Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Chris Bryant and Alex Chalk

Tuesday 26th March 2024 Commons Chamber

[Alex Chalk]

Probation officers do an exceptionally important job, as I believe we all agree. Let me set out what we have done in respect of prison and probation staff. First, we accepted every penny of the Prison Service pay review body recommendations. We have injected extra funding of more than £155 million a year into probation. Prison officers do a tough job, as do probation officers, but I am delighted to report that the retention of prison officers is improving, with the staff resignation rate in prisons dropping from about 10.7% to 8.3%, and their numbers have increased. As for probation, we have recruited about 4,000 people in the past three years. That is positive and we will continue to support them every step of the way.

[Sir Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab)]

Do we have enough crematoriums in the UK, given that many families are now having to wait three, four, five or six weeks for a funeral slot? Why is there such a gap between the cheapest crematorium in the country, which charges £408, and the most expensive, in Stevenage, which charged £1,400 last year?

Prison Capacity

Debate between Chris Bryant and Alex Chalk

Monday 16th October 2023 Commons Chamber

[Alex Chalk]

I thank the hon. Gentleman. In fairness, that was quite a good joke; it was not bad—

[Sir Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab)]

Too long! [Laughter.]

[Alex Chalk]

The hon. Gentleman made some fair points, and I will get back to him.

--- Later in debate ---

[Alex Chalk]

May I first put it on the record that no one could be a more doughty defender of the interests of the people of Buckingham than my hon. Friend, who raises with me time and again the concerns of his constituents about Grendon Springhill? I will continue to have those important conversations with him, knowing fine well that his constituents’ interests are being vigorously advanced.

[Sir Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab)]

The ministerial code says that all major announcements of Government policy should be made to the House first, yet half of what has been announced today was preluded by an op-ed written by the Secretary of State and in briefings to national newspapers over the weekend. That is a breach of the ministerial code, and when I asked Sir Laurie Magnus, the independent adviser on ministerial interests, whether he would investigate such breaches, he said, “Yes, in theory.” Would it not be a good idea, especially considering that the Secretary of State thinks that short and minor sanctions lead to recidivism, if there was a substantial sanction against Ministers who do that, and he reported himself to the independent adviser?

[Alex Chalk]

I am afraid that I do not accept that point.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Chris Bryant and Alex Chalk

Tuesday 18th May 2021 Commons Chamber

[Alex Chalk]

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend, who has fought doggedly on behalf of his constituent. The prisoner transfer agreement that exists between the US and the UK has been in place for 31 years. It does not allow for the so-called “takeover” of sentences. The only way this individual can be transferred is for his constituent to return to the US, commence his sentence and apply for transfer to a British prison. But I can assure my right hon. Friend that, once that application is agreed by the US, Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service will endeavour to process the transfer as quickly as possible.

[Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab)]

How many people were prosecuted for assaulting an emergency worker in 2020.