Pairing

Debate between Michael Tomlinson and David Lidington

Monday 23rd July 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lidington]

The Procedure Committee report on proxy voting and parental absence suggested a number of exceptions that, in its view, should be made to its general recommendation to allow proxy voting, so my hon. Friend makes an important point.

[Michael Tomlinson (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (Con)]

I speak with great authority and experience, having been refused every single pair that I have ever applied for. Be that as it may, will my right hon. Friend adopt the principle of Chesterton’s fence, namely that reforms should not be made until the reasoning behind the existing state of affairs is properly understood?

[Mr Lidington]

These are exactly the arguments that we will have the opportunity to debate in September.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Michael Tomlinson and David Lidington

Tuesday 5th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lidington]

If one looks back at inspection reports over the years, one can see examples of good practice and poorer practice at both state-run and privately operated prisons and secure training centres. There are good reports on, for example, how G4S has operated HMP Parc for adult and young offenders. When there are problems with privately operated prisons, my hon. Friends and I take them up directly and firmly with the company concerned.

[Michael Tomlinson (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (Con)]

I warmly support and welcome the Secretary of State’s and the prisons Minister’s support for and implementation of the Farmer review. How will the Minister ensure that the policy will be implemented across the board to ensure that reoffending is reduced? I would be very happy for the prisons Minister to answer.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Michael Tomlinson and David Lidington

Tuesday 31st October 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lidington]

I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will welcome the fact that we are about halfway towards recruiting the additional 2,500 prison officers that my predecessor, my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Norfolk (Elizabeth Truss), announced about a year ago. If he has particular concerns about a specific prison, I am sure that my hon. Friend the Prisons Minister will be happy to discuss them with him.

[Michael Tomlinson (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (Con)]

I warmly welcome the commitment of the Secretary of State and the Prisons Minister to implementing the Farmer review in full. They have acknowledged the important link between family ties and rehabilitation. Now that prison governors are being further empowered, what more can be done to ensure that that is rolled out across the whole prison estate?

[Mr Lidington]

One thing that has struck me since being appointed to this role in the Government is that we need to get better at ensuring that the best, most successful practices in prisons are disseminated rapidly and widely. One means of doing that is to ensure that there is additional support for individual prison governors at regional level, so that they have experienced mentors available to them—particularly for new governors. I hope that that shift will help deliver the change that my hon. Friend seeks.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Michael Tomlinson and David Lidington

Tuesday 5th September 2017 Commons Chamber

[James Cleverly (Braintree) (Con)]

13. What steps the Government are taking to counter extremism and radicalisation in prisons.

[The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Mr David Lidington)]

We have established a new extremism unit, between Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service and the Home Office, to strengthen our approach to tackling the threat of extremism in prisons and probation. Prison governors and frontline staff in prisons and the probation service are being given the training, skills and authority needed to challenge extremist views and take action against them. The first separation centre at HMP Frankland in County Durham was opened in June 2017, and the first prisoners are now being held there. Those facilities will hold the most subversive extremist prisoners, protecting the more vulnerable from their poisonous ideology.

[Michael Tomlinson]

I am grateful to the Secretary of State for that answer, and it is right to say that extremists target and manipulate the prisoners who they think will be most susceptible. Given his answer, what impact does he anticipate the removal of such individuals will have on the prison population as a whole?

[Mr Lidington]

The decision to proceed with the separation centre was taken only after very careful thought. We judged that it would be beneficial for the general prison population, and in particular for vulnerable and impressionable prisoners, if we could take out of association with them those who pose the greatest risk. Those who are going to be in separation centres will be assessed by experts regularly, and they will be returned to the mainstream prison population only if it is judged that the risk they present has reduced to a level that can be effectively managed there.

Business of the House

Debate between Michael Tomlinson and David Lidington

Thursday 26th January 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lidington]

I remind the right hon. Gentleman that his party supported the European Union Referendum Bill on putting the question to the people, and it supported the timetable for triggering article 50 by the end of March. This Bill is designed to ensure that those objectives are met.

[Michael Tomlinson (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (Con)]

Does the Leader of the House agree that there is in fact ample time to debate the article 50 Bill? We will have two days on Second Reading and three days in Committee to debate what will be a very narrow Bill. Can he confirm the precise sitting times on those days?

[Mr Lidington]

We will try to ensure that there is plenty of time, and that adequate protection is given against the risk of statements or urgent questions so that Members on both sides have the opportunity to debate these matters fully.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Michael Tomlinson and David Lidington

Tuesday 12th July 2016 Commons Chamber

[Michael Tomlinson (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (Con)]

9. What discussions he has had with his counterparts in the EU, Africa and the middle east on dealing with the refugee crisis in Europe and the middle east.

[The Minister for Europe (Mr David Lidington)]

We have these discussions regularly and our consistent focus is on securing a comprehensive and durable solution which tackles the causes as well as the consequences of migration.

[Michael Tomlinson]

Will the Minister reaffirm this Government’s commitment to Operation Sophia? Can he confirm that we will continue to co-operate with our European allies in relation to the refugee crisis?

Europe: Renegotiation

Debate between Michael Tomlinson and David Lidington

Tuesday 10th November 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lidington]

The Government are clear that we need some very clear agreed reforms in order to make the recommendation to the British people that the Prime Minister said that he wishes to make, but also the British people will need to see serious reforms if they are to be persuaded to vote in favour of continued British membership. Beyond that, Europe as a whole would benefit from the sort of reforms that we are advocating because there are too many jobless young people in Europe who need greater European competitiveness, and in very many European countries we are seeing a sense of dissatisfaction and alienation from the way in which decisions are currently taken in Brussels.

[Michael Tomlinson (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (Con)]

My right hon. Friend rightly said at the beginning of his statement that we have a mandate to renegotiate thanks to our securing an outright Conservative victory at the general election. Does he agree that the reforms need to be permanent and irreversible as well as sufficient, because otherwise residents in my constituency and elsewhere will simply vote to leave?

[Mr Lidington]

I agree with my hon. Friend.