HMP Birmingham

Ed Davey Excerpts

Tuesday 4th September 2018 Commons Chamber

[Rory Stewart]

Without getting dragged into an ideological discussion about public versus private, hopefully both sides of the House can agree that, if we are to have privatised systems, the best way for them to operate is by having the right degree of Government regulation and intervention when things go wrong. Whether we are talking about water, utilities or, indeed, prisons, we cannot have a system in which the Government do not have a clear grip. I hope stepping in at Birmingham demonstrates that the Government are prepared to do that when we reach this situation.

[Sir Edward Davey (Kingston and Surbiton) (LD)]

The Minister has rightly decided to solve the shocking problems at HMP Birmingham by reducing its prison population and increasing staff numbers. I congratulate him on this radical policy and on the huge brain power that must have gone into this ingenious solution. When will the rest of Britain’s crisis prisons benefit from more staff and reduced overcrowding?

[Rory Stewart]

The rebuke is taken; of course it is true that, as with any institution, it is easier to run this with more staff and fewer people. But the answer in practice is that we take this remedy to stabilise a prison that has reached a situation that Birmingham has reached. Once the prison is stabilised and functioning well, it is possible to run it with the full population. We can see that being done at Altcourse and Thameside, and at a busy, challenged local prison such as HMP Hull at the moment. But it is necessary to take these steps at Birmingham, and the right hon. Gentleman is right to say that it does not take a massive brain to work out that this is the first thing we need to do.

Civil Liability Bill [Lords]

Ed Davey Excerpts

2nd reading: House of Commons & Money resolution: House of Commons & Programme motion: House of Commons
Tuesday 4th September 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gauke]

I would challenge that. When the Competition and Markets Authority looked at the insurance industry, it found that it is a competitive industry. The factor that is most likely to ensure that benefits are passed on to consumers is competition, and the evidence suggests that there is competition in this area, but we will ensure that insurance companies provide robust information so that they can be properly held to account. As I say, the Government will bring forward amendments in this area, as we have committed to do.

[Sir Edward Davey (Kingston and Surbiton) (LD)]

rose—

[Chris Philp (Croydon South) (Con)]

rose—

[Mr Gauke]

I will give way, and then I am keen to make progress.

[Sir Edward Davey]

It is key that these savings are passed on to motorists. In the other place, my noble Friend Lord Sharkey tabled an amendment suggesting that one way of doing that was to give some regulatory power to the Financial Conduct Authority to hold insurance companies to account. Will the Secretary of State tell the House now whether, in bringing forward this amendment, real teeth will be used to ensure that insurance companies cannot get away with keeping this cash themselves?

[Mr Gauke]

If the right hon. Gentleman will forgive me, we will be coming forward very shortly with those amendments. He will not have to wait long to see the details of the amendments. He will see that we are striking the right balance in ensuring that insurance companies can be properly held to account and that we are not placing unnecessary and expensive burdens that ultimately get paid by policyholders. He will see that we are taking this issue forward.

Privately Financed Prisons

Ed Davey Excerpts

Wednesday 27th June 2018 Commons Chamber

[Sir Edward Davey (Kingston and Surbiton) (LD)]

In the spirit of developing a cross-party consensus on prisons, I welcome the Government’s apparent conversion yesterday to the Liberal Democrat policy of axing the vast majority of prison sentences of under a year. When will the policy be implemented? Has the prison building plan that the Minister announced yesterday to the Justice Committee factored in such a policy change?

[Rory Stewart]

The argument that I was making yesterday is that the recent evidence from our Department shows very clearly that people sentenced to short prison terms are more likely to reoffend than somebody with a community sentence—in other words, they pose a greater threat to the public at the moment of release. They also pose a destabilising factor in prisons: they are disproportionately connected to drugs and violence.

At the same time, as has been pointed out, we have an obligation to protect the public and be careful about who exactly we are talking about within this category. An enormous amount more discussion needs to take place. I would be very happy to sit down with the right hon. Gentleman to discuss ideas. This is not an easy one to resolve, but the data is driving us in a particular direction.

Oral Answers to Questions

Ed Davey Excerpts

Tuesday 5th June 2018 Commons Chamber

[Sir Edward Davey (Kingston and Surbiton) (LD)]

Does the Secretary of State accept that the number of ex-offenders ending up homeless has increased significantly in recent years, and will he accept that his Department’s policy objectives for reducing reoffending and helping rehabilitation will go nowhere unless this issue is tackled?

[Mr Gauke]

I accept that if we want to reduce reoffending and to rehabilitate, we have to ensure that we address the issue of housing. I absolutely accept that, which is why I am determined to work with local authorities and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to address it.

Oral Answers to Questions

Ed Davey Excerpts

Tuesday 24th April 2018 Commons Chamber

[Dr Lee]

We are considering both legislative and non-legislative measures. If any legislation is required to underpin the victims code, we will bring it forward when parliamentary time allows.

[Sir Edward Davey (Kingston and Surbiton) (LD)]

With respect to victims of domestic abuse, will the Minister consider women who are not eligible for legal aid to help with their divorce after domestic abuse, including women who currently fail the means test due to their having a share in a valuable family home? Will he meet me to discuss the problems that such women face in paying for basic legal advice?

[Dr Lee]

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for the question. Yes, he has a point with regard to the funding of domestic abuse cases from legal aid. My ministerial colleagues are fully aware of this issue, and I am more than happy to meet him.

Worboys Case and the Parole Board

Ed Davey Excerpts

Wednesday 28th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gauke]

Thank you for your guidance, Mr Speaker.

I thank my right hon. and learned Friend for his remarks. He makes an important point: had I taken a judicial review, it may have brought into question the standing of the victims, as Sir Brian Leveson points out. In terms of the workload, to be fair, the Parole Board had been making progress with the backlog of imprisonment for public protection cases, but it remains significant—there are still something like 3,000 prisoners on an IPP sentence in prison, and they need to be properly assessed.

[Sir Edward Davey (Kingston and Surbiton) (LD)]

May I associate my party with the widespread welcome for the High Court decision and the congratulations to the two brave victims who brought this action? I also want to state for the record that I think the Secretary of State has acted properly throughout.

With respect to reform of the Parole Board, the Father of the House talked about the balance between accountability and independence. Because that is so tricky to get right, as we have seen, will the Secretary of State commit today to engage all parties in the House at an early stage, so that together we can strike an agreement on how to manage that balance?

[Mr Gauke]

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his remarks. His point is about accountability and independence. There is a challenge here. I want to make it clear that I do not believe it is the role of Ministers to intervene as a matter of course in individual cases because they do not particularly like the judgment. I have made no secret of the fact that I did not like the Worboys decision, but I made an assessment and sought advice as to whether there was a legal route for me to take action and concluded that there was not. I believe that the Parole Board has to be independent, and I wish to maintain that, but I also think that a balance has to be struck, as the right hon. Gentleman says, and some weaknesses have been revealed in the Parole Board that we need to address.

Oral Answers to Questions

Ed Davey Excerpts

Tuesday 6th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Dr Lee]

We have plenty to learn from what is happening in Scotland with regard to the way we deal with women who are victims of domestic abuse, and indeed offenders who have been victims of domestic abuse. As the Justice Minister with responsibility for the devolved Administrations, my discussions continue regularly. I look forward to learning from Scotland in future.

[Sir Edward Davey (Kingston and Surbiton) (LD)]

The Government had plans to legislate to ban alleged domestic abusers from cross-examining their victims in the family courts. Is that still Government policy? If so, when will such a provision be put before the House? Every day that there is a delay, more vulnerable people get tormented in court.

[Dr Lee]

The right hon. Gentleman is spot on in his analysis. The abuse and coercion of females, invariably by males, through the court process is wrong and not acceptable. We will bring forward details on how we intend to address that in the Bill that is coming later this year.

Parole Board: Transparency and Victim Support

Ed Davey Excerpts

Friday 19th January 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gauke]

My hon. Friend makes a good point. We understand the full implications of greater transparency in Parole Board decisions and what those implications might involve. It is not my desire that as a matter of course offenders should take cases where, for example, Parole Board panels have taken the firm line, based on the evidence in front of them, that they should not be released. We need to understand the full implications, but there is clearly a case for much greater transparency.

[Sir Edward Davey (Kingston and Surbiton) (LD)]

I welcome the statement and the Lord Chancellor’s decision to widen the review’s remit. That will command support on both sides of the House. Has he been informed whether the Crown Prosecution Service and police are reviewing the many other serious allegations against Worboys and whether there is any chance of further charges being brought against him before he is released? This is the question that many of the victims really want answered.

[Mr Gauke]

I can well understand why the right hon. Gentleman raises this issue. It is a matter for the CPS and Metropolitan police, however, and there is nothing I can say to inform the House this morning on that point.

Oral Answers to Questions

Ed Davey Excerpts

Tuesday 5th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Dominic Raab]

May I gently suggest that the hon. Gentleman does not engage in such scaremongering? I have been talking to practitioners, legal groups and the judiciary. We have set out our plans in our position paper, and I would have thought that he would welcome that. Through the EU (Withdrawal) Bill, which I hope he will support, we will make sure that we have a smooth legal transition.

[Sir Edward Davey (Kingston and Surbiton) (LD)]

Will the Minister confirm to the House that it is his policy that the European Court of Human Rights will still have jurisdiction over Britain after we leave the EU?

[Dominic Raab]

The right hon. Gentleman will know, because it was in our manifesto and it has been repeated since, that we have no plans to withdraw from the European convention on human rights or the Strasbourg Court.

Prisons Policy/HMP Long Lartin

Ed Davey Excerpts

Thursday 12th October 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gyimah]

I can confirm not only that there was a full regime but that the number of prison officer staff on the wing was as normal.

[Sir Edward Davey (Kingston and Surbiton) (LD)]

Andrea Albutt, president of the Prison Governors Association, said this week that our prisons were full to bursting. In the lowest-category prisons, will the Minister consider trying to deal with this overcrowding and reduce prison numbers safely and sensibly by introducing a presumption against short sentences, as has been successively implemented in Scotland?