Oral Answers to Questions

Henry Smith Excerpts

Tuesday 26th April 2016 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

I am very anxious to expand apprenticeships in prison, and have been working with my hon. Friend the Minister for Skills, who is responsible for apprenticeships, and of course the prisons Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for South West Bedfordshire (Andrew Selous), to do just that. One challenge is that, although, as I say, there are excellent examples of good practice, current further education providers in prisons have not been as responsive as they should have been in every case.

[Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)]

22. Will my right hon. Friend assure the House that educational progress in prisons will form one of the metrics of the new league tables for prisons?

[Michael Gove]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right that if we give people greater autonomy—governors, in particular—they need to be held to account. It is absolutely vital that, in the new prison accountability measures and league tables, they are held to account for educational performance and the value they add.

Oral Answers to Questions

Henry Smith Excerpts

Tuesday 8th March 2016 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right that victims of domestic violence need all the support that we can give them, which is why I am reflecting carefully on the judgment and will come forward in due course with proposals that I hope will meet with the support and approval of as many Members of the House as possible.

[Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)]

T4. Many prisoners in our system suffer from mental health and substance misuse problems. Further to the question from my hon. Friend the Member for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich (Dr Poulter), what further support can be given in prison to support people with mental health and substance misuse problems?

Oral Answers to Questions

Henry Smith Excerpts

Tuesday 8th December 2015 Commons Chamber

[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

6. What plans he has to reform HM Courts and Tribunals Service.

[Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)]

10. What plans he has to modernise the courts and tribunals system.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Vara]

It is important in the 21st century that we recognise that a third of the 460 court and tribunal buildings are utilised at a rate of less than 50%. Many of the buildings are not fit for purpose, are listed or are not in compliance with equalities legislation. There is a host of problems and the cost of running the buildings is phenomenal. We need a reformed, up-to-date and modern courts system, and I assure the hon. Gentleman that it will provide access to justice for all.

[Henry Smith]

I thank the Minister for his answer. Does he agree that it is high time, as we are in the 21st century, that we updated outdated court practices, with particular regard to the way in which those with learning disabilities are treated in the system?

[Mr Vara]

Absolutely. As a consequence of the £700 million investment that we received in the spending review, we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create a modern, user-focused and efficient Courts and Tribunals Service. Reform of the service is crucial to enable much more efficient access to justice for everyone, including people with learning difficulties. In the one nation Britain that we seek, we want to ensure that everyone has access to all the public facilities on offer.

Police Funding Formula

Henry Smith Excerpts

Monday 9th November 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mike Penning]

I have tried to be very careful in not responding to people who probably were not listening to my statement. I have suspended the formula. As with the other 42 authorities, we will work with Durham on a new formula.

[Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)]

I congratulate my right hon. Friend on re-examining this issue. Will he commit to speaking to Katy Bourne, the excellent PCC for Sussex, where crime has reduced, when the new formula discussions take place?

[Mike Penning]

Not only will I commit to speaking to the excellent PCC in Sussex, Katy Bourne, but I left her 15 minutes ago.

British Airways (Pensions Uprating)

Henry Smith Excerpts

Monday 14th September 2015 Commons Chamber

[Kate Green]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right, and I shall be developing that point further in my speech.

As I say, in 1984, pending privatisation, APS was closed and NAPS was established. BA went to considerable trouble at that time to inform existing APS pensioners of their options. I have here a copy of a staff newsletter from January 1984, which my constituent Mr Jones, an APS pensioner, has given to me. The newsletter, which includes a personal statement from Colin Marshall, then chief executive of BA, describes the details of the new scheme compared with the existing APS. It explains that APS pensioners can either choose to join NAPS, and receive a cash payment or extra pensionable years if they choose to do so, or to remain in the existing scheme. It states that the two schemes will be independent of one another, will not subsidise one another and will each be governed by their own scheme rules. It then describes the differences between the two schemes in relation to contribution rates, pension age, pensionable pay and, crucially for this debate, index linking.

[Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)]

I congratulate the hon. Lady on securing this debate and on being appointed to the shadow Cabinet today. Many of my constituents are affected by this issue. Will she join me in calling on BA to play fair with those pensioners, be it in respect of those from 1984 or those from 2015?

[Kate Green]

I thank the hon. Gentleman and I very much hope that, seeing the strength of feeling around the House tonight, BA most certainly will realise that it must play fair.

Oral Answers to Questions

Henry Smith Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd February 2015 Commons Chamber

[Chris Grayling]

I believe it is the job of the Lord Chancellor not only to uphold the law but to change it where it is necessary to do so. The reforms of judicial review are necessary, measured and proportionate. They are reforms that were argued for by Ministers in the previous Government, but of course they never did anything about it.

[Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)]

T5. Last week, I was privileged to attend a ceremony at the Crawley Band of Brothers, where men mentor former young offenders to help them turn their lives around. What further steps can the Department take to encourage such voluntary groups to help the rehabilitation of offenders?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Andrew Selous)]

I share my hon. Friend’s enthusiasm for what voluntary groups such as a Band of Brothers can do, alongside the work of our public sector probation professionals, to reduce reoffending further, which is what our reforms are all about. No doubt he will be pleased to know that 19 of the 21 areas have a voluntary group such as the one he mentioned in their tier 1 providers, and a Band of Brothers is part of MTCnovo’s supply chain, delivering rehabilitation services in London.

Prison Communications

Henry Smith Excerpts

Tuesday 11th November 2014 Commons Chamber

[Chris Grayling]

I do not believe that this is a criminal matter, because the guidelines are set out in prison rules. I would certainly take a pretty dim view if any member of staff had intentionally broken the rules to listen in to a set of calls involving a Member of Parliament. We will obviously wait to see what the investigation throws up, but I suspect that this is a case of error rather than intent. I am setting up the investigation to confirm that.

[Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)]

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for his statement. He was right to bring this matter to the House’s attention expeditiously. Does he have information yet about the division between prisoners on remand whose calls were listened to and post-conviction prisoners, or will we have to wait for the inquiry for that?

[Chris Grayling]

I do not have that detail of information yet. The right hon. Member for Tooting (Sadiq Khan) was absolutely right to point out that many of those may well not have been convicted of any crime, but have been simply awaiting trial. It is particularly important to ensure that such people are protected, but that is a matter for Nick Hardwick’s investigation.

Oral Answers to Questions

Henry Smith Excerpts

Tuesday 1st July 2014 Commons Chamber

The Secretary of State was asked—

[Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)]

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

[Mr Mark Harper (Forest of Dean) (Con)]

6. What progress he has made on reducing the level of reoffending.

--- Later in debate ---

[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.

[Henry Smith]

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for that answer. What progress has his Department made in establishing a network of resettlement prisons?

[Chris Grayling]

We are on track to establish the network of resettlement prisons later this year to coincide with the commencement of the mentoring and supervision of under-12-month offenders. This part of our reforms is enormously important. It will mean that offenders will spend the last few months of their sentence in or just outside the geographic area into which they will be released in order to ensure that we have a proper through-the-gate service to plan, prepare and implement arrangements for their release.

Oral Answers to Questions

Henry Smith Excerpts

Tuesday 18th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Vara]

That is a matter for the Attorney-General and not for the Ministry of Justice.

[Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)]

Statistics show that the number of non-molestation orders issued by the English courts has recently increased, and there is some suggestion that they may be used as an additional route to obtaining legal aid. Will my hon. Friend undertake to investigate that further?

[Mr Vara]

My hon. Friend raises an important point, and I will happily look into the matter.

Oral Answers to Questions

Henry Smith Excerpts

Tuesday 17th December 2013 Commons Chamber

[Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)]

12. What professional development support his Department plans to put in place for those supervising offenders in the community.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Jeremy Wright)]

The national probation service will continue to use the probation qualifications framework to ensure the competence of its staff. For the new community rehabilitation companies there will be a contractual requirement to have and to maintain a work force who have appropriate levels of training and competence. On 3 December we announced that we will be setting up a new probation institute that will promote the sharing of good practice to those working across the probation profession.

[Henry Smith]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that answer. How much investment are the Government making in the new national probation institute?

[Jeremy Wright]

We are contributing some £90,000 towards the cost of setting up the probation institute. The remainder will come from the Probation Association and the Probation Chiefs Association. I am grateful to them and to the probation trade unions for working together so successfully to bring forward the proposal, which we entirely support and which will help to underline the professionalism and continuing professional development of those who work in rehabilitation.