Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Hanson of Flint Excerpts

Tuesday 25th April 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gyimah]

My hon. Friend, the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on communities engagement, makes a vital point. We have to be clear that conversion to a religion, including Islam, does not necessarily mean radicalisation but, where conversion happens in the prison estate, people are encouraged to go on education courses. There is also support for imams to make sure that people do not get drawn to the poisonous ideology that often seeks to prey on vulnerable individuals.

[Mr David Hanson (Delyn) (Lab)]

Ian Acheson, who reviewed this matter for the Government, told the Select Committee on Justice only last year:

“I do not have confidence that the National Offender Management Service…has the capability or, indeed, if I may be frank, the will to implement some of the recommendations that I have made.”

Does the Minister feel that his changes are not just recommendations but that there is capacity to deliver them?

[Mr Gyimah]

Absolutely. As I said right at the start, we have a new directorate within Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service and a new team across the Home Office and the Prison Service, with new funding to tackle that and to roll out our anti-extremism strategy. The right hon. Gentleman, who is a member of the Justice Committee, will also be aware that just last week we announced the separation centres that Ian Acheson recommended in his review and that will remove the most poisonous individuals from the main population of our prisons.