Police, Prison and Probation Officers

Lord Bishop of Gloucester Excerpts

Tuesday 13th May 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Timpson (Lab)]

I am pleased to say that we as a Government are putting an extra £1 billion into policing, which will go a long way to addressing the neighbourhood policing issues that we have discussed.

[The Lord Bishop of Gloucester]

My Lords, last week I observed the intensive supervision court in Birmingham, where women serving community orders for low-level offences are closely monitored by judges. Probation staff play a pivotal role. It is clear that the work is high and intense. What steps are the Government taking to urgently ensure that problem-solving courts have the best chance of succeeding—and, indeed, other creative community proposals that we hope will come out of the Independent Sentencing Review?

[Lord Timpson (Lab)]

I hope we will not have to wait too long for the Independent Sentencing Review; I may need to ask some noble and learned Lords about what the exact dates are. The best day I have had in this job—and I have had lots of really good days—was going to the intensive supervision court in Birmingham. It was incredibly uplifting seeing female offenders coming up from the cells in the morning looking very ill and then seeing how the lives of those who have been engaging with the intensive supervision court for six months have changed. But they knew that they had to engage with probation, housing and often drug and addiction work—and, if they did not, they went to prison.