Prisons: Rehabilitation

Lord Dholakia Excerpts

Thursday 6th September 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Dholakia (LD)]

My Lords, let me add my thanks to the noble Lord, Lord Bird, for this debate. Prisons have four major purposes: retribution; incapacitation; deterrence, although over 60% of offenders reoffend within two years; and rehabilitation, on which we do not even meet the requirements of the Trade Descriptions Act.

The past two months have seen a series of reports from the Prisons Inspectorate that highlight truly dreadful conditions in a number of our major prisons. On 13 July, the inspectorate published a report into Wandsworth prison which stated that it was one of the country’s most overcrowded prisons, filled with many men with drug and mental health problems, many of whom were locked in their cells during the working day. On 20 August, we learned that the public sector was taking immediate direct control of Birmingham prison from G4S after the inspectorate had found the prison in an appalling state with high levels of violence, widespread bullying, squalid living conditions and poor control by staff. Then, on 4 September, the inspectorate published a report on High Down prison which found increasing levels of violence and a very low level of purposeful activity, with 47% of prisoners being locked in their cells during the working day.

These reports followed the publication on 11 July of the inspectorate’s annual report for 2017-18 in which the Chief Inspector said that his inspections during the year had documented some of the most disturbing jail conditions the inspectorate had ever seen, with violence, drugs, suicide, self-harm, squalor and poor access to education being prominent themes. Incidents of self-harm in prisons are at the highest level ever recorded. Serious assaults in prison are at the highest level ever. Assaults on staff have risen by 158% in the past four years. Sexual assaults in prisons have more than tripled since 2012. It is impossible to ignore the fact that the deterioration in conditions in so many prisons has followed a swingeing cut in the budget of HM Prison and Probation Service of nearly a quarter between 2011 and 2015. That led to a cut in the number of front-line staff of 25% between 2010 and 2017. I welcome the recent increase in spending and recruitment of prison officers, but the fact remains that our prisons are struggling to cope, with far too many prisoners with too few resources to provide them with safe, decent and rehabilitative regimes.

There are two main reasons why so many of our prisons are severely overcrowded. The first is that we use prison too much for minor offences. In 2017, nearly half of the 65,000 sentenced prisoners entering prison were given sentences of six months or less. Research shows that community sentences are more effective than prison in reducing reoffending, yet the number of community sentences has halved in the last decade. The second reason for overcrowding is that sentence lengths are getting longer. For indictable-only offences, the average sentence length is now 57 months, compared with 32 months a decade ago. The result is that we have 141 prisoners for every 100,000 people in our general population, compared with 78 in Germany. We are not twice as criminal as the German people, so why do we need to imprison twice as many people as they do?

I would be grateful if the Minister could answer a number of questions. What plans do the Government have to reduce the unnecessary use of prison? Will they consider legislation to introduce a statutory presumption against the imposition of short prison sentences? Will they consider legislation to require sentencing guidelines to take account of the capacity of the prison system? Will they consider removing prison as an option for low-level, non-violent crimes? Will they consider prohibiting courts from using prison, except for dangerous offenders, unless they have first tried an intensive community supervision sentence? Finally, will they legislate to convert the sentences of existing IPP prisoners into determinate sentences once they have served a period equivalent to double their tariff? If not, what other plans do the Government have to eliminate prison conditions that have no place in any civilised society, let alone a developed country in the 21st century?

[Lord Young of Cookham (Con)]

My Lords, this is a popular debate taking place within a challenging timeframe and there is a noble Lord who wishes to speak in the gap. If the Minister is to have adequate time to respond to the many important points that are raised we need to keep well within the four-minute time limit.

Public Bodies: Appointments

Lord Dholakia Excerpts

Thursday 25th January 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Young of Cookham]

First, the number of appointees with declared political activity has fallen; it has halved since 2010, so there are fewer political appointees. Of those appointed in the last year for which I have statistics, we appointed more candidates who have declared affiliations to the Labour Party or the Liberal Democrats than those with affiliations to my party—something that may irritate someone sitting behind me.

[Lord Dholakia (LD)]

My Lords, last October the Prime Minister launched the race disparity audit following critical reports on race issues in the country. Will the Minister arrange the publication of ethnic breakdowns of appointments to public bodies, and do so on an annual basis, so that progress can be measured on equality of access and outcomes in public appointments?

[Lord Young of Cookham]

I am grateful to the noble Lord. He may be aware that we published a diversity commitment back in December with a declared target of increasing to 50% the number of public appointees who are women by 2022, and to 14% those from black and minority ethnic communities. At the moment, I think the figures are 43% and 10%, but if one looks at the most recent year for new appointments, 2016-17, the proportion of new appointments for women rose from 34% in 2013 to 49% last year. We will be publishing statistics regularly about the progress we are making to those declared targets for 2022.

Queen’s Speech

Lord Dholakia Excerpts

Tuesday 24th May 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Dholakia (LD)]

My Lords, I welcome the sense of humour displayed by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer, but it is now time to become serious on this particular legislation set out in the gracious Speech. I say straightaway that we particularly welcome the reform of prisons and courts. It will put education at the heart of the rehabilitation process. There is hope that old and inefficient prisons will be closed.

I intend to concentrate my remarks on the prospects for reforming the prison system in the light of the Government’s proposal for a prisons and courts reform Bill and other recent announcements by the Secretary of State for Justice, Michael Gove. He has a tough task ahead of him. The background to the Secretary of State’s proposal is a prison system suffering from chronic problems. Around 70 of the 117 prisons in England and Wales are overcrowded. The number of public sector prison staff is now around 30% lower than five years ago. Even after taking into account the recent small and welcome increase in staff numbers, there are still around 13,000 fewer staff looking after 1,200 more prisoners than five years ago. The numbers of assaults and deaths in custody, mentioned by the noble and learned Lord, are both at record levels. Rates of self-harm among male prisoners have risen by a third over the last five years. Purposeful activity in prisons is currently at the lowest level the prisons inspectorate has recorded.

As a result, all too many prisoners rapidly reoffend after leaving prison. Some 45% of adult prisoners, 58% of short-term prisoners and 68% of juvenile prisoners are reconvicted within a year of leaving prison. The total cost of reoffending to the nation has been estimated at somewhere between £9.5 billion and £13 billion a year. Against this background I welcome the central thrust of the Government’s plan to give prison governors greater autonomy in how they organise regimes and contract for services, while making governors accountable for outcomes relating to security and the rehabilitation of prisoners.

A good example of where this approach could lead to improvement is prison education. The deficiencies of the current system of prison education, again pointed out by the noble and learned Lord, were very much confirmed by the review undertaken by Dame Sally Coates, entitled Unlocking Potential. In the last academic year, 2014-15, Ofsted inspected 45 prisons. In these 45 inspections, 34 prisons’ educational provision was rated as inadequate or as requiring improvement, compared with only 11 rated good or outstanding. In her report, Dame Sally Coates recommended a new approach that gives governors greater freedom to determine educational arrangements and contracts; provides personal learning plans for all prisoners; gives greater opportunity for prisoners to develop IT skills; and enables prisoners to have greater access to the internet, to higher education and to industry-standard vocational qualifications. I am pleased that the Government have reacted positively to her recommendations.

The Government have also announced plans to publish comparable statistics for each prison, covering such areas as reoffending rates, assaults, rates of self-harm and the number of prisoners who leave prison for employment. In using these statistics, it will obviously be important to compare like with like because different types of prison often hold very different types of prisoner. However, the publication of such figures will be an important way of monitoring whether the performance of individual prisons is improving or deteriorating.

I particularly welcome the Secretary of State’s emphasis on enabling more prisoners to experience temporary release for purposes such as employment, education, securing accommodation and rebuilding links with their families. These areas are all closely related to reoffending rates, yet the number of prisoners released on temporary licence has fallen by 40% in the last five years. This is largely a result of the last Secretary of State’s misguided policy of restricting opportunities for temporary release. The current plans to reverse this trend will help to improve rehabilitation and reduce the stubbornly high rate of reoffending.

I hope that the Secretary of State will also reverse his predecessor’s unfortunate decision to ban the transfer of anyone who has previously absconded from an open prison. This means that an inadequate offender who absconds after receiving distressing news from his family but then thinks better of it and hands himself in the following day cannot be transferred back to an open prison later in his sentence. Yet a period in open prison can increase the chances of prisoners’ successful resettlement by enabling them to reintegrate gradually into the community rather than face the sudden shock of release after spending years in closed conditions. Reversing the previous Secretary of State’s policy would help the Government’s aim of reducing reoffending.

The time is long overdue for the Government to implement the recommendation made in 2013 by the Joint Committee on the Draft Voting Eligibility (Prisoners) Bill. I am pleased to have been a member of that committee. The Bill would enable prisoners to vote if they are serving sentences of under 12 months or are in the last six months of their sentences. It is now 12 years since the European Court of Human Rights judged that our blanket ban on voting by convicted prisoners violates the European Convention on Human Rights. The longer we continue to ignore our obligations under international law, the longer we are adopting a position that sits badly with our insistence that prisoners and other offenders should respect the rule of law. My noble friend Lady Hamwee will have more to say on this subject but respect for the rule of law involves an obligation for states as well as individuals to abide by binding legal rulings and not to pick and choose by abiding only by decisions which they choose to accept. We should waste no further time in making this relatively limited change for which there are strong arguments based on considerations of citizenship and rehabilitation.

The success of the Secretary of State’s proposals will be hampered unless the Government take determined steps to reduce the number of people in prisons. Overcrowding severely restricts prisons’ ability to provide the constructive activities and regimes which can rehabilitate prisoners effectively. This country has the highest rate of imprisonment in western Europe. We currently have 148 people in prison for every 100,000 people in the general population, compared with 100 in France and 78 in Germany. We are not twice as criminal as the German population so why do we find it necessary to jail nearly twice as many people? There is an overwhelming case for using prison more sparingly, particularly as community sentences have lower reconviction rates than prison sentences for comparable offenders. We should legislate to require sentencing guidelines to take account of the capacity of the prison system. Sentencing guidelines should scale down the number and length of prison sentences except for the most serious crimes. They should remove prison as an option for low-level non-violent crimes.

We should prohibit courts using prison—except for dangerous offenders—unless they have first tried an intensive community supervision programme. We should also convert the sentences of existing IPP prisoners into determinate sentences once they have served a period equivalent to double their tariff.

I make no apology for arguing yet again that the Government should grasp the nettle and raise this country’s unusually low age of criminal responsibility, which is currently the lowest in Europe, from 10 to 12. The current position is incompatible with our obligations under international standards of juvenile justice and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Dealing with children of this age through non-criminal processes would hold out more hope of diverting them away from offending than subjecting them to punishment through the criminal justice system. I hope that the Secretary of State and his colleagues will follow up this promising start with a root-and-branch reform of this country’s sentencing practices, which have made it harder for prisons to reduce reoffending rates and rehabilitate prisoners.

In conclusion, law is not the only instrument by which we deal with those who offend. We must resist the insatiable appetite to promote more legislation. This must be the starting point before future legislation is contemplated.

Sri Lanka: Presidential Elections

Lord Dholakia Excerpts

Wednesday 14th January 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire]

My Lords, we are in a regular dialogue with the Sri Lankan Government and Administration on all these matters. Members of this House may not be aware how closely the British Government and their representatives work with our colleagues in the European Union on issues such as this—in Sri Lanka as in Georgia—to exert pressure and bring it to bear. There is of course the UN human rights investigation, which will continue. The UN Human Rights Council will discuss that at its forthcoming meeting in March.

[Lord Dholakia (LD)]

My Lords, one of the early pronouncements made by the new President was about the establishment of an all-inclusive Government. There seems to be some reluctance on the part of the Tamil National Alliance to participate in this political process. Now that the elections are coming up in April, what efforts could we make, and what advice and assistance could we offer, so that there is proper participation by Tamil nationals, not only in Sri Lanka but among the large diaspora in this country?

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire]

My Lords, it was a very broad coalition election that elected President Sirisena, and it will be very difficult to hold all of that coalition together. I understand that the Tamil National Alliance has said that it is willing to support the Government from the outside but does not at the moment want to take ministerial posts within the Government. However, it is a temporary Government and there will probably be elections in April.

Iran: Ghoncheh Ghavami

Lord Dholakia Excerpts

Thursday 4th December 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire]

My Lords, of course there is a limit to delicacy. The Iranian political system is one of the most complex in the world. We are dealing with a democratically elected President, a judiciary that is partly responsible to the clergy and a Supreme Leader, not to mention the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. We are never quite sure, as we negotiate with the Iranian authorities, which authorities have the key ability to respond.

[Lord Dholakia (LD)]

My Lords, an area of serious concern is the public hangings that take place in Iran. Next week, we celebrate International Human Rights Day. Is it possible for the Government to make representations to see whether some sort of moratorium could be established until such time as progress is made with these discussions?

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire]

My Lords, we all know that Iran is second only to China in the number of people executed per year. That is an issue that we and others have raised during the UN human rights review.

Commonwealth: Young Entrepreneurs

Lord Dholakia Excerpts

Monday 24th November 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Dholakia (LD)]

My Lords, will my noble friend also have a word with the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Secretariat to ensure that it promotes such activities so that other Commonwealth nations can benefit? Not only could they learn from us but we could learn quite a lot from some of the Commonwealth countries.

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire]

My Lords, certainly we are actively engaged with the Commonwealth Secretariat. The UK is the largest funder of the Commonwealth Secretariat and also the largest supporter of its youth fund.

India: General Election 2014

Lord Dholakia Excerpts

Thursday 23rd October 2014 Grand Committee

Asked by

[Lord Dholakia]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the outcome of the 2014 general election in India.

[Lord Dholakia (LD)]

My Lords, I take this opportunity to wish all colleagues in this House a happy Diwali. This is probably the most festive season for us, and the right day on which to open a debate on this subject.

This debate is timely. The election of Narendra Modi and the BJP majority Government is a unique opportunity for the United Kingdom to reinvigorate momentum in its relationship with India. We were right to re-engage with Narendra Modi in 2012 after the 10 years of diplomatic isolation of the Gujarat Government where he was the Chief Minister.

Let me first declare my interest. I was honoured to be appointed as Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg’s business adviser. We led the first UK trade delegation to India since its landmark election in May. This gave me a first-hand opportunity to see why India matters to the United Kingdom.

Britain is in a unique position to work more closely with India because we have educational, historic, cultural and people-to-people ties between our two nations. The Prime Minister, David Cameron, has visited the country three times since 2010, and many Ministers have followed. As I said, the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, led the first UK trade delegation in September. Only last week we had the visit of India’s Foreign Minister, Sushma Swaraj, to the United Kingdom.

We also have the distinction of having here one of the largest populations of the Indian diaspora, estimated at 1.5 million. However, let us not underestimate India’s position worldwide. Narendra Modi has already visited Japan and the United States. There is a positive dialogue with China and a renewed relationship with neighbouring countries and the Middle East. We cannot continue to plead our special relationship with India. We have to work hard to build renewed confidence in our bilateral relationship.

Evidence of this is that our diplomatic network in India has become the largest in the world, and credit must go to High Commissioner James Bevan for this. There is now increased co-operation on foreign policy and a genuine understanding on matters of defence and security. There are still irritants in the field of education, where there is a drop in the number of students coming to the United Kingdom for further education. Bilateral trade is likely to double by next year, and there is a renewed co-operation on matters of research and innovation.

Prior to the BJP’s victory, India had gone through a period of stagnation with a declining economy. A decade of Congress rule had failed to combat corruption or enact major policy measures. The economic reform had not materialised. The BJP’s election win was the logical outcome. The country was crying out for a strong Government and the BJP provided that. It is to Mr Modi’s credit that it is the first time in 30 years that any single party has secured an absolute majority. I well remember that the Conservative Party’s election slogan during the Macmillan Government was, “You have never had it so good”. The BJP’s slogan had a similarity: “Good days are coming”. We now have the most powerful Prime Minister that India has had for many years.

People’s expectations are great and we have to wait to see how these are delivered. So far we have seen clarity in Mr Modi’s vision of domestic matters. His Independence Day speech on 15 August set out his vision on governance, which included a plea for a unified, selfless, skilled and peaceful India. He was not afraid to identify issues that have featured prominently in the past years. These included concerns about rape, equality, and the safety of women and girls. There was emphasis on reform, which involved more devolution of power and control which would result in more economic liberalisation and less central control. Mr Modi launched his flagship programme aimed at tackling poverty by ending financial untouchability. Under his project, bank accounts would be provided to millions without access to formal banking facilities.

There are, of course, challenging times ahead. It is estimated that at least 60% of India’s population is below the age of 35. It is further estimated that 10 million to 15 million young people enter the labour market each year. A high percentage of this number is employed in informal sectors. The emphasis has to shift towards the organised sectors. This gives the BJP Government a unique opportunity to reform labour laws and rebuild the industrial sector. The problem is massive but the BJP Government in Gujarat can point to its economic growth, which has continually exceeded that of other states in India. Then there are areas such as the agricultural sector, where securing income for farmers and improving the outdated infrastructure are essential. This will also require the co-operation of state government, which has not been easy in the past.

So what has Britain to offer India? It was obvious during our delegation’s visit that the new Government have placed economic development high on their agenda. India needs investment, and the UK is already its biggest G20 investor—and we can do more. The EU is India’s largest trading partner and India is a strategic partner of the EU. However, India wants more trade. Our bilateral trade is over £16 billion and we can certainly improve on this. In addition, India is looking for capital, and the City of London is the world’s biggest financial centre and well placed to provide expertise and advice. We have the investment, expertise and experience to make that happen.

In the field of education, some of our leading universities and colleges already have offices in India, attracting thousands of Indian students to the UK every year. The Minister is well aware that despite 85% of applications to the British high commission being approved within two weeks, there is a drop of nearly 20% in students coming to the United Kingdom. We need to examine our immigration policies to ensure that there are no detriments here. In addition, we should promote more student exchanges, joint research projects and learning partnerships both here and in India. I would welcome the Minister’s action in this matter.

There are issues of regional priorities, and the international community is looking to see how India intends to continue strengthening regional ties. Prime Minister Modi’s first act on his inauguration was to invite SAARC countries, including Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. This good start was halted in its tracks with the cancellation of the India-Pakistan talks. India did not take kindly to the Pakistan high commissioner meeting Kashmir separatist leaders. India’s position on Kashmir is well established, and the state is an integral part of India. Evidence of that fact is that successive Indian Governments have made efforts to ensure that a free and fair democratic process is followed in this state. Prime Minister Modi’s election campaign talked about Hindu-Muslim unity and invited both countries to join the fight against poverty. Evidence from a recent poll found that more than 68% of Indian Muslims felt safer under the Modi Government than under previous Governments. Over the years, the plight of the Kashmir Pandits cannot be ignored. There has been systematic cleansing of Kashmiri Hindus and terrorist activities from across the border have continued. India’s position on Kashmir has been consistent. It expects Pakistan to tackle extremism and cross-border terrorism. It demands justice against the Mumbai suspects. The prize for co-operation is high. Full trade normalisation will benefit both countries.

I welcome the UK’s position. India is a mature democracy. There are political upheavals in Pakistan. It is not for Britain to mediate between India and Pakistan. Nawaz Sharif has to take steps to demonstrate to India that he is sincere in wanting to improve relations. Terrorism from across the border is unacceptable. We need to exercise care that in debates and discussions, particularly in this country, we should not support those who are determined to undermine the world’s largest democracy’s process of economic development.

Iran: Human Rights

Lord Dholakia Excerpts

Tuesday 10th June 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire]

My Lords, we have close and continuing discussions with the United States on Iran, as on other Middle Eastern questions. I am conscious that one of my colleagues was talking to his American opposite number yesterday. We deal with many states across the world whose record on human rights is imperfect, if not awful. Nevertheless, we have to deal with them and try our best to improve their record.

[Lord Dholakia (LD)]

My Lords, will my noble friend bring some pressure to bear on the Iranian regime to ensure that the UN special rapporteur, Mr Ahmed Shaheed, is admitted and granted a visa so that he can examine precisely what is going on in some of the penal establishments in Iran?

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire]

My Lords, we are doing so and recognise that that is an enormous problem. That issue was flagged in his most recent report.

Courtesy Titles

Lord Dholakia Excerpts

Monday 24th February 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire]

My Lords, I think the statement that equality must start in this House is one which will be received with surprise by a number of those outside. I thank the noble Baroness for encouraging me to read Debrett’s for the first time. Having read Debrett’s for the first time, I know this is a highly complex issue. I recognise that the use of courtesy titles and titles for the spouses of Peers—which are apparently legal titles, not courtesy titles—has grown up over the past 500 to 600 years. The rapid changes in the relationship between the sexes and in marriage over the past 50 years have, of course, left us with a number of anomalies, of which the Government are well aware, but we are not persuaded that it is urgent to adjust them now.

[Lord Dholakia (LD)]

My Lords, now that same-sex marriage is on the statute book and will be implemented before long, has the Minister given any serious thought to the award of knighthoods—or damehoods for that matter—to people who have entered into such relationships?

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire]

My Lords, that is taken care of within the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013. I understand that exceptions have been made for this in that Act and in the earlier Marriage Act. The coalition Government and, I am sure, all parties are much concerned about the weakness of social mobility in Britain. I am not sure that we should spend too much time concerning ourselves with the subtle finesse of social stratification.

Sri Lanka

Lord Dholakia Excerpts

Tuesday 8th January 2013 Grand Committee

[Lord Dholakia]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lord Naseby for securing this debate. I have similar antecedents to those of my noble friend, having visited Sri Lanka a number of times. I was there first in 2009, when the civil war was raging, and I again visited the country when the war came to an end. My last visit was undertaken as a member of the CPA bilateral delegation, which gave me the opportunity to learn first-hand about the reconstruction, resettlement and reconciliation work in progress there.

Much has happened since then. We have the report of the UN Secretary General’s review panel on UN action in Sri Lanka, the report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, referred to in this debate by my noble friend Lord Naseby, and the International Crisis Group report, which spells out the grievances of Tamil and Muslim leaders that still need to be resolved through the political process.

I am well aware that there are deeply held views about the war and its aftermath in Sri Lanka. This debate is not the place to confirm or deny what did or did not take place during that time. Evidence and its rejection have formed the basis of much publicity in recent times, and I have no doubt that this will continue. War may solve a few problems but it creates many others. History should not be forgotten but there must be a way forward towards building a stable and secure democracy which all the country’s citizens can enjoy.

We should not underestimate the task facing the Sri Lankan Government. To continue to sustain parliamentary democracy at this difficult time is commendable. There are bound to be difficult times ahead. The political process must work towards uniting the nation after 30 years of war.

During our visit to Sri Lanka, we were able to learn about the transition from operating and sustaining democracy during the civil war to running a democracy during peacetime. Politicians must be fully aware that winning the war does not mean that problems will go away. For this reason, there is a need to ensure that the rule of law applies to all citizens equally. It is a pre-requisite condition of a successful and stable democracy.

During our visit we were impressed with the success that Sri Lanka has in the education and healthcare sectors. It has a literacy rate of more than 90%. I ought here to single out the work of the British Council. Queues of students at the British Council offices provide clear evidence of the council’s success in assisting with the process of education. I plead with the Minister to ensure that the visa system does not discriminate against Sri Lankan students as there is evidence that they are now looking at Australia rather than the UK for their advancement.

Sri Lanka has free and accessible healthcare available throughout the country.

Despite the concern about our safety, we were allowed access across the north, east and west of the country: there was no constraint on our movement. Like the noble Lord, Lord Naseby, I met IDPs and those in camps. We could see at first hand the post-conflict reconstruction. It will still take a great effort to ensure that there is no disparity in the development and construction work in the north. To an extent, we were aware that the demining process was actively pursued but it has a lot of bearing in preventing the north of the country from opening up.

We are all aware that terrorists have no mandate and that oppression perpetrated by terrorists and those in power cannot achieve a peaceful society. The Good Friday agreement in Northern Ireland and the Truth Commission in South Africa demonstrated that a peaceful transition is possible only through an acceptable process. It is for this reason that we should attach importance to the report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, which was set up in May 2010.

There is no dispute that excesses were committed by the warring parties—the collateral damage has been substantial—but there is now a need to move forward. Terrorism and violence have ended but suspicions still remain: the scars of the war will take a long time to heal. What is now required is an all-inclusive political process of dialogue and accommodation so that conflict by other means does not continue. This is one of the key recommendations of the report.

The LLRC report sets out some clear recommendations on human rights issues arising out of the conflict. It received a large number of representations alleging the violation of fundamental rights and freedoms of people affected by the conflict. The LLRC had no hesitation in stating that its recommendation on these human rights issues were critically relevant to the process of reconciliation.

This is not simply a job for the Government: it is also a task for all state institutions, civil societies and citizens to exert all possible efforts towards this end. The LLRC report and its recommendations require clear action. For example, the report pulls no punches when it states:

“There is an urgent need to assist the victims and their families to overcome the trauma they suffered due to the conflict and to bring the perpetrators of any human rights violation to justice”.

I, for one, welcome this report for its brevity. It is not a whitewash and it is not easy to ignore. It is a good starting point towards the process of reconciliation and nation building. There is also a further important recognition that this process must reach out to the minorities and that the minorities must reposition themselves in their role vis-à-vis the state and the country.

I have known Dr Chris Nonis, the High Commissioner for Sri Lanka, for some years know. I know that he is keen to build links with the large Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora in the United Kingdom. In turn, I hope that the British Tamil community will play its full part in rebuilding Sri Lanka. It is here that we can play an important role and I hope that the Minister will see what help he can give to build this dialogue.

Sri Lanka is a nation that deserves to be at peace with itself. It will take time to build the confidence of all communities, who have suffered enough during the civil war. It has the potential to eradicate poverty and to take its place among the democratic nations of the world. It will require the will of all its people, in Sri Lanka and in countries abroad, to make this possible. Unlike the noble Lord, Lord Wills, I believe that the 2013 CHOGM summit in Sri Lanka should offer all of its experience towards building a peaceful, democratic Sri Lanka.