Queen’s Speech

Lord Sherbourne of Didsbury Excerpts

Wednesday 8th January 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Sherbourne of Didsbury (Con)]

My Lords, it is a real pleasure to follow my noble friend Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay, who has just made an excellent speech. We are very fortunate in this place in being able to draw on the experience that new Members bring to the House. My noble friend is no exception and does just that, but he also brings to the House an attribute which most of us here do not have and cannot even aspire to: the advantage of youth. He is still in his thirties, and without reform of the second Chamber I must tell him that he could still be a Member of this House in 2070, as a sprightly 80 year-old.

My noble friend has had a stellar political career, first as President of the Cambridge Union, then at the think tank the Centre for Policy Studies, and most recently as adviser to Theresa May, both at the Home Office and then at No 10. He has a deep interest in history and recently deployed his analytical skills to good use in contemporary history, in a devastating critique of a book purporting to be a history of Theresa May’s premiership that was rushed out within weeks of her leaving office. My noble friend reviewed the book with a forensic ferocity, exposing a litany of glaring inaccuracies and unsubstantiated, if not malicious, generalisations. This was not blind loyalty on the part of my noble friend but careful, detailed and effective scrutiny. It is this talent which I know he will put to good use in the proceedings of this House, and we look forward to hearing more from him in future.

I turn now to the gracious Speech, although what I will talk about is not mentioned in it. What is more, I have to be honest, it is a subject on which I have no special knowledge or particular expertise. My purpose is simple: to highlight a subject of considerable importance —the state of our prisons, which was mentioned in the right reverend Prelate’s speech. Last week, I heard the Chief Inspector of Prisons, Peter Clarke, speaking on the “Today” programme. He has been chief inspector for four years, during which time there have been five Justice Secretaries and five Ministers for Prisons. How on earth can a Minister drive a policy through if they are in the job for no more than a few months?

In his interview, the chief inspector spoke about Feltham young offender institution. It had been inspected in January last year and was inspected again in July. In those six months, everything had got worse: levels of self-harm had tripled, violence and the use of force had risen significantly, and 40% of the children said that they felt unsafe during their time there. They were locked up for 20 hours a day. In Swinfen Hall young offender institution in Staffordshire, half the young male prisoners were locked up for 22 hours a day. As the chief inspector explained, it is not surprising that this causes frustration and anger, leading to violence, self-harm and, all too often, suicide.

This puts great pressure on prison officers. It is a really tough job, and they have to be protected. Quite rightly, the Conservative manifesto talks about the need to improve prison security, protect staff and stop drugs being smuggled into prisons. Only yesterday a report was published on HMP Winchester, which said that 59% of prisoners found it easy to import drugs. These are huge challenges. It is partly about resources: more staff and better facilities in prisons. In many places, such as HMP Liverpool, investments and improvements are being made. But it is also about the quality of local leadership, and the quality and teamwork inspired by that leadership. We know how important that is in every organisation—in schools, in companies—and so it is in prisons.

The Conservative manifesto also talked about rehabilitation. It says that the Government

“will create a prisoner education service focused on work-based training and skills”

and talks about having a “job coach” in every prison. I welcome that, but for many prisoners who have had wretched lives, what is needed is much more basic than that. Some of them have mental problems, and many lack the very basic skills of literacy and numeracy. As a general point, I hope that the Government will look around the world to see what they can learn from other countries, what reforms and innovations have worked there which we could perhaps introduce and emulate.

Finally, looking at the Lib Dem Benches, I very much welcome the appointment of the noble Lord, Lord Macdonald of River Glaven, as the new president of the Howard League for Penal Reform. On almost every subject on which I have heard the noble Lord speak, whether in this House or in the media, I have been struck by his common sense and clarity, so I very much hope that he will use his new position to advance the cause of prison reform.