Oral Answers to Questions

Jess Asato Excerpts

Tuesday 10th September 2024 Commons Chamber

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

The hon. Member is right that drugs in prison is a big issue that the Government are working hard to tackle. I would be very happy to write to her with further details of what we are doing.

[Jess Asato (Lowestoft) (Lab)]

T7. Today, the first tranche of prisoners will be released early under the Government’s emergency measures to address the prison overcrowding crisis. It is welcome that this Government have excluded some domestic abuse offenders from the scheme. However, not all domestic abuse perpetrators can be excluded. Will the Secretary of State consider extending the victim contact scheme to all survivors of domestic abuse and violence against women and girls, regardless of the length of time that their perpetrator spends in prison?

[Alex Davies-Jones]

First, let me congratulate my hon. Friend on succeeding me as chair of the all-party parliamentary group on perpetrators of domestic abuse. It is a vital APPG and I know that she will do sterling working as its chair.

To confirm, we have excluded from SDS40 certain offences that are frequently connected to domestic abuse, such as stalking and controlling or coercive behaviour. The victim contact scheme is available to all victims of a sexual, violent or terrorist offence where the offender is sentenced to 12 months or more in custody. We are working with the sector and others to consider how to improve communication with victims about an offender following a conviction.