Prisoner Releases in Error

Debate between David Lammy and Lincoln Jopp

Tuesday 11th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lammy]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for her question. She is absolutely right; we have to grip the system. I did that by chairing a performance board in the Department yesterday, and I have done it by asking Dame Lynne Owens to look at this closely. There does now need to be an urgent query process working between courts and prisons so that we are not seeing those mistakes between the two systems. I think that ultimately it will take digital technology to fix this, but I have started that with £10 million to expand the digital rapid response unit so that we can at least start to raise flags in and across the system so that those working in our offender management units can spot where there might be a problem. I am pleased that the Sentencing Bill, which has now been through this House, will simplify the system greatly, because it is too complex at the moment.

[Lincoln Jopp (Spelthorne) (Con)]

Kebatu was released in error on 24 October, which was a Friday. I was under the impression that in the last Parliament Simon Fell, the former Member for Barrow and Furness, passed a rather brilliant private Member’s Bill that became the Offenders (Day of Release from Detention) Act 2023. The Act states that a prisoner cannot be released on a Friday without the Secretary of State’s say-so, in order to reduce recidivism because people cannot get access to the state for 72 hours. Has the Secretary of State devolved that to prison governors, and if they are being seen to be ignoring the will of this House, will he draw that power back up to himself?

[Mr Lammy]

The hon. Member makes a good point. The system had got to a place where prisoners were not being released on Fridays. It is my understanding that that was relaxed, and I have asked Dame Lynne Owens to look at that again.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between David Lammy and Lincoln Jopp

Tuesday 2nd September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Lincoln Jopp (Spelthorne) (Con)]

T9. It has been more than a fortnight since the Alaska summit, and the deadline set by President Trump at that time has now passed. What diplomatic efforts are the Government making to maintain US focus on the Ukrainian theatre of operations in the face of Russian intransigence?

[Mr Lammy]

I assure the hon. Gentleman that our National Security Adviser and I are in direct touch with the Ukrainians on these issues, and the Chief of the Defence Staff was in Washington last week following up on these matters. I think we are all grateful to Tony Radakin, who leaves today after 35 years of service to our country, for the work he is doing. Of course, the Defence Secretary is also co-ordinating via the coalition of the willing.

Middle East

Debate between David Lammy and Lincoln Jopp

Monday 23rd June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lammy]

I updated the House about our rapid response teams who are working in Israel and at its borders for those who can journey to the land borders with Jordan and Egypt to leave. We have a flight in the air as we speak. I expect that there will be further fights in the coming days, but it depends on airspace and on how those days look.

[Lincoln Jopp (Spelthorne) (Con)]

I thank the Foreign Secretary for his statement in which he says that he has been crystal clear with the regime in Tehran. I hope he has been a lot clearer with them than he has been with the House today, but I will give it one more go, because I genuinely do not understand why he cannot answer this question. Does His Majesty’s Government support or oppose the US military action against Iran at the weekend?

[Mr Lammy]

His Majesty’s Government will continue to work with our closest ally, as I did last week in Washington DC.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between David Lammy and Lincoln Jopp

Tuesday 14th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lammy]

My hon. Friend will be pleased that I raised this issue directly with the Israeli Foreign Minister yesterday. He wanted to emphasise that this is a temporary measure in Israel’s national interests, and I emphasised that the Syrian Foreign Minister had made it clear to me that the Syrians stand by the 1974 commitment and do not want to seek any escalation with their Israeli neighbour.

[Lincoln Jopp (Spelthorne) (Con)]

T8. Tower Hamlets planning officers have rejected China’s application to build a super-embassy there, but rather than put this through the appeals process that anyone else would have to go through, the Foreign Secretary has got the Deputy Prime Minister to call in that application. My question to the Foreign Secretary is: why the special treatment? Does he not realise how dodgy it is going to look if she does finally decide for China?

[Mr Lammy]

I have to say to the hon. Gentleman that all due process has been followed in the normal way. This is the same as any planning application, and the implication of what he has just said in relation to the Deputy Prime Minister is quite unsavoury.