Oral Answers to Questions

Bob Blackman Excerpts

Tuesday 24th January 2017 Commons Chamber

[Sir Oliver Heald]

It is important for the courts to have the facilities that they need, which is the reason for our modernisation programme. As for the concern expressed about open justice, everything will work on the basis that people are able to see what is happening in a virtual hearing, so there will not be any secret justice.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

13. What steps the Government are taking to prepare offenders for life outside prison.

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

It is vital for us to reduce the £15 billion cost of reoffending, and all the misery that it causes in our society. We must therefore ensure that offenders enter employment when they leave prison, and as a result of our new standards governors will be held to account for that.

[Bob Blackman]

My private Member’s Bill, which is intended to reduce homelessness, will return to the House on Friday. One of its key provisions is a duty for the Prison Service to help people who are leaving prison to find stable homes. What measures can my right hon. Friend take to ensure that prison governors use the four two-hour workshops to prepare prisoners for a life outside prison?

[Elizabeth Truss]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Finding suitable housing, like getting a job, is very important to reducing reoffending. We will therefore measure housing rates as well as employment rates, and prison governors will be held accountable for how well they do in helping offenders to obtain housing.

--- Later in debate ---

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

T7. Assisting victims of crime is clearly at the centre of the Government’s attempts to modernise the court system. What steps can my right hon. Friend take to ensure that victims of sexual crime are assisted and that their rights are preserved in the court system?

[Elizabeth Truss]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. We are seeing a record number of people prosecuted for sexual crimes, but I make it clear that victims and witnesses should be able to come forward. We are having more pre-trial cross examinations so that people do not have the difficulty of appearing in court. I recently held a summit with victims’ organisations about what more we can do to protect vulnerable victims.