Oral Answers to Questions

John Slinger Excerpts

Tuesday 5th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Heidi Alexander]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his question. I have yet to have those conversations with my counterparts in Northern Ireland, but I hope to do so in the coming months.

[John Slinger (Rugby) (Lab)]

4. What steps her Department is taking to support prison officers. 

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

By immediately reducing prison overcrowding, we have made prisons safer to work in. We have also accepted the 5% pay award recommended for prison officers in full.

[John Slinger]

I have been made aware of the consequences of 14 years of neglect of our Prison and Probation Service by the Conservative party: the critical overcrowding due to the lack of investment; staff at all levels feeling exhausted, scared, demotivated, disenfranchised and undervalued; officers facing unacceptably high levels of violence and drug abuse; and bullying between prisoners. What is the Department doing to rectify the consequences of this litany of neglect by the so-called party of law and order, to give our prison officers the support they deserve?

[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.