Live Justice Questions House of Commons

round-up of the Day in both Houses

of Parliament at 11pm tonight.

First, questions to the Justice

Secretary David Gower and his team

of ministers.

With permission, I

would like to answer questions one

and two. Maintaining access to

justice is a key principle when

changes to the estate are proposed.

Reassessed travel time for court

users. Decisions to close a court is

never taken likely. Reform programme

will improve access to justice for

many users, while online proceedings

and video courts will make access

easier.

In my constituency, Buxton

Court closed in 2016. Some of my

constituents now have to travel 40

miles to Chesterfield Court. Police

say it takes them a whole day to

take someone to court, instead of

less than half a day. It impacts the

number of offenders they can bring

to court and to justice in my area.

Please will he take this into

account and the current

consultation?

Ungrateful for those

comments, but we also have to take

into account that during the

financial year, 41% of court

tribunal is used less than half of

their available hearing capacity.

Across the country, courts are

utilised at 58% of their capacity.

In those circumstances, we have to

make decisions about the reforms we

undertake.

Thank you. I have been

raising concerns about the closure

of Lambeth County Court for two

years. My constituents facing the

repossession of their homes must now

attempt Clerkenwell County Court

which lawyers report to be a chaotic

environment, impossible to contact

by telephone, where cases files

frequently go missing, and where the

number of those failing to attend is

rocketing.

The reality is we are

undertaking a series of reforms

here, making much greater use of

digital technology, increasing

access to online ways of dealing

with this. And these are... This is

an important modernisation that the

court system needs.

Very sadly, we

have lost our Magistrates' Court in

Kettering which I believe is a

mistake. It means witnesses are all

having to travel further. I think

the closure of courts sends up a

signal to the magistrate that they

are not valued. Can we get rid of

this ridiculous age limit where by

magistrates have to retire at 70?

Ungrateful to him for raising this

point. Is a matter that I have

received representations upon. That

is consistent with what happens

elsewhere in the judiciary, but I'm

conscious this will continue to be a

matter of some debate.

The

government is continuing to cut

court staff, closing Court and

signing millions of pounds for the

digitisation programme. Will the

Minister promised not to close any

more courts or sign contracts until

the court bill is published and the

matter has been debated fully in

this chamber?

I hope to be able to

bring forward further news, in terms

of the Courts Bill in the near

future. But I'm not going to give

that undertaking. I think it is

important that we continue to look

to get the best out of the resources

that we have and if that means

reforms here in making greater use

of digital technology and also

ensuring that our courts stay as

efficient as possible, we will

continue to do so.

I understand that

the honourable member for Rochdale

has got a great interest in this

area and did a lot of work when he

was the PPC of Greater Manchester.

It is right that cases come to court

as quickly as possible. Timeliness

in a criminal court system is

improving. From listening to

completion, the average is down to

27 days. Unfortunately, as he will

know, there are particular

challenges in relation to six

offences where it takes longer for

cases to come to court.

The Minister

is right. There are complexities,

but in cases where there are

legitimate adjournments this can

lead to months of delay and

sometimes it takes years before

victims come to court. Victims are

already traumatised by what has

happened to them. Can we make them a

priority?

Here's right. We need to

be extremely careful with vulnerable

witnesses to ensure they have

justice. Were bringing in measures

and rolling out the taking of their

evidence to ensure that they can do

that pre-trial and therefore safely,

which will speed up justice. As he

knows, we are hoping to bring

forward the courts bill which will

ensure the streamlining of justice,

doing away with unnecessary

hearings, which will hopefully speed

up access to justice.

Can administer

further outline what training

lawyers get when handling vulnerable

witnesses?

In family court, all

judges have training regarding

vulnerable witnesses. I'm sure the

CPS have training as well.

We are

committed to improving the

experiences of those who have become

victims of crime. By the summer, we

will publish our victim strategy.

The key area of which is how we can

improve interactions with the

criminal justice system.

Does he

agree that the video hearing system

will improve the system and increase

capacity?

He is right. Ensuring the

easiest possible way for people to

give evidence is part of our

efficiency strategy.

The Serious

Case Review into the appalling

sexual abuse of girls and vulnerable

adults in Newcastle was published

last month. Whilst generally

praising the actions of local

authorities, it raised significant

concerns about the way victims of

these appalling crimes were

supported and made to relive

harrowing experiences. Will the

Minister be responding directly to

the recommendations of the Spicer

review?

I thank the honourable lady

for her question. The Department is

aware of the Serious Case Review

concerning sexual exploitation of

children. The details are shocking.

We are looking at ways to

continually improve our service and

I will be writing to her with

regards to whether we will respond

directly to that.

The Scottish

Government is bringing in

legislation to prevent people from

civil court fees. Discussions is he

having about lessons to be learned?

I think there are plenty to learn

from what is happening in Scotland.

Discussions continue on a regular

basis and I look forward to learning

from Scotland in the future.

The

government had plans to legislate to

ban alleged domestic abusers from

cross examining their victims in

family courts. Did the Minister say

of this is still government policy?

And if so, when such a provision

will be put before this House? Every

time there is a delay, the more

vulnerable people get traumatised in

court.

He is spot on. It is wrong

that this behaviour in the courts is

not acceptable. We will bring

forward details of this in our bill

later this year.

The court

experience can be a will bewildering

one. From feeling like a different

planet. Not helped by the fact that

72% of court judges are men. It is

International Women's Day on

Thursday. Will the government commit

to a time still to ensuring that 50%

of judges are female?

I think it

would be appropriate if the numbers

of women in that position in our

society was greater. I will be

visiting HMP Bronzefield on Thursday

evening. I cannot commit to a

timetable. I will take away her

suggestion.

Thank you. As the House

will be aware, in 1988, a major

change in the law was brought in to

allow victims to be able to

challenge unduly lenient sentences.

At the moment, that applies to the

most serious indictable offences,

but the government has recently

extended it to a range of terrorist

offences.

I am grateful for that answer, but

the Government has promised to

extended to include a further range

of offences. Can I ask when the

Government is good to extend the

number of cases, as we have been

promised for quite some time?

Already said in my answer. Already

the most serious offences such as

murder are covered by the scheme. We

have extended it twice in the last

few years, but we are talking very

closely to my right honourable

friend the Attorney General to look

at other opportunities for extending

the scheme.

Mr Speaker, the

Secretary of State will know that I

regularly writes to him about an

unduly lenient and unduly severe

sentences. I never seem to get a

reply. The fact is, too many women

are locked up for non-violent

offences for long periods of time,

and that is the sort of case that I

writes to him about. Why don't we

ever did any comeback?

It is

reassuring to know that I am not the

only person to whom the honourable

gentleman regularly writes.

To go to

the nub of the honourable member's

question, I think there is a very

serious issue here, that as it is

absolutely true that there are many

more women in prison than we would

like to see, and my honourable

friend is working very hard to juice

that population for exactly the

reasons the honourable member has

raised. -- to produce that

population. -- reduce.

A criminal

case can be very traumatised in the

victims. Would the Minister look at

introducing a discretion in relation

to the 20 day limit?

An interesting

question. Perhaps we could sit down

to discuss this interesting idea in

more detail.

Question six. With your

permission, I would like to take

questions six, 14 and 23 together.

Skilled professional prison officers

are at the centre of running and

good prisons. That is why we are

committed to recruiting 2500 extra

prison officers, and we are now nine

months ahead of target on delivering

those officers.

I welcome the

Government making progress in

recruiting extra prison officers,

but will the Minister reassure the

House that he is making every effort

to retain the services of

experienced and long serving

officers who are absolutely

essential for entering new recruits

into the service?

Absolutely. As the

honourable member points out, this

is not just about numbers. Working

in a prison is very challenging, and

having the experience to do it is

vital, so we are bringing incentive

schemes in place to try to retain

our most experienced staff and

understanding the cases where they

do leave why they are leaving.

There

is a huge opportunity for

rehabilitation in prisons, which is

often not taken, so what we have a

lot of capacity will this increase

in prison officers create?

The

central objective of bringing in

2500 extra prison officers is to

allow us to pair each individual

prison officer with six prisoners,

which allows them to develop their

individual personal relationship

over time through weekly meetings,

exactly to achieve the

rehabilitative and educational

objectives that we need to reduce

reoffending and protect the public.

The redevelopment of one prison will

provide many employment

opportunities across

Northamptonshire including in my

constituency. What does the

Government doing to attract local

people into the role, including for

example former members of the Armed

Forces?

I'm very pleased this has

been raised. Almost 40% of prison

officers traditionally came from the

Armed Forces. That number is

reduced. We are now working closely

with the MOD to explain what an

interesting career this can be

entered in much advertising, but

although it is a very challenging

career, it can also be deeply

fulfilling, we would like to

encourage mini more people to come

forward into the profession.

What

effect does the Minister expect

regarding the shortage of prison

officers on the number of suicides

and self harm and prisons?

There is

a number of drivers on suicide and

self harm, and of course numbers of

staff is one of them. There are

other questions around it, probably

the largest single driver that we

have seen, though, since 2011 is

drugs which are creating

extraordinary psychotic episodes and

leading to directing creases and

violence. We must address this. --

direct increases.

This in

recruitment drive is welcome, but

isn't it true that we are now just

catching up? Staff at a young

offenders institution in my

constituency fell by a third in 2013

to 461, with huge impact on the

Government and staff, with that

institution having been deemed

unsafe for both staff and prisoners.

Is it not time that the Government

now commits to working closely with

staff and the prison officers

Association to tackle this crisis

and ensure we get back on track with

rehabilitation for young offenders?

100%, we will be working very

closely with prison officers on

exactly this reason, and is the

honourable member points out,

getting the numbers right will be

vital. Those 2500 ex-prison officers

are vital to get that one to sex

ratio we need for rehabilitation. --

one to six.

Ministers talk of

finally addressing a crisis they

made by axing some in a prison

officers, yet since the so-called

recruitment drive began, over a

third of high security prisons have

actually had a fall in the number of

prison officers, so could the

Secretary of State guaranteed today

that these high security prisons

will have more staff by the next

justice questions?

One of the

challenges around the high security

state, particularly in places like

London, has been around the

employment opportunities. We have

put new incentives in place to

recruit people in London, both a

signing on bonus and a retention

bonus. I am not in a position to

guarantee exactly the employment

market, but we are making a lot of

recruitment in places such as

Belmont high security prison in

London.

Nearly one in four prisons

have seen prison officers fall since

the Government's recruitment drive

began. We have a problem with

experience officers leaving the

service, creating a dangerous

cocktail of inexperienced officers

and expedients prisoners. In the

last year alone, 1000 prison

officers with more than five years'

experience each have left the

service. That is the equivalent of

over 5000 years of experience lost

in the prison service in the last

year alone. So will be Secretary of

State guaranteed that there will be

more prison officers were five

years' experience at the end of the

year and now? -- than now?

The

fundamental point that is right, we

need experienced prison officers. It

is very difficult working in a

prison. You can bring in huge

numbers of new junior staff, but

unless they have the experience, it

is good to be difficult to get those

kind of results. We therefore have a

plan where we have targeted the

presence was the most experienced

officers and understanding why that

is happening, and we are putting

both work with staff in place and

financial incentives in place to

retain those experienced staff.

The

new recruits are welcome, but senior

officers are also important. I am

told that on certain grades, prison

staff acting up to higher roles are

paid more than if they accepted the

actual promotion, and this acts as a

disincentive to staff looking to

take on more responsibility. Can my

right honourable friend look into

this anomaly?

I would like to take

this opportunity to pay tribute to

the work of the honourable member

for jump-start, particularly on

prisons and for advocating for the

prison population there. It is true

that there is a very strange anomaly

in the HR procedure, and we must

tackle this. It cannot make sense

that people are paid more to Act up

and occupy the role. We want people

to have career development, and we

will move for that immediately.

Question seven.

There were an

average 11,200 prisoners in prison

workshops. Also in 2016, 2048

individuals will do some temporary

licence for work-related purposes.

The new futures network will aim to

get even more prisoners working

during their sentence, and for that

work to lead to employment on

release.

I know he is new in office,

but Ramby Prison has been waiting

for two years now to create the

sport facilities they are capable of

building, but the one thing they

have not been given as the

permission to proceed by the

Secretary of State to do this

commercial work. Can I incentivise

him with perhaps a cup of tea

afterwards in order to concentrate

his mind on why this decision needs

to be made urgently by him?

Certainly the prospect of a cup of

tea with the honourable gentleman

does concentrate the mind. And I

would be delighted to accept his

invitation. But in terms of what we

are trying to do is we are... Wants

to ensure that we have got a prison

system that encourages people to

progress, to have opportunities to

gain experience in the work, and I'm

keen to do that in this post.

And

the honourable gentleman's officer

might be thought to be a divisional

proposition.

The Secretary of

State's speech this morning and the

emphasis of more use an temporary

licence is extremely welcome and

constructive. Will he also bear in

mind that at the moment, they

through the gate programme involves

careers and implement advice

happening on the towards the end of

a prisoner's sentence, while all

evidence suggests that it should

happen much earlier?

I think the

chair of the Justice select

committee for his comments, and it

is the case that we want to see what

we can do in terms of release on

temporary licence, whether we can

expand that provide. Trinity is more

widely. And in terms of his second

point, I'm keen to ensure that we

provide as much support as possible,

and make it clear that there is a

second chance for people who have

gone to prison. If they abide by the

rules, they comply by the system, we

want to give them the support they

need to turn their lives around.

We'll be Secretary of State consider

what can be done to facilitate

prisoners in applying for Universal

Credit before the release in order

that they can receive the support of

job centre and other staff

immediately on police to move into

to paid work as quickly as possible?

-- will be Secretary of State

consider?

A good point, I am keen to

do that. A lot of good work goes on

in prisons, with work cultures in

particular prisons providing that

support. One of the challenges in

terms of access to e-mails, and we

need to look very careful at the

large number of questions that

raises, but I think you are right to

raise this point.

Work experience in

prison is proven to reduce

reoffending, so does the Secretary

of State believe that while we

rightly praise those who offer

former offenders work experience, we

need to call out those employers who

have a blanket ban on employing

ex-offenders unrelated to any

reasonable or fair risk assessment

of doing so?

I agree with my

honourable friend. I have certainly

seen surveys suggesting something

like 50% of employers and we will

not engage, and what is frustrating

is that when you do speak to those

employers who do take on extra

fenders, actually their experiences

are frequently very positive indeed.

I think if we can increasingly build

a culture whereby those offenders

are given that opportunity, think

that is good for the offenders and

good for society as it will reduce

reoffending.

Question eight, please.

I believe the honourable member and

myself have discussed this issue

something like five times in the

last six weeks. I would like to be

attributed to him as being a very

firm advocate for as commodities, we

have listened very carefully to his

complaints. A decision on this

prison is not likely, the

construction is not likely to be

imminent, but I would like to say in

addition to listen to those

complaints, that a prison built in

the right place in the right way,

can provide is another good economic

opportunities for an area.

I think

the Minister for his answer, but the

problem is the proposed site is

right next to residential areas,

schools, and a care home, surrounded

by very poor transport links on the

Des admitted enterprise zone on

marshland, and restricted by a

covenant saying that it can only be

used as an industrial park. --

designated enterprise zone. The

Minister must agree with me that the

whole idea is a nonstarter and

should be scrapped with immediate

effect.

The honourable member has

made these points on a number of

occasions, we are listening

carefully. Indeed, two members of

our department travelled to Port

Talbot to a meeting where these

points were raised repeatedly. We

are listening very carefully to the

honourable member.

Would there be an

answer to the honourable gentleman

on the industrial estate if any new

prison fully incorporated the work

of 131 Solutions, designed over six

years ago to increase the productive

and commercial output from

prisoners, and the numbers given by

the Justice Secretary right now

suggest we have not actually made

very much progress in the numbers of

prisoners who are working. Any new

prison will include 131 Solutions,

and how are we getting on with

prisoners working overall?

Thank you. Forward very much to

meeting with the Right honourable

member to hear more about 131

solutions.

If a super present is

built in Port Talbot, there will be

up to 1000 more prison places than

there are prisoners from Wales. Is

Wales set to become a penal colony

for Westminster?

I think we want to

be very careful with this kind of

language. There are currently about

85,000 prisoners within the estate.

Having a 1000 extra prisoners in

Wales is not the creation of an

English penal colony.

Will he ensure

its chaplaincy avoids the

extraordinary carrying one that has

recently been reported at HMP

Brixton?

I would like to take this

opportunity to pay tribute in

general to the work of the

chaplaincy. That is both a Christian

chaplaincy, the Jewish chaplaincy

and the imams with whom I have

recently met.

We are seeking a new

deep partnership across the whole of

the UK. In the negotiations over

market access for the criminal

justice system, I want to deal with

all nations in the UK and it is why

my department is meeting regularly

with the devolved administrations to

discuss EU except.

The Scottish

Government's legal continuity bill

gives the Scottish parliament and

enhanced role in scrutinising laws

due to Brexit.

In terms of what is

described as the continuity bill,

I'm not sure in all honesty how

helpful or a useful that will prove

to be. Of the reality is there is

very close scrutiny in this House of

the measures the government is

taking and the negotiations we are

taking.

We are saving up the Member

for the next question. He will have

a short wait.

Can I ask the Minister

if he is looking forward to April

next year when the jurisdictions

across the United Kingdom will be

able to meet the demands of the

people across United Kingdom?

As we

leave the European Union, new

flexibilities will arise for all

parts of the United Kingdom.

Unlike

the EU withdrawal bill, the Scottish

Government's legal continuity bill

contains a power for Scots law to

keep pace with European law post

Brexit if appropriate. Does he agree

that a similar measure should be

taken for the English legal system?

In terms of the extent to which this

parliament decides to replicate EU

law, that is a matter for this

parliament and whether we put that

in the EU withdrawal bill or not,

that freedom will continue to exist

for this Parliament.

Another point

of contrast between the Westminster

proposal and the Scottish

Government's proposal is that

fundamental rights are included.

What is he doing to ensure that

everyone in the United Kingdom keeps

their rights from the charter

regardless of which jurisdiction

they reside in?

The argument was

made at that time that it was

essentially replicating rights that

were set out elsewhere in other

parts of EU treaties, so the extent

to which that fundamentally changes

matters, I think there is a debate

to be had on that.

With your

permission, I would like to take

questions ten, 20 and 21 together.

It is right to give legal certainty

for families and individuals after

we leave the EU. The Prime Minister

said on Friday that part of our

arrangement will be dealing with

cross-border disputes. The best way

to deal with that is a close

encumbrance of agreement between the

UK and the EU, setting out common

rules.

Leaving the EU is likely to

lead to additional workload for the

UK legal system. What additional

resources have been made available

to his apartment and to the legal

system more generally to ensure they

are fully prepared for this?

I thank

him for that question. He will be

aware of the Treasury has made

another £3 billion worth of extra

funding available to departments for

2018-2020. We are in discussion with

the Treasury about the allocation

for the justice system and hope to

agree that soon.

As we leave the

European Union, many aspects of our

legal system will return to

Brussels. Does he agree with me that

the SNP's disruptive bill will do

nothing but add uncertainty to our

country?

We are committed to

providing a bill which works for all

parts of the UK. The government

believes that leaving the EU will

significantly increase the

decision-making of all devolved

administrations in the UK.

Legal

services is a key exporter of this

country. What is he doing to ensure

there will be new arrangement for

legal recognitions of standards and

qualifications?

We recognise this is

an important right to protect for UK

nationals, so they can continue with

their chosen line of work.

Talks on many key issues, including

mutual recognition of professional

qualifications will continue into

the next phase of negotiations. We

will seek to reach an agreement with

the EU, and the Prime Minister has

been clear she wants EU nationals in

the UK and UK nationals in the EU to

be able to continue their lives

broadly as no.

We are not likely to reach question

number 19.

As the Prime Minister has

made a number of concessions

regarding the European Court of

Human Rights after Brexit, when

exercising devolved jurisdiction,

isn't it time to amend clause six of

the EU withdrawal bill to the same

effect?

In terms of clause six and

this question more widely, let's be

clear. We are leaving the EU so that

jurisdiction of the ECJ will end.

The ECJ determines whether an

agreement is struck illegal under

the EU on law. Of Parliament passes

an identical law to EU law, it makes

sense for our courts to look at the

ECJ judgment to be consistent. We

have to remain our parliament would

ultimately remain sovereign and it

could decide not to accept these

rules, but with consequences for

linked market access rights.

There

have been a number of challenges,

particularly with transition.

Reoffending has come down. In

Cumbria, we are performing well. We

need to focus particularly on the

questions of assessment, planning

and eating. This is what we focused

on regarding the report into London

due on Monday.

Private sector

provision companies focus on

contract compliance, rather than the

true quality of supervision. It was

undermining the established values

of professionals. Does he agree it

is time to put proper probation

ahead of private profit?

I had an

interesting meeting at Nottingham

prison where a sea RC is providing

good through the gate services. That

did not exist before the reforms. I

don't believe this is a question of

whether it is done by the private or

public or voluntary sector, but it

is a question of getting basic

standards right. That is what we

will question the London CRC on on

Thursday.

Putting it bluntly,

privation privatisation has been a

disaster. Despite this, the

government is still pursuing their

privatisation agenda. Last month,

hostels night staff was outsourced.

Will minister fully accept

responsibility for any impact

regarding this ideological

outsourcing?

He is referring to a

decision made from a government run

service to bring in additional

contacted staff in to provide night

covered by these hostels. This is

traditionally work done by contacted

staff, but of course I accept full

responsibility for that decision.

This case is a matter for the Home

Office and police. I understand the

Home Office is working closely with

the MPC seek to understand the

impact of this ruling and monitor

current claims.

Failures to disclose

digital evidence has led to the

collapse of four rape trials in

recent months. In light of the

recent ruling, the lack of

criminality now exposes the police

to huge problems. Will he make

representations to the Home Office

to carry out a full impact

assessment of this decision?

In

terms of the disclosure cases, as

the Attorney General has said, it is

a question of public authorities

performing the roles that they

should do and doing their jobs

properly. And clearly it is of very

great concern that have been these

cases with this appears not to have

happened.

I would like to express,

as I'm sure the whole house would,

our immense gratitude to the role

that service animals play and have

played for a long time in public

life. We do things frequently that

humans would not do. Ranging from

detection of bombs to drug

detention, to addressing violent

criminals. There are very serious

circumstances which a judge can take

into account when sentencing and

very serious sentences can put in

place for anyone attacking a service

animal and that is absolutely right.

A police dog was brutally stabbed

several times in my constituency. It

is not acceptable to treat a police

dog in the same way as a computer

regarding criminal damage. Will he

meet with me to discuss greater

protection for service animals?

I

would like to pay tribute to the

active campaign led by the

honourable member and others. I

would be delighted to meeting to

discuss this law.

Given that Canada, America,

Australia and many of the European

member states have a similar law,

why did the Minister order the

Government to block the Bill last

Friday?

As we have discussed, there

are already very significant

sentences that could be imposed

about to ten years for this kind of

action, but I would be delighted to

meet with the right honourable

member along with my honourable

friend to discuss this detail in

more detail. -- discuss this issue.

I am grateful for that kind offer,

and I would like to make the point

that there is a gap in the law here.

If you prosecute under the animal

welfare Act, they are legal

difficulties because of the drafting

of section four, and if you

prosecute the criminal damage, of

course the value of the animal is

the thing that determines the

sentence. Often a police dog like

Finn, who was eight years old, he is

not worth that much money. He is

invaluable to the police enforcement

efforts of this country, but he is

not worth a lot of money, so I'm

grateful the Minister will talk to

as about this.

We can have a debate

about Finn of the honourable

gentleman has not already done so.

I

have got a ten minute rule Bill as

well.

The right honourable gentleman

is ahead of events! I was just

enjoying the family history the

honourable gentleman was educating

is about just now. Minister.

My

honourable friend is of course a

great authority on the law. There

are a number of issues here bulletin

from the exact sentences that can be

put in place today to the work that

the secretary for environment food

and Google affairs is introducing an

animal cruelty. I look forward to

discussing these issues over a cup

of tea. -- rural affairs.

Health services are commissioned by

NHS England who are responsible for

assessing treatment of mental health

prisoners in England. In Wales, this

is devolved to the Welsh Government

were separate arrangements are made.

I think the honourable gentleman

might be a bit confused. I think the

Minister is asking a question that

would have been put the honourable

gentleman from Coventry have been

called earlier on different

question. The question was which we

are now dealing is number 16, on

levels of violence and self harm. It

is quite understandable.

My

apologies. There have been worrying

increases in levels of violence and

self harm. A lot of this is driven

by new drugs, as I said earlier,

which are increasing psychotic

episodes. We are working hard on

this, having provided training to an

additional 14,000 prison officers

focused on issues of violence and

self harm. More staffing will help,

but there is much to do.

The

Minister will be aware that self

harm in prisons has risen by 75%

since 2007. Whilst I appreciate the

Minister giving as the drivers for

pylons and self harming in prison,

can he tell us in more detail how he

is good to produce self harm and

suicide? Candidacy agree that part

of the solution is encouraging the

use of mental health treatment

procedures, which has fallen by 48%?

Absolutely correct that mental

health is at the heart of a lot of

these issues. Two things, though,

one of them is the training for

14,000 additional officers. The

second is the use of the process

assessing the risk posed to the

prisoner and planning to deal with

that. We have managed to reduce the

levels of suicide in the last 18

months, but the level is still far

too high. Any death is a great

tragedy, we will continue to work

hard to reduce it forward.

62 years

ago, the then MP for Liverpool stood

in this chamber and raised concerns

about Liverpool prison. In the last

two years, seven prisoners have

taken their lives in that prison.

The Minister said on the 22nd of

February that the conditions at the

prison were disturbing and

unacceptable. What action will be

Minister take today to ensure that

all prisoners' mental health needs

are met, and no other prisoner takes

their life in one of our prisons?

As

the honourable member has mentioned,

Liverpool was in was very

disturbing. Mental health provision

is now significantly better than it

was at the time of the inspection,

and I spend a lot of time with the

mental health staff there. But there

is a broader issue, although we are

producing suicide, that is still too

much of it happening, and a lot of

this will be about making sure that

we deal not only with the drugs, but

also have the right kind of

purposeful activity in prisons so

that prisoners do not feel the

temptation to take their own lives.

Question 17.

The honourable member

is right to highlight the value of

our legal advice, which is why the

Government has spent a vast amount

of money on civil cases last year.

The Citizens Advice Bureau has

estimated that for every £1 spent on

advice, the state would save over

£2. So could the Minister met to

commissioning some research into the

cost effectiveness of introducing

early legal advice on the housing

sector so we can save money in the

long run?

There is already a that

can be taken on a telephone hotline,

legal aid is available where

homelessness is at risk, and that

the latest almost lost. There's a

whole variety of early legal advice

available through legal aid at the

moment, but that's the honourable

member will know, we are conducting

a review and this issue will be

considered.

Number 18, Mr Speaker.

Reducing reoffending is above all

about having a healthy relationship

between the individual and their

family, the individual and society,

the individual and the state. So

having devolution should put family

is vital. That is partly about the

prisoner's entitlement to two visits

a month. Some excellent examples,

such as Liverpool, a fantastic

family centre for a meeting with

family, and it is also about having

the telephony in place to keep those

contacts up.

I thank the Minister

for his response. Does he agree with

the findings that by maintaining

family contact, you can reduce

reoffending by over 39%?

Absolutely,

getting that family relationship

right, and bedding people with their

family is vital in terms of reducing

reoffending.

Topical questions,

Priti Patel.

For prisons to be

effective, we must get the basics

right. We must tackle the

ringleaders of serious organised

crime so that people cannot ruin

people's' glide from behind bars.

This includes creating a new team to

work with the National Crime Agency

and enhance our intelligence

gathering capacity across the

country. I will also look at how we

categorise prisoners to make sure we

are using our most secure prisons to

tackle ongoing offending behind

bars, and at the same time we will

improve our incentive scheme so they

will work more in the favour of

criminals who play by the rules. --

prisoners who play by the rules.

As

part of the negotiations on leaving

the European Union, is my right

honourable friend liaising with

other departments to ensure that we

can deport thousands of EU nationals

in our prison and remove these

dangerous people from Britain?

Since

2010, we have removed more than

40,000 foreign national offenders

from our presence. Immigration

centres in the community allow

foreign offenders to return to their

home country, and we are working

closely with the Home Office as we

consider our fuel future criminal

justice system with the aim of

carrying on how close working

relationship.

Any formal statement,

the previous Secretary of State for

Justice said the Grenfell Tower

enquiry would get to the truth and

see justice done. For that to be the

case, survivors and their families

must have full confidence in it. To

tackle the current obvious lack of

trust, does the Minister agree with

survivors and believed family is

calling for a broad enquiry panel as

there was the watershed enquiry as

there wasn't the death of Stephen

Lawrence?

The process has been set

up, and the enquiry is the right

approach, the focus should be on

ensuring that that enquiry is able

to make progress rather than trying

to undermine it.

Family law has been

in need of reform for far too long.

We are now supporting early

intervention and wishing to carry

out a pilot scheme. We'll be

Minister meet with me to discuss how

we could make this excellent session

is reality? -- excellent solution.

I

am aware of the importance of

looking at family law. Relationship

breakdown cannot read very much to

unwelcome life circumstances for

children. I'm happy to meet with the

honourable member. He should know

that I have already met with the

Chief Executive of the family Court,

I'm happy to discuss his issue.

There has already been a public

meeting in my constituency about the

prison. He will be delighted to know

we have organised another public

meeting on the 12th of April, to

which he has been invited. I would

really encourage him to come to meet

my constituents, to hear directly

their concerns, and I can guarantee

he will receive a warm welcome in

the valley.

I am very grateful. As I

say, there's almost no member of

Parliament who has been more

assiduous in this subject. I think

five meetings in the last six weeks

on the subject. It was a very

vigorous encounter between my

officials and the honourable

member's community on that last

visit to Port Talbot. I would like

very much to have the next meeting

here in London if possible, I would

be delighted to have discuss issues

on that occasion.

The Torbay

offender management team works to

reduce crime, and to prevent

reoffending. What movements has the

Lord Chancellor made to reducing

crime in Torbay?

This is an

interesting example. It's in stars

that the Torbay approach is working

with police and children services,

the work they do with Catch-22 on

accommodation.

In December, the

spate of deaths at Nottingham prison

was described to me as a random

occurrence. Last month, another

death was reported to be a suicide.

All ministers now except there is

nothing going on at this jail, this

is not a safe environment?

I visited

HMP Nottingham last week, and today

serious was it. I would like to pay

to get to the prison officers and

the governor, but there are many

challenges that at present. We have

a new violence reduction strategy,

and the Act process will be central

in solving these problems.

In 100

years' time, people will look at our

prisons the same way we look at

Victorian prisons, locking up too

many people with health problems.

One thing we could do is clear out

people serving less than a year in

prison, as it does no good and are

moved around. Will the Minister look

at this?

It is true that many of the

serious challenges we have been

discussing in the House today,

particularly around violence, self

harm and drug use, focus on the

population in prison for less than

12 months. The more we can do to

rehabilitate people on the committee

while protecting the public, the

better.

Since 2010, six successive

court ministers have dodged

indecision over the future of

Sunderland Courts estate, despite

spending over £2 million on

preparations for a new Centre for

Justice, a further £284,000 will now

be spent on repairs to the city's

crumbling Magistrates' Court as a

result of this delay. Will the

Minister meet with me to see if we

can put an end to this saga give the

people of Sunderland a decision at

the last?

I thank the honourable

member for her question today. It

was a pleasure to meet with her

recently to discuss this issue, and

I'm grateful to her from following

up on Friday with an e-mail. Very

happy to meet with her again to

discuss this issue. I have sent her

a letter today setting out a

timetable, as I said I would, in

relation to the consideration of the

site going forward. When she has had

a chance to look at that, I am happy

to meet with her again.

Does the

honourable member and we that we

could look at the records of

prisoners with good behaviour to

reduce reoffending in the future?

If

there are prisoners who are abiding

by the rules, complying with what is

required of them, then governors

should have greater flexibility to

reward those prisoners with

additional privileges, and I think

that can help move people in the

right direction, change behaviour in

a positive way.

The most recent

figures from the Department show

only 6% of employment Tribunal fees

have been repaid despite the Supreme

Court declared unlawful the previous

year. If the parliament cannot

uphold the law, how does it expect

anyone else to?

The department has a responsibility

for upholding the law and it does do

so. The department has done work in

identifying interested bodies. It

has written to the bar Council, to

the representation unit. New figures

will come out at the end of March --

on the 8th of March. Of people do

not get refunds, we will continue to

liaise with that.

Could administer

discuss solutions for tackling

literacy problems?

54% of inmates

have a reading level lower than we

would expect from an 11-year-old.

Our solution is to give governors

more control of the education budget

and ensure literacy is available in

every prison as part of the core

curriculum.

Are a hard-working

prison officers face daily violence

in their jobs. I would like to ask

the Minister a wider question. What

is the department doing to ensure

prison of us are given full support

when assaulted and mental health

services are better than what we are

now?

We have a huge obligation to

prison officers, particularly when

the are assaulted. We need to make

sure prisoners are punished. Will

need to reduce drugs. We need to use

more CCTV cameras and body held

cameras to record salts. Prison

officer is must feel safe in our

environment.

I very much hope the

Foreign Secretary is beetling his

way towards the chamber. Either he

himself one of his accomplices is

required in the chamber. We will not

take points of order no. We will

hear from the honourable gentleman

in due course. Stay in your seat.

Fiona Bruce.

Can I commend the

Prisons' Minister for following only

success of his predecessor?

Very good of the Foreign Secretary

to drop in on us. I think the Member

for Congleton should be given the

chance to represent question.

Will

the Prisons' Minister meet to

discuss the welfare of prisoners'

children? There are 200,000 such

children per year and the often fall

completely through the clear system.

One of the most terrifying statistic

is the very high number of

prisoners' children who then go on

to offend themselves. I would be

delighted to meet with the Minister

to discuss prisoners and their

families.

What is the government

doing to reverse the dramatic fall

in community sentencing, that has

nearly halved in the past decade,

with a particularly sharp drop in

recent years?

What I would say is

that we have seen an increase in

suspended sentences. The member is

right. We want to work closely with

the CRCs because it is right the

judiciary has confidence in

non-custodial sentences, as well as

custodial sentences.

The Foreign

Secretary is scribbling away, but I

have an appetite to share a couple

more questions to the Justice

Secretary while the Right honourable

gentleman is recovering his breast.

Winnie is compulsory prisoner

transfer arrangements to send

foreign prisoners back to their own

countries.

As I said earlier, in the

last few years, something like

40,000 foreign national offenders

have been returned to their own

countries. We continue to seek to

make progress and sign additional

agreements so we can continue to

progress this.

Under the legal aid

sentencing and punishment of

offenders act, can the Minister

confirmed the impact of cuts to

legal aid and separated children

will be considered as part of the

act?

The purpose of the review is to

look at the effectiveness of the

legislation that was brought

forward, so any changes that were

made by the last vote will be under

review?

So what exactly has happened

at the chaplaincy at HMP Brixton?

Brilliant question. I'm still trying

to get to the bottom of it and I

cannot provide an answer to the

House.

If he is in a generous mood,

he might offer copies to members in

the House and the gallery, regarding

succinct questions.

Last week, the

Justice Secretary raised some

important issues regarding virtual

courts. Why is he rushing to close

courts like the one in Cambridge,

when we are yet to have the wider

discussion about virtual courts?

It

is important that we make progress

in terms of using the court estate

as sensibly as possible. Resources

are scarce. It is right that we make

advantages in using digital

technology so access to judgment

becomes easier.

Last weekend, prison

of us Bedford was rushed to hospital

with a serious brain injury

inflicted by a prisoner. Another

serious incident occurred at the

weekend with prison officers running

for their lives to hide from

out-of-control prisoners. The

weekend before, five prison officers

were taken to A&E with injuries

inflicted from prisoners. Will

prison officer have to die before

his government will act to keep

prison staff safe in the line of

duty?

The events in Bedford at the

weekend were deeply disturbing and

the sympathy of the whole house goes

to that prison officer and his

family. In terms of violence against

prison officers, that is an

unacceptable level. Nearly 8000

incidents last year. And, as I set

out in a speech this morning, we

have to take this regrettably

seriously and recognise the driver

of a lot of this violence is drugs

and we need to recognise the driver

of a lot of drugs in prison is

serious organised and. I want to

ensure we do all we can to address

that because the prison officers

drew a great job and it is far too

dangerous for them.

Dignity plc, the

National Association of funeral

directors, 50 Parisian parents in

Hull are still seeking an

independent enquiry into what

happened to their babies' Ashes.

Hull City Council have refused to

have that independent enquiry.

This

situation was problematic. My heart

goes out to all the people involved.

Clearly it was very traumatic. The

review was comprehensive.

Instead of

its in-house review, shouldn't

ministers follow the excellent

example of the Scottish Government

with an independent review of legal

aid?

The review of legal aid is

going to be an important one. It

will be -- we will be inviting a

number of experts to give evidence

on the review, someone will have

independent evidence to make

decisions necessary we need to take

forward.

The Secretary of State will

know that even the best justice

system has miscarriages of justice.

Will he pay attention to the fact

that so many people who were later

found to be innocent and had

sentences quashed never get any

compensation at all?

Well, in terms

of the pointy rages, it is an

important one and I'm happy to meet

with him