Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Ministry of Justice

Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Selous Excerpts
Tuesday 5th December 2017

(6 years, 11 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Sam Gyimah Portrait Mr Gyimah
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The hon. Lady makes a very important point. As I said in response to the previous question, this is a priority for us. We are looking at expanding bail accommodation and support services to include lower risk offenders, utilising spare MOJ capacity, expanding our approved premises programme, and working very closely with other Government Departments, such as the Department for Communities and Local Government, to solve this serious problem.

Andrew Selous Portrait Andrew Selous (South West Bedfordshire) (Con)
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While strongly supporting the initiative of my hon. Friend the Member for South Norfolk (Mr Bacon), will the prisons Minister tell the House which construction companies get this and actually offer fair opportunities to ex-offenders in the construction sector? Will he perhaps also tell us which companies need a bit of a nudge in this area?

Sam Gyimah Portrait Mr Gyimah
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My hon. Friend is pre-empting our employment strategy, which we will announce very soon. He will be aware of the New Futures Network, which the Justice Secretary announced at party conference. This will bring together employers and ex-offenders to help to create employment on release. The construction sector is a key sector and he will be hearing more from us in due course.