Oral Answers to Questions

Fiona Bruce Excerpts

Tuesday 1st July 2014 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Mosley (City of Chester) (Con)]

9. What progress he has made on his plans to bring down the level of reoffending.

[Fiona Bruce (Congleton) (Con)]

17. What progress he has made on his plans to bring down the level of reoffending.

[The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Chris Grayling)]

We remain on track in delivering our reforms to transform rehabilitation and bring down reoffending rates. Since 1 June, the new national probation service and community rehabilitation companies have been working together to manage offenders. The competition for new owners of the 21 community rehabilitation companies will conclude later this year.

--- Later in debate ---

[Chris Grayling]

The official National Audit Office estimate is that about £13 billion a year is spent by our nation as a whole on dealing with the consequences of reoffending. Reoffending is now a particularly significant part of our national crime picture. We have seen crime rates and the number of first-time entrants to the criminal justice system fall, so more and more of our problem is with reoffending and that is why it is such a priority for us.

[Fiona Bruce]

What progress is being made on the provision of mentoring to help reduce reoffending?

[Chris Grayling]

I am very much of the view that mentoring is an important part of the way we support former offenders as they come through and leave the prison system. It is essential that we help them get their lives back together again, particularly given the fact that many of them come from the most difficult of backgrounds. I am encouraged by the number of voluntary sector organisations that have expressed an interest in and put their names forward for the transforming rehabilitation programme. The voluntary sector will play an extremely important part in the way things develop in the future.