Oral Answers to Questions

Baroness McIntosh of Pickering Excerpts

Tuesday 29th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Blunt]

There is a review of the criminal injuries compensation scheme going on, and we intend to address the issue alongside that review and publish our proposals at the same time.

[Miss Anne McIntosh (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

If it is the case that squatting has been made illegal in Scotland, will the Justice team look favourably on the Scottish proposals and make it illegal in this country as well?

[Mr Blunt]

We are certainly looking at the Scottish example, and I hope that when we bring our proposals forward, my hon. Friend will warmly welcome them.

Oral Answers to Questions

Baroness McIntosh of Pickering Excerpts

Tuesday 15th February 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Blunt]

Those assessments are a matter of health rather than justice, so the Department of Health is leading on establishing the liaison for diversion services.

[Miss Anne McIntosh (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

T4. How does the Lord High Chancellor envisage promoting the big society in his Department, particularly in terms of shop theft and having some kind of community payback in relation to those who have stolen from society in that way?

[Mr Blunt]

I am very grateful to my hon. Friend who has done particularly good work in this area in getting policy changes under the previous Administration. We want to make restorative justice and compensation orders the first point of departure for such offences so that offenders are able to make good to their victims.

Oral Answers to Questions

Baroness McIntosh of Pickering Excerpts

Tuesday 11th January 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Djanogly]

In most cases, individuals will be able to appeal to the first-tier social security and child support tribunal without formal legal assistance. Legal aid is not currently available for legal representation as the appellant is required only to provide reasons for disagreeing with the decision in plain language. For those who need assistance on welfare benefits matters, which I think was the point the hon. Gentleman went on to make, advice and assistance is available from, for example, Jobcentre Plus, the benefits inquiry line and the tribunal itself.

[Miss Anne McIntosh (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

5. What his most recent estimate is of the incidence of repeat offending for shoplifting offences; and if he will make a statement.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Mr Crispin Blunt)]

In 2008, the rate of reconviction within one year for adults convicted of offences related to shoplifting was 78.3%. That is an unacceptably high rate and, as set out in the Green Paper on sentencing and rehabilitation, we are committed to punishing and rehabilitating criminals and turning them away from a life of crime.

[Miss McIntosh]

Does my hon. Friend agree that every crime of theft is a crime against society—big society and small society—and that the fixed penalty notices introduced by the previous Government are simply not working to address the issues? Will the Government focus on rehabilitating those who reoffend, particularly if they have a known substance abuse?

Oral Answers to Questions

Baroness McIntosh of Pickering Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Clarke]

It is not a dyed-in-the-wool Conservative policy, it is true, but it should be the policy of every responsible Member of the House to accept that we have to comply with a judgment of the European Court, because nobody is advocating withdrawing from the convention. The hon. Gentleman’s party accepted that. His party never repudiated the judgment; it always accepted that it was going to have to give votes to prisoners. It wasted five years and two consultation exercises, however, because it was incapable of taking a decision in advance of an election—or at all, as it happened.

[Miss Anne McIntosh (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

On a less controversial subject, what scope is there for mediation in family law cases, and will such cases continue to qualify for legal aid?

[Mr Djanogly]

We have taken the view that mediation should be retained within the scope of legal aid, and we think that it should be thoroughly encouraged. Too often, people take the course of court when they should look towards sorting out issues between themselves, and mediation will play a big part in enabling them to do that.

Oral Answers to Questions

Baroness McIntosh of Pickering Excerpts

Tuesday 20th July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Clarke]

I will not anticipate the sentencing review. [Interruption.] No, I will not. The last person I met in jail who clearly should not have been there had been sent to prison because he was in dispute with his ex-wife over the maintenance he was supposed to pay for their children. Of course he was under an obligation to pay for his children, but providing a place for him in jail was not the best use of prison. Anybody who visits a prison will find people who are there for rather surprising combinations of reasons, some of which are far away from those relating to serious crimes.

Prison is the most effective punishment we have for serious criminal offenders. There is a continuing case, and there always will be one, for protecting the public against the activity of serious offenders by imprisoning them. However, in recent years, we have not paid enough attention to how, at the same time, we minimise the risk of reoffending, seek to reform those in prisons and divert them away from future crime, and eventually ensure that there are better and more effective ways of dealing with those who are capable of being dealt with.

[Miss Anne McIntosh (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

Will my right hon. and learned Friend carefully examine the early release scheme pursued by the previous Government, which led to a very high proportion of those released early going on to reoffend, to great harm to the British public?

[Mr Clarke]

That was not a policy; that was a catastrophe. The previous Government went through a phase of allowing their rhetoric and some of their policy intentions to outrun any serious common sense and then found that they had to let people out early, before they had finished their sentence, because they could not physically get them into prisons. Whatever else comes out of a sentencing review, I trust that we will avoid any nonsense of that kind in our period of office.

Oral Answers to Questions

Baroness McIntosh of Pickering Excerpts

Tuesday 15th June 2010 Commons Chamber

[The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Nick Herbert)]

I am aware of the operation of the community court up in Liverpool, which I have visited, and the community court in Red Hook in New York, which pioneered this system of community justice. They are indeed interesting, and we should look at their success carefully. I am afraid that I cannot give the hon. Gentleman any commitment on Nottingham, but we are interested in and aware of the importance of community courts.

[Miss Anne McIntosh (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

T6. May I congratulate the Justice Secretary on his new position? Can he explain what the coalition Government’s position is on self-defence in the event of burglaries in one’s own home and the level to which we can defend our properties? I understand that we have undertaken a review of the position, and people would like clarification, following a number of Back-Bench Bills from Government Members.

[Nick Herbert]

I can tell my hon. Friend that we are reviewing the law and its interpretation carefully, and we will explore all the options before bringing forward proposals. We must ensure that the responsible citizen acting in self-defence or for the prevention of crime has the appropriate level of legal protection.