | 0:48:11 | 0:48:14 | |
family, and it is also about having
the telephony in place to keep those | 0:48:14 | 0:48:18 | |
contacts up. I thank the Minister
for his response. Does he agree with | 0:48:18 | 0:48:25 | |
the findings that by maintaining
family contact, you can reduce | 0:48:25 | 0:48:31 | |
reoffending by over 39%? Absolutely,
getting that family relationship | 0:48:31 | 0:48:37 | |
right, and bedding people with their
family is vital in terms of reducing | 0:48:37 | 0:48:40 | |
reoffending. Topical questions,
Priti Patel. For prisons to be | 0:48:40 | 0:48:49 | |
effective, we must get the basics
right. We must tackle the | 0:48:49 | 0:48:53 | |
ringleaders of serious organised
crime so that people cannot ruin | 0:48:53 | 0:49:01 | |
people's' glide from behind bars.
This includes creating a new team to | 0:49:01 | 0:49:12 | |
work with the National Crime Agency
and enhance our intelligence | 0:49:12 | 0:49:17 | |
gathering capacity across the
country. I will also look at how we | 0:49:17 | 0:49:20 | |
categorise prisoners to make sure we
are using our most secure prisons to | 0:49:20 | 0:49:25 | |
tackle ongoing offending behind
bars, and at the same time we will | 0:49:25 | 0:49:29 | |
improve our incentive scheme so they
will work more in the favour of | 0:49:29 | 0:49:34 | |
criminals who play by the rules. --
prisoners who play by the rules. As | 0:49:34 | 0:49:46 | |
part of the negotiations on leaving
the European Union, is my right | 0:49:46 | 0:49:51 | |
honourable friend liaising with
other departments to ensure that we | 0:49:51 | 0:49:56 | |
can deport thousands of EU nationals
in our prison and remove these | 0:49:56 | 0:49:59 | |
dangerous people from Britain? Since
2010, we have removed more than | 0:49:59 | 0:50:05 | |
40,000 foreign national offenders
from our presence. Immigration | 0:50:05 | 0:50:09 | |
centres in the community allow
foreign offenders to return to their | 0:50:09 | 0:50:16 | |
home country, and we are working
closely with the Home Office as we | 0:50:16 | 0:50:19 | |
consider our fuel future criminal
justice system with the aim of | 0:50:19 | 0:50:26 | |
carrying on how close working
relationship. Any formal statement, | 0:50:26 | 0:50:32 | |
the previous Secretary of State for
Justice said the Grenfell Tower | 0:50:32 | 0:50:35 | |
enquiry would get to the truth and
see justice done. For that to be the | 0:50:35 | 0:50:42 | |
case, survivors and their families
must have full confidence in it. To | 0:50:42 | 0:50:46 | |
tackle the current obvious lack of
trust, does the Minister agree with | 0:50:46 | 0:50:52 | |
survivors and believed family is
calling for a broad enquiry panel as | 0:50:52 | 0:50:54 | |
there was the watershed enquiry as
there wasn't the death of Stephen | 0:50:54 | 0:51:01 | |
Lawrence? The process has been set
up, and the enquiry is the right | 0:51:01 | 0:51:09 | |
approach, the focus should be on
ensuring that that enquiry is able | 0:51:09 | 0:51:12 | |
to make progress rather than trying
to undermine it. Family law has been | 0:51:12 | 0:51:20 | |
in need of reform for far too long.
We are now supporting early | 0:51:20 | 0:51:26 | |
intervention and wishing to carry
out a pilot scheme. We'll be | 0:51:26 | 0:51:29 | |
Minister meet with me to discuss how
we could make this excellent session | 0:51:29 | 0:51:34 | |
is reality? -- excellent solution. I
am aware of the importance of | 0:51:34 | 0:51:39 | |
looking at family law. Relationship
breakdown cannot read very much to | 0:51:39 | 0:51:47 | |
unwelcome life circumstances for
children. I'm happy to meet with the | 0:51:47 | 0:51:50 | |
honourable member. He should know
that I have already met with the | 0:51:50 | 0:51:55 | |
Chief Executive of the family Court,
I'm happy to discuss his issue. | 0:51:55 | 0:52:03 | |
There has already been a public
meeting in my constituency about the | 0:52:03 | 0:52:07 | |
prison. He will be delighted to know
we have organised another public | 0:52:07 | 0:52:10 | |
meeting on the 12th of April, to
which he has been invited. I would | 0:52:10 | 0:52:15 | |
really encourage him to come to meet
my constituents, to hear directly | 0:52:15 | 0:52:20 | |
their concerns, and I can guarantee
he will receive a warm welcome in | 0:52:20 | 0:52:22 | |
the valley. I am very grateful. As I
say, there's almost no member of | 0:52:22 | 0:52:28 | |
Parliament who has been more
assiduous in this subject. I think | 0:52:28 | 0:52:32 | |
five meetings in the last six weeks
on the subject. It was a very | 0:52:32 | 0:52:37 | |
vigorous encounter between my
officials and the honourable | 0:52:37 | 0:52:41 | |
member's community on that last
visit to Port Talbot. I would like | 0:52:41 | 0:52:43 | |
very much to have the next meeting
here in London if possible, I would | 0:52:43 | 0:52:47 | |
be delighted to have discuss issues
on that occasion. The Torbay | 0:52:47 | 0:52:55 | |
offender management team works to
reduce crime, and to prevent | 0:52:55 | 0:52:59 | |
reoffending. What movements has the
Lord Chancellor made to reducing | 0:52:59 | 0:53:05 | |
crime in Torbay? This is an
interesting example. It's in stars | 0:53:05 | 0:53:13 | |
that the Torbay approach is working
with police and children services, | 0:53:13 | 0:53:18 | |
the work they do with Catch-22 on
accommodation. In December, the | 0:53:18 | 0:53:26 | |
spate of deaths at Nottingham prison
was described to me as a random | 0:53:26 | 0:53:33 | |
occurrence. Last month, another
death was reported to be a suicide. | 0:53:33 | 0:53:39 | |
All ministers now except there is
nothing going on at this jail, this | 0:53:39 | 0:53:42 | |
is not a safe environment? I visited
HMP Nottingham last week, and today | 0:53:42 | 0:53:50 | |
serious was it. I would like to pay
to get to the prison officers and | 0:53:50 | 0:53:57 | |
the governor, but there are many
challenges that at present. We have | 0:53:57 | 0:54:00 | |
a new violence reduction strategy,
and the Act process will be central | 0:54:00 | 0:54:05 | |
in solving these problems. In 100
years' time, people will look at our | 0:54:05 | 0:54:10 | |
prisons the same way we look at
Victorian prisons, locking up too | 0:54:10 | 0:54:17 | |
many people with health problems.
One thing we could do is clear out | 0:54:17 | 0:54:21 | |
people serving less than a year in
prison, as it does no good and are | 0:54:21 | 0:54:25 | |
moved around. Will the Minister look
at this? It is true that many of the | 0:54:25 | 0:54:30 | |
serious challenges we have been
discussing in the House today, | 0:54:30 | 0:54:34 | |
particularly around violence, self
harm and drug use, focus on the | 0:54:34 | 0:54:38 | |
population in prison for less than
12 months. The more we can do to | 0:54:38 | 0:54:42 | |
rehabilitate people on the committee
while protecting the public, the | 0:54:42 | 0:54:45 | |
better. Since 2010, six successive
court ministers have dodged | 0:54:45 | 0:54:51 | |
indecision over the future of
Sunderland Courts estate, despite | 0:54:51 | 0:54:55 | |
spending over £2 million on
preparations for a new Centre for | 0:54:55 | 0:54:57 | |
Justice, a further £284,000 will now
be spent on repairs to the city's | 0:54:57 | 0:55:04 | |
crumbling Magistrates' Court as a
result of this delay. Will the | 0:55:04 | 0:55:08 | |
Minister meet with me to see if we
can put an end to this saga give the | 0:55:08 | 0:55:12 | |
people of Sunderland a decision at
the last? I thank the honourable | 0:55:12 | 0:55:16 | |
member for her question today. It
was a pleasure to meet with her | 0:55:16 | 0:55:20 | |
recently to discuss this issue, and
I'm grateful to her from following | 0:55:20 | 0:55:24 | |
up on Friday with an e-mail. Very
happy to meet with her again to | 0:55:24 | 0:55:28 | |
discuss this issue. I have sent her
a letter today setting out a | 0:55:28 | 0:55:32 | |
timetable, as I said I would, in
relation to the consideration of the | 0:55:32 | 0:55:36 | |
site going forward. When she has had
a chance to look at that, I am happy | 0:55:36 | 0:55:39 | |
to meet with her again. Does the
honourable member and we that we | 0:55:39 | 0:55:47 | |
could look at the records of
prisoners with good behaviour to | 0:55:47 | 0:55:53 | |
reduce reoffending in the future? If
there are prisoners who are abiding | 0:55:53 | 0:55:59 | |
by the rules, complying with what is
required of them, then governors | 0:55:59 | 0:56:06 | |
should have greater flexibility to
reward those prisoners with | 0:56:06 | 0:56:09 | |
additional privileges, and I think
that can help move people in the | 0:56:09 | 0:56:13 | |
right direction, change behaviour in
a positive way. The most recent | 0:56:13 | 0:56:18 | |
figures from the Department show
only 6% of employment Tribunal fees | 0:56:18 | 0:56:22 | |
have been repaid despite the Supreme
Court declared unlawful the previous | 0:56:22 | 0:56:27 | |
year. If the parliament cannot
uphold the law, how does it expect | 0:56:27 | 0:56:32 | |
anyone else to? | 0:56:32 | 0:56:40 | |
The department has a responsibility
for upholding the law and it does do | 0:56:40 | 0:56:44 | |
so. The department has done work in
identifying interested bodies. It | 0:56:44 | 0:56:51 | |
has written to the bar Council, to
the representation unit. New figures | 0:56:51 | 0:56:56 | |
will come out at the end of March --
on the 8th of March. Of people do | 0:56:56 | 0:57:04 | |
not get refunds, we will continue to
liaise with that. Could administer | 0:57:04 | 0:57:17 | |
discuss solutions for tackling
literacy problems? 54% of inmates | 0:57:17 | 0:57:26 | |
have a reading level lower than we
would expect from an 11-year-old. | 0:57:26 | 0:57:34 | |
Our solution is to give governors
more control of the education budget | 0:57:34 | 0:57:41 | |
and ensure literacy is available in
every prison as part of the core | 0:57:41 | 0:57:46 | |
curriculum. Are a hard-working
prison officers face daily violence | 0:57:46 | 0:57:56 | |
in their jobs. I would like to ask
the Minister a wider question. What | 0:57:56 | 0:58:04 | |
is the department doing to ensure
prison of us are given full support | 0:58:04 | 0:58:09 | |
when assaulted and mental health
services are better than what we are | 0:58:09 | 0:58:13 | |
now? We have a huge obligation to
prison officers, particularly when | 0:58:13 | 0:58:20 | |
the are assaulted. We need to make
sure prisoners are punished. Will | 0:58:20 | 0:58:26 | |
need to reduce drugs. We need to use
more CCTV cameras and body held | 0:58:26 | 0:58:34 | |
cameras to record salts. Prison
officer is must feel safe in our | 0:58:34 | 0:58:38 | |
environment. I very much hope the
Foreign Secretary is beetling his | 0:58:38 | 0:58:44 | |
way towards the chamber. Either he
himself one of his accomplices is | 0:58:44 | 0:58:56 | |
required in the chamber. We will not
take points of order no. We will | 0:58:56 | 0:59:11 | |
hear from the honourable gentleman
in due course. Stay in your seat. | 0:59:11 | 0:59:21 | |
Fiona Bruce. Can I commend the
Prisons' Minister for following only | 0:59:21 | 0:59:31 | |
success of his predecessor? | 0:59:31 | 0:59:41 | |
Very good of the Foreign Secretary
to drop in on us. I think the Member | 0:59:43 | 0:59:48 | |
for Congleton should be given the
chance to represent question. Will | 0:59:48 | 0:59:54 | |
the Prisons' Minister meet to
discuss the welfare of prisoners' | 0:59:54 | 0:59:59 | |
children? There are 200,000 such
children per year and the often fall | 0:59:59 | 1:00:06 | |
completely through the clear system.
One of the most terrifying statistic | 1:00:06 | 1:00:13 | |
is the very high number of
prisoners' children who then go on | 1:00:13 | 1:00:17 | |
to offend themselves. I would be
delighted to meet with the Minister | 1:00:17 | 1:00:21 | |
to discuss prisoners and their
families. What is the government | 1:00:21 | 1:00:26 | |
doing to reverse the dramatic fall
in community sentencing, that has | 1:00:26 | 1:00:31 | |
nearly halved in the past decade,
with a particularly sharp drop in | 1:00:31 | 1:00:35 | |
recent years? What I would say is
that we have seen an increase in | 1:00:35 | 1:00:45 | |
suspended sentences. The member is
right. We want to work closely with | 1:00:45 | 1:00:51 | |
the CRCs because it is right the
judiciary has confidence in | 1:00:51 | 1:00:59 | |
non-custodial sentences, as well as
custodial sentences. The Foreign | 1:00:59 | 1:01:04 | |
Secretary is scribbling away, but I
have an appetite to share a couple | 1:01:04 | 1:01:12 | |
more questions to the Justice
Secretary while the Right honourable | 1:01:12 | 1:01:16 | |
gentleman is recovering his breast.
Winnie is compulsory prisoner | 1:01:16 | 1:01:21 | |
transfer arrangements to send
foreign prisoners back to their own | 1:01:21 | 1:01:27 | |
countries. As I said earlier, in the
last few years, something like | 1:01:27 | 1:01:39 | |
40,000 foreign national offenders
have been returned to their own | 1:01:39 | 1:01:43 | |
countries. We continue to seek to
make progress and sign additional | 1:01:43 | 1:01:47 | |
agreements so we can continue to
progress this. Under the legal aid | 1:01:47 | 1:01:55 | |
sentencing and punishment of
offenders act, can the Minister | 1:01:55 | 1:01:58 | |
confirmed the impact of cuts to
legal aid and separated children | 1:01:58 | 1:02:05 | |
will be considered as part of the
act? The purpose of the review is to | 1:02:05 | 1:02:12 | |
look at the effectiveness of the
legislation that was brought | 1:02:12 | 1:02:17 | |
forward, so any changes that were
made by the last vote will be under | 1:02:17 | 1:02:28 | |
review? So what exactly has happened
at the chaplaincy at HMP Brixton? | 1:02:28 | 1:02:35 | |
Brilliant question. I'm still trying
to get to the bottom of it and I | 1:02:35 | 1:02:38 | |
cannot provide an answer to the
House. If he is in a generous mood, | 1:02:38 | 1:02:51 | |
he might offer copies to members in
the House and the gallery, regarding | 1:02:51 | 1:03:07 | |
succinct questions. Last week, the
Justice Secretary raised some | 1:03:07 | 1:03:18 | |
important issues regarding virtual
courts. Why is he rushing to close | 1:03:18 | 1:03:24 | |
courts like the one in Cambridge,
when we are yet to have the wider | 1:03:24 | 1:03:28 | |
discussion about virtual courts? It
is important that we make progress | 1:03:28 | 1:03:36 | |
in terms of using the court estate
as sensibly as possible. Resources | 1:03:36 | 1:03:45 | |
are scarce. It is right that we make
advantages in using digital | 1:03:45 | 1:03:51 | |
technology so access to judgment
becomes easier. Last weekend, prison | 1:03:51 | 1:03:58 | |
of us Bedford was rushed to hospital
with a serious brain injury | 1:03:58 | 1:04:02 | |
inflicted by a prisoner. Another
serious incident occurred at the | 1:04:02 | 1:04:06 | |
weekend with prison officers running
for their lives to hide from | 1:04:06 | 1:04:10 | |
out-of-control prisoners. The
weekend before, five prison officers | 1:04:10 | 1:04:14 | |
were taken to A&E with injuries
inflicted from prisoners. Will | 1:04:14 | 1:04:20 | |
prison officer have to die before
his government will act to keep | 1:04:20 | 1:04:24 | |
prison staff safe in the line of
duty? The events in Bedford at the | 1:04:24 | 1:04:29 | |
weekend were deeply disturbing and
the sympathy of the whole house goes | 1:04:29 | 1:04:33 | |
to that prison officer and his
family. In terms of violence against | 1:04:33 | 1:04:37 | |
prison officers, that is an
unacceptable level. Nearly 8000 | 1:04:37 | 1:04:44 | |
incidents last year. And, as I set
out in a speech this morning, we | 1:04:44 | 1:04:49 | |
have to take this regrettably
seriously and recognise the driver | 1:04:49 | 1:04:52 | |
of a lot of this violence is drugs
and we need to recognise the driver | 1:04:52 | 1:04:56 | |
of a lot of drugs in prison is
serious organised and. I want to | 1:04:56 | 1:05:00 | |
ensure we do all we can to address
that because the prison officers | 1:05:00 | 1:05:06 | |
drew a great job and it is far too
dangerous for them. Dignity plc, the | 1:05:06 | 1:05:16 | |
National Association of funeral
directors, 50 Parisian parents in | 1:05:16 | 1:05:26 | |
Hull are still seeking an
independent enquiry into what | 1:05:26 | 1:05:29 | |
happened to their babies' Ashes.
Hull City Council have refused to | 1:05:29 | 1:05:36 | |
have that independent enquiry. This
situation was problematic. My heart | 1:05:36 | 1:05:52 | |
goes out to all the people involved.
Clearly it was very traumatic. The | 1:05:52 | 1:05:58 | |
review was comprehensive. Instead of
its in-house review, shouldn't | 1:05:58 | 1:06:05 | |
ministers follow the excellent
example of the Scottish Government | 1:06:05 | 1:06:08 | |
with an independent review of legal
aid? The review of legal aid is | 1:06:08 | 1:06:15 | |
going to be an important one. It
will be -- we will be inviting a | 1:06:15 | 1:06:22 | |
number of experts to give evidence
on the review, someone will have | 1:06:22 | 1:06:26 | |
independent evidence to make
decisions necessary we need to take | 1:06:26 | 1:06:31 | |
forward. The Secretary of State will
know that even the best justice | 1:06:31 | 1:06:35 | |
system has miscarriages of justice.
Will he pay attention to the fact | 1:06:35 | 1:06:39 | |
that so many people who were later
found to be innocent and had | 1:06:39 | 1:06:43 | |
sentences quashed never get any
compensation at all? Well, in terms | 1:06:43 | 1:06:53 | |
of the pointy rages, it is an
important one and I'm happy to meet | 1:06:53 | 1:06:56 | |
with him | 1:06:56 | 1:06:57 |