Justice

Monday 22nd October 2018 Ministerial Corrections

Sport and Recidivism

The following is an extract from oral questions to the Secretary of State for Justice on 9 October 2018.

[Sir Edward Davey (Kingston and Surbiton) (LD)]

I am glad that the Minister prefers sport to chain gangs, but can he tell the House when the use of sport for prisoner rehabilitation will be the norm, rather than the exception?

[Edward Argar]

The right hon. Gentleman is right to highlight again the importance of sport. The report published by Professor Meek in the summer, of which we have accepted 53 of the 54 recommendations, sets out a clear direction of travel—that is, alongside education and developing skills, and provisions for mental and physical health, sport plays a key role for prisoners in the rehabilitative process.

[Official Report, 9 October 2018, Vol. 647, c. 11-12.]

Letter of correction from the Under-Secretary of State for Justice, the hon. Member for Charnwood (Edward Argar):

An error has been identified in the response that I gave to the right hon. Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Sir Edward Davey).

The correct response should have been:

[Edward Argar]

The right hon. Gentleman is right to highlight again the importance of sport. The report published by Professor Meek in the summer, of which we have accepted 11 of the 12 recommendations, sets out a clear direction of travel—that is, alongside education and developing skills, and provisions for mental and physical health, sport plays a key role for prisoners in the rehabilitative process.

Topical Questions

The following is an extract from topical questions to the Secretary of State for Justice on 9 October 2018.

[Luciana Berger (Liverpool, Wavertree) (Lab/ Co-op)]

T3. Over the conference recess, the inspectorate of probation published a report into the Merseyside community rehabilitation company. The report observes that the approach to reviewing risk of harm is limited, putting vulnerable people in danger. Have Ministers read the report, and what will the Department be doing to ensure that vulnerable people in Liverpool are given the protection that they need?

[Rory Stewart]

We take the report very seriously, as we take all reports, including the recent report on domestic violence. It is absolutely right to say that we need to improve the risk assessment, the programme plans and the frequency of meeting. We are doing a consultation at the moment, to which we invite the hon. Lady to make a submission, on exactly what we can do to tighten up procedures for the CRCs. They have reduced reoffending by 2%, but there is much more that we can do on the quality of delivery.

[Official Report, 9 October 2018, Vol. 647, c. 22.]



Letter of correction from the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice, the hon. Member for Penrith and The Border (Rory Stewart):

An error has been identified in the response that I gave to the hon. Member for Liverpool, Wavertree (Luciana Berger).

The correct response should have been:

[Rory Stewart]

We take the report very seriously, as we take all reports, including the recent report on domestic violence. It is absolutely right to say that we need to improve the risk assessment, the programme plans and the frequency of meeting. We have recently conducted a consultation on exactly what we can do to tighten up procedures for the CRCs. They have reduced reoffending by 2%, but there is much more that we can do on the quality of delivery.

Topical Questions

The following is an extract from topical questions to the Secretary of State for Justice on 9 October 2018.

[Laura Smith (Crewe and Nantwich) (Lab)]

T5. Given the criticisms contained in the report produced recently by Her Majesty’s inspectorate of probation, what assurances can the Minister give that all community rehabilitation companies’ contracts will stipulate that the probation officer qualification is absolutely necessary for the safe supervision of cases in which domestic violence is a factor?

[Rory Stewart]

As I have said, we have looked very seriously at the inspectorate’s domestic violence report. It is worth bearing in mind that this has been a problem in many probation services across the world, and that it was, in fact, a problem before the CRCs were introduced. We are looking closely at the question of qualification during the current consultation, which will run for a further six months.

[Official Report, 9 October 2018, Vol. 647, c. 23.]

Letter of correction from the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice, the hon. Member for Penrith and The Border (Rory Stewart):

An error has been identified in the response that I gave to the hon. Member for Crewe and Nantwich (Laura Smith).

The correct response should have been:

[Rory Stewart]

As I have said, we have looked very seriously at the inspectorate’s domestic violence report. It is worth bearing in mind that this has been a problem in many probation services across the world, and that it was, in fact, a problem before the CRCs were introduced. We are looking closely at the question of qualification.