Crime, Reoffending and Rehabilitation

Lord Davies of Gower Excerpts

Thursday 30th June 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Davies of Gower (Con)]

My Lords, it is a pleasure, as always, to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Fox of Buckley. I thank my noble friend Lord Farmer for bringing this matter to the Chamber today and for his impressive speech. I echo the welcome to the Front Bench for my noble and learned friend Lord Bellamy.

In a former life, I spent most of my time detecting and arresting criminals and putting them before the courts. While I appreciate that there may be those who disagree with me, the reality is that we put the more serious offenders in prison because they need to be punished for their wrongdoing and, more importantly, because victims and the public at large must be protected from further harm. However, that does not mean that we should not make every attempt to engage, and we have a responsibility as a society to rehabilitate the wrongdoer.

I have long been mystified about why the reoffending rate remains so high. The Ministry of Justice estimates that it costs the country somewhere in the region of £18.1 billion—a staggering figure, I am sure your Lordships will agree. We know that people commit crime for a number of reasons. Some do it for drugs and profit. Personal circumstances while growing up can give some individuals a higher propensity for violence. We know that alcohol plays a substantial part in many offences against the person, such as domestic violence. However, for many offences there is also an undeniable link with deprivation and lack of opportunities, a factor I have seen first hand in my policing career here in London over many years. This lack of opportunities captures my interest more than anything else in respect of the rehabilitation process.

Last year Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons reported that those who engage in prison and probation education, training or employment activities are more likely to be employed and less likely to reoffend than those who do not. Around 70,000 prisoners are released from prison each year, and recent figures from the Prison Reform Trust in the Bromley Briefings Prison Factfile: Winter 2021 tell us that some 28% of prisoners had been in employment the year after custody. The same source tells us that 39% of people are less likely to be reconvicted if they secure a job after their release.

It is not all bad news. There is some good news, which brings me neatly on to a fantastic initiative called the New Futures Network, a specialist part of Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service. It brokers partnerships between prisons and employers in England and Wales. These partnerships help businesses fill skills gaps and prison leavers find employment. More than 400 businesses already work in partnership with prisons to provide work and employment opportunities. Of the employers surveyed, more than 80% positively rated those they employed as reliable and hard-working. As part of this structure, each prison has an employment advisory board, which is a platform to connect employers with prisons. Two weeks ago, I attended the inaugural meeting of one such board at Swansea prison. The enthusiasm and passion to make this work was impressive.

I cannot let the opportunity pass without a mention for the Timpson Foundation, which specialises in the recruitment of marginalised groups within society. It is worth noting that Timpson is one of the largest employers of ex-offenders in the UK.

Among other things, the purpose of these employment advisory boards is to help develop a positive culture of employment within the prison for the long term, to help prisoners get job-ready—with focus on CV building, interview practice, skills training and a knowledge of what opportunities there are for them to apply for—and to encourage local businesses to engage with the prison and offer their resources, connections and knowledge to help those living and working in the prison to prepare for and find work on release.

Opportunities in the building industry, hospitality and road transport are all catered for, and Swansea prison has secured funding for a heavy goods vehicle simulator, which allows prisoners on the scheme to gain driving qualifications. It was interesting, speaking to the governor, to learn that one of the hold-ups in the system was that they had to get £35 to apply for a licence. That seems rather crazy. I am sure that the Ministry of Justice could speak to the DVLA or the Department for Transport on that.

The New Futures Network can help by working with prisons to field appropriate candidates to join a business on day release, which enables serving prisoners who are within two years of release to leave prison to work in the community. It allows individuals to gain valuable experience of the way organisations work and to receive essential training before being permanently released and possibly joining a business. Timpson has a long history of working with the Prison Service to employ ex-offenders. James Timpson, its chief executive, has said that far more people go into its shops because of what it does with ex-offenders and see it as a really positive thing.

A scheme such as this has to be a very positive step forward, and I am bound to say that I was so impressed with it that I very much hope it will expand throughout the UK. As politicians, we should take note of the good and very positive work that is being carried out to assist ex-offenders and do everything that we can to support it.