Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Crispin Blunt and Helen Grant(12 years, 4 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mr Blunt
The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to draw the House’s attention to the benefits of more effective integrated offender management, which is another way of expressing the multi-agency working to which he draws attention. This good practice is widening across the whole system and, I am delighted to say, becoming the norm.
Mrs Helen Grant (Maidstone and The Weald) (Con)
One in four girls, some as young as 13, are hit by their boyfriend. What action will the Minister take to tackle violence among children?
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Crispin Blunt and Helen Grant(12 years, 9 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mrs Helen Grant (Maidstone and The Weald) (Con)
Does the Minister agree that prison is not the right place for women who pose no risk to the public, and that robust community sentences would be a much better option?
Prisoners: Females
Debate between Crispin Blunt and Helen Grant(13 years ago)
Ministerial CorrectionsRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mrs Grant
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many female inmates on the prison estate have access to (a) games consoles and (b) television; and if he will make a statement.
[Official Report, 26 April 2011, Vol. 527, c. 170-71W.]
Letter of correction from Mr Crispin Blunt:
An error has been identified in the written answer given to the hon. Member for Maidstone and The Weald (Mrs Grant) on 26 April 2011. The list of prisons that provide games consoles for shared use in women's prisons omitted one establishment. The full answer given was as follows:
Mr Blunt
It is not possible to the give exact number of prisoners who have access to televisions and games consoles, as this changes constantly. There are currently 4,241 (at 8 April 2011) women in prison in England and Wales, and most of them have access to television. Her Majesty's Prisons Askham Grange, Bronzefield, Eastwood Park, Holloway, Low Newton and New Hall do not allow access to television where prisoners have been placed on the basic level of the Incentives and Earned Privileges scheme (IEPS).
Prisoners on the enhanced level of the IEPS are allowed to have certain games consoles in possession if they pay for them themselves. The National Offender Management Service does not collect centrally the numbers of prisoners who choose to do this and there would be disproportionate cost in obtaining this number. In addition, a very small number of consoles have been purchased for shared use in association by prisoners on the enhanced level of the IEPS at the following establishments: Askham Grange, Downview, Eastwood Park, New Hall and Styal. At Bronzefield, there is a games console in the Healthcare Centre.
The correct answer should have been:
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Crispin Blunt and Helen Grant(13 years, 1 month ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mr Blunt
I would have thought that a moment’s reflection would make that clear. Let us suppose that someone who is accused of rape co-operates with the authorities at the first opportunity, rather than puts their victim through the entire process of having to be prepared to give evidence and then having to give evidence. That is one example where there is a definitive benefit to the victim from encouraging the earliest possible guilty plea.
Mrs Helen Grant (Maidstone and The Weald) (Con)
Does my hon. Friend agree that short-term prison sentences for women are quite ineffective and that robust community options would be much better?
Mr Blunt
As my right hon. and learned Friend the Justice Secretary made clear last year, there are of course problems with short prison sentences for both male and female offenders. We will not take away from the judiciary and magistracy the ability to use short sentences when required, but we need to ensure that community sentences that are properly robust and properly punitive can carry public confidence as an appropriate option, particularly for women offenders who frequently have wider responsibilities in the community that would be lost if they were incarcerated.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Crispin Blunt and Helen Grant(13 years, 11 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mrs Helen Grant (Maidstone and The Weald) (Con)
11. What the reoffending rate was for prisoners who had served custodial sentences of over 10 years in the latest period for which figures are available.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Mr Crispin Blunt)
Of the 125 adult offenders released from a custodial sentence of over 10 years in the first quarter of 2008, 6.4% committed at least one further offence in the one-year follow-up period. In contrast, among those serving custodial sentences of 12 months or less in 2008, the reconviction rate was 61.1%.
Mr Blunt
Short sentences for men have proved pretty ineffective, and I think that short sentences for women are even more ineffective and deleterious. We support the conclusions of the Corston report, we are conducting an analysis of the effectiveness of different sentences as part of the current sentencing review, we are committed to reducing the number of women in prison, and a network of women-only community provision is being developed to support robust community sentences.
Perhaps at this point I should throw a bouquet to my predecessor, the hon. Member for Garston and Halewood (Maria Eagle), in recognition of her work in this regard. We propose to build on it.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Crispin Blunt and Helen Grant(14 years ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mr Blunt
Absolutely not. I notice that the date to which the hon. Gentleman referred was in 2007, and there certainly has been a significant increase in the prison population between then and today. As far as the prison building programme is concerned, I draw attention to the evidence that the then Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor gave to the Committee referred to by the right hon. Member for Cardiff South and Penarth (Alun Michael). He said that the prison building programme, as it now stands, is an opportunity to upgrade and update our prison capacity to make it more fit for the purpose of addressing reoffending behaviour. If we are successful in bringing about a drop in prisoner numbers—I am quite sure that everyone in the House would like to see that—we may be able to release other parts of the estate.
Mrs Helen Grant (Maidstone and The Weald) (Con)
In the context of capacity and overcrowding, what are the Minister’s views on short sentences, especially for women?
Mr Blunt
The evidence is that short custodial sentences are not working. They produce terrible reoffending rates. We do not have the capacity in the probation service to address people on licence, which is one reason why they do not have any supervision when they leave prison, and we are on the most dreadful merry-go-round. It is one of the glaring gaps in the way that we deal with offenders and reoffending behaviour, and the current Administration will do their level best to address the issue.