Oral Answers to Questions

Jack Abbott Excerpts

Tuesday 5th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Alex Davies-Jones]

This Government are leading the way with our mission to halve violence against women and girls—all women and girls. The Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 will require local commissioners to develop joint needs assessments for victims of sexual abuse in order to identify and address the current gaps, and to support these women.

On outlawing pimping websites specifically, I would encourage my hon. Friend to speak to the Minister for Safeguarding, but as I have previously mentioned, this Government are working holistically across all Government Departments, including the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Home Office, to tackle violence against women and girls.

[Jack Abbott (Ipswich) (Lab/Co-op)]

13. What steps her Department is taking to help reduce reoffending.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Sir Nicholas Dakin)]

Good reducing reoffending activity cannot happen in overcrowded prisons, which is why we took immediate action to relieve the pressure. This will allow for better access to purposeful activity, which we all know reduces reoffending.

[Jack Abbott]

It was a former Prisons Minister who identified that short custodial sentences have a higher reoffending rate than sentences served outside prison. Does the Minister agree that we need to look at using technology to curtail offenders’ freedoms outside prison and ensure that we cut the cycle of crime?

[Sir Nicholas Dakin]

Yes. Electronic monitoring is already an important part of safely managing offenders in the community, and one of the principles of the sentencing review is to look at the punishment that offenders receive outside prison, considering how we can best use electronic monitoring and other technologies to safely manage offenders outside the prison walls.

--- Later in debate ---

[Shabana Mahmood]

I am shocked to hear about the extent of the delay in the case of the right hon. Gentleman’s constituent. He is welcome to write to me with the specific details and I will ensure he gets a meeting with the relevant Minister.

[Jack Abbott (Ipswich) (Lab/Co-op)]

T3. Earlier this year, it was reported that over 1,000 cases at Ipswich Crown court are outstanding. At the last count, each case was taking an average of 249 days to be dealt with, with 144 cases unresolved for two years or more. What can the Minister do to reassure my constituents, as we look to clear the terrible backlog left by the previous Government?

[The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Heidi Alexander)]

The Government have made it clear that we are fully committed to bearing down on the Crown court caseload. To relieve pressure on Ipswich Crown court in particular, the south-east region has begun sending appropriate cases to Cambridge Crown court for hearing. Nationally, we have increased the number of Crown court sitting days to 106,500, which is 500 more than agreed by the previous Lord Chancellor.