Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jeremy Quin and Elizabeth Truss

Tuesday 24th January 2017 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Quin (Horsham) (Con)]

2. What steps the Government are taking to improve prisoner rehabilitation.

[The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Elizabeth Truss)]

The Prison and Courts Reform Bill will for the first time set out in legislation that the reform of offenders, as well as the punishment of offenders, is a key purpose of prison. We need to make sure the whole system is focused on getting prisoners the education they need, and getting them off drugs and into jobs, so that we can reduce the £15 billion cost of reoffending.

[Jeremy Quin]

I commend my right hon. Friend for the work she is doing in making prison governors more accountable. Will she set out the standards she is laying down so that prison improvements, and indeed offender outcomes, can be properly measured?

[Elizabeth Truss]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right that we need standards so that we can hold prison governors to account on what they are achieving. We are going to start introducing those standards from April 2017. They will include measures such as prison safety, progress made in English and maths, progress on getting offenders into employment and measuring the time out of cell in prisons.

--- Later in debate ---

[Jeremy Quin (Horsham) (Con)]

T9. What is the Department doing to recruit high-quality graduates to forge their career in the Prison Service?

[Elizabeth Truss]

We have launched the Unlocked programme, which is like Teach First but for prisons, to encourage the brightest and best graduates. We have had a huge response, with more than 1,000 expressions of interest within 24 hours. I look forward to them joining our fantastic Prison Service.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jeremy Quin and Elizabeth Truss

Thursday 5th November 2015 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss]

I completely agree with my hon. Friend. Ancient woodland is of huge historical value to our country. It also provides very important soil that we will never get back if we lose it, as well as a huge variety of trees, and we are committed to protecting it in the planning system.

[Jeremy Quin]

The Secretary of State will be pleased to hear I represent the most biodiverse constituency on earth given the presence within it of the millennium seed bank at Wakehurst Place. Will she join me in congratulating Wakehurst on the work being done on the UK national tree seed project, testing the resilience of our native species?

[Elizabeth Truss]

Wakehurst Place is a fantastic national asset and is part of the Kew group, which is the jewel in DEFRA’s crown. Not only do we have the millennium seed bank and the important work it provides; we also have the world’s largest database of plants, which we are now digitising so we can benefit everybody in society.