Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits

Debate between Gavin Williamson and Nicholas Dakin

Thursday 15th May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Sir Nicholas Dakin]

No, it is not. This is about people who have already served their sentence in prison; they are out in the community. If they breach a condition of their licence, they are returned to prison. The hon. Gentleman might as well ask why the Government he supported did not take any of the measures that he mentions. Our Government inherited the mess that his Government left us, and we are taking decisions to address the unconscionable threat of having a prison system that is not able to lock up dangerous people.

[Sir Gavin Williamson (Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge) (Con)]

Ministers seem to have been deliberately vague about the number of domestic abuse offenders who will be eligible for release, and the breadth of their offences. Given how big the announcement is, the Government and the Department will have done a lot of work looking at who will be eligible. Will the Minister set out to the House the exact number of domestic abuse offenders who will be eligible for this scheme?

[Sir Nicholas Dakin]

I hear the right hon. Gentleman’s question, and I will write to him.

Sentencing Council Guidelines

Debate between Gavin Williamson and Nicholas Dakin

Monday 17th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Sir Nicholas Dakin]

Certain things are a matter of policy, and they are for the Government and for Parliament. We have had a constructive meeting with the Sentencing Council, a letter is going to the Sentencing Council, and the Sentencing Council will respond. We totally respect the independence of our judiciary.

[Sir Gavin Williamson (Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge) (Con)]

Just the other week, the Lord Chancellor made it clear that she does not agree with the direction in which the Sentencing Council is going, and I think we all hope that her meetings with the Sentencing Council will produce results. However, if they do not, will the Minister commit to working across parties? I think there is a real commitment on the Opposition Benches to work with him to bring forward emergency legislation, if that is required.

[Sir Nicholas Dakin]

I thank the right hon. Member for the constructive tone of his question. I refer him to the point about our not wanting to get ahead of ourselves. We need to allow the process to go forward, and to respect the Sentencing Council’s role in it; we will address things when we need to address them.

Drones: High-security Prisons

Debate between Gavin Williamson and Nicholas Dakin

Tuesday 14th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Sir Nicholas Dakin]

Anything that works will be built upon—that is part of it. Drone technology has been accelerated through the Ukraine war. We know that we need to work very hard to keep ahead of the felons on this.

[Sir Gavin Williamson (Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge) (Con)]

We all appreciate the destructive impact of drugs in our prisons. In Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge, we have the largest cluster of prisons in the United Kingdom, with HMP Featherstone, HMP Oakwood and Brinsford young offender institution. Prison officers do an amazing job trying to tackle this issue, but what specific measures can the Minister bring forward to support their work, to try to ensure that prisoners ultimately get on to the path of rehabilitation and kick the habit of drugs?

[Sir Nicholas Dakin]

The right hon. Member is right that prison officers do an outstanding job. I want to take the opportunity to commend the work of prison officers up and down this country. Eighty prisons now have incentivised substance-free living units, providing a supportive environment for prisoners who commit to living drug-free, with regular drug tests and incentives. That project appears to be working.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Gavin Williamson and Nicholas Dakin

Tuesday 5th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Sir Nicholas Dakin]

My hon. Friend tells it how it is. The Conservative party left our Prison and Probation Service in a mess. Our job, on behalf of the British people, is to clean up that mess. That is what we are doing.

[Sir Gavin Williamson (Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge) (Con)]

HMP Featherstone, HMP Oakwood and HMP Brinsford, also a young offender institution, in my constituency are brilliantly supported by amazing staff, but one of the pressures on them is the number of foreign national offenders in those prisons. What steps is the Minister taking to ensure that those foreign national offenders are returned to where they came from?

[Sir Nicholas Dakin]

We are already on track to remove more foreign national offenders than the Conservative party ever did.