Oral Answers to Questions

Iqbal Mohamed Excerpts

Tuesday 10th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Alex Davies-Jones]

This Government are committed to bringing forward a specific new offence of spiking. We are committed to modernising the existing legislation in this Session so that no other victims like Skylar, Laura and Jade suffer these abhorrent crimes.

[Iqbal Mohamed (Dewsbury and Batley) (Ind)]

Nearly 3,000 prisoners are still incarcerated under imprisonment for public protection sentences, which were abolished more than 12 years ago, many for offences not intended to be covered by such sentences. Will the Justice Secretary commit to expediting the Government plans to re-sentence all prisoners still stuck on indefinite IPP sentences to free up limited prison capacity?

[Shabana Mahmood]

First, the last Conservative Government were right to abolish the IPP sentencing regime, but that has left us with a cohort within our prison system who are still serving these sentences. I am determined to make more progress in ensuring that, when safe to do so, more of those individuals can come out of prison, but I will not do so in a way that compromises public protection, as some of these individuals pose a real risk to the public. I will not conduct a re-sentencing exercise, because that would have the effect of releasing everyone immediately, but we will make progress on getting more people properly rehabilitated and out of prison.