Youth Justice Board Review
Nicholas Dakin Excerpts(5 days, 15 hours ago)
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Sir Nicholas Dakin)
I am pleased to announce the review of the Youth Justice Board. This review is being conducted as part of the public bodies review programme, which aims to ensure that public bodies are operating effectively, and that their functions remain useful and necessary.
An efficient and effective youth justice system is essential for preventing crime and keeping communities safe. In line with our safer streets mission, it is vital that we have robust systems in place to stop young people being drawn into crime. Equally, we must support children who do find themselves in contact with the youth justice system to ensure they do not enter a cycle of crime which continues into adulthood.
The youth justice system is a complex one, requiring collaboration between many Departments, agencies and public and voluntary services. While there is much to celebrate, including a significant reduction in the number of children in custody in the last decade, it is right that we regularly review how our structures, system and agencies operate to ensure they are as effective and efficient as possible.
The YJB was set up to play a critical role in delivering positive outcomes for children in contact with the criminal justice system, and to provide oversight, assurance and technical expertise around the operation of the youth justice system. However, much time has passed since the last Cabinet Office review of the YJB in 2013. Since then, the youth justice landscape, and YJB itself, have changed significantly.
With that in mind, this review is an opportunity to consider whether the YJB’s statutory functions remain useful and necessary, where these functions should sit, and whether the YJB’s current delivery model remains appropriate. This review will also be key to assessing how the YJB and Department should work together to deliver ministerial priorities and deliver value for money.
This review will ensure that our current arrangements actively support the essential work undertaken by youth justice services and support the effective delivery of the Department’s priorities for youth justice and reducing reoffending.
I have appointed Steve Crocker, former president of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services, to lead on the review. He is independent from the Ministry of Justice and will provide objective analysis of the YJB and the Department. Steve Crocker will also lead a period of stakeholder engagement across England and Wales.
I will make a further announcement on completion of the review in spring 2025. Following this, I will set out the Government’s response.
[HCWS332]
Oral Answers to Questions
Nicholas Dakin Excerpts(1 week, 6 days ago)
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Bobby Dean (Carshalton and Wallington) (LD)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Sir Nicholas Dakin)
The prison estate conditions survey programme is a live assessment of the condition of our estate, but there is still much to do. Approximately 4,000 cells were lost to dilapidation under the last Government. That is why we are investing £220 million in Prison and Probation Service maintenance in 2024-25, and up to £300 million in 2025-26.
Bobby Dean
A constituent who is now a prisoner of HMP Coldingley wrote to me recently about the appalling conditions in his prison. He spoke about the prevalence of drugs, violence, discrimination and denial of access to healthcare. In his most recent letter to me, he said that the conditions had got so bad that he made an attempt on his life. Another report on Coldingley has described the conditions as “inhumane”. Can the Minister tell me what urgent work is being done to ensure that all our prisons have humane conditions for prisoners?
Sir Nicholas Dakin
This Government are determined to ensure the best possible conditions in our prisons. We have inherited a crisis in our prisons, I am afraid, but if the hon. Member wishes to write to me about that particular issue, I will be happy to write back to him.
Andy Slaughter (Hammersmith and Chiswick) (Lab)
The condition of our Victorian prisons in particular is not conducive to rehabilitation or preparation for life on release. The Government are pressing ahead with the construction of 20,000 new prison places, which their predecessors failed to honour. What thought has been given, in the design and operation of these major new prisons, to the training, education, addiction and mental health needs of inmates, for whom prison is currently little more than a human warehouse?
Sir Nicholas Dakin
These new prisons will be built with all the things my hon. Friend mentions taken fully into account. The Government are determined to put in place 14,000 more prison places.
Elaine Stewart (Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock) (Lab)
Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Sir Nicholas Dakin)
We are mandating careers advice in prisons and introducing a life skills curriculum. All released prisoners have access to an employment advisory board that can connect prisoners with work, and banking and ID administrators are preparing prisoners for life after prison.
Paul Davies
The UK faces a major labour shortage that is costing billions of pounds annually. Lacking prospects, many ex-prisoners return to a life of crime. Enhancing prisoner literacy and numeracy and providing vocational training can help equip them with skills for employment, leading to a reduction in reoffending rates. I welcome the “Get Britain Working” White Paper, which will address the issue. Does the Minister agree that failing to tackle the issue will not only cause a lifelong challenge for individuals, but create a significant problem for the state, including lost opportunities and increased crime?
Sir Nicholas Dakin
I agree with my hon. Friend. We know that having a job and a home are the best ways to reduce reoffending. That is why we have employment hubs in all resettlement prisons, where prisoners can access job vacancies and support with their applications.
Bob Blackman
The Minister will know that prison governors have a statutory duty to ensure that prisoners are prepared for life outside prison before their release. One of the main issues for released prisoners is finding a secure home, so that they can have somewhere secure to live rather than going back to the place where they were probably involved in gangs or with particular individuals. Now that prisoners are being released from their sentences early, what action is the Minister taking to ensure that they are fully prepared for life outside prison and there is no risk that they will reoffend?
Sir Nicholas Dakin
We know that accommodation is key to reducing reoffending. That is why we are expanding our transitional accommodation service and working closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to develop a long-term strategy to put us back on track to ending homelessness and ensuring this issue is tackled correctly.
Dr Luke Evans (Hinckley and Bosworth) (Con)
Dan Aldridge (Weston-super-Mare) (Lab)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Sir Nicholas Dakin)
We will expand our transitional accommodation service and launch employment councils to strengthen the relationship between employers and HM Prison and Probation Service.
Mr Sewards
People who commit crimes should be prosecuted and put in prison as quickly as possible. It is also clear that we need to do more to reduce reoffending rates in order to keep the public safe. To keep up with the current demand for prison places, we need to build three mega-jails a year, costing the taxpayer millions. Given those facts, does the Minister agree that we need to invest in technology to bring reoffending rates down, so that we can help those people turn their lives around and, crucially, keep the public safe?
Sir Nicholas Dakin
Absolutely; public safety is our No. 1 priority and new technology gives us every advantage to do things differently. That is one of the things that the independent sentencing review under David Gauke will be looking at.
Dan Aldridge
Providing quality education and training for offenders is one of the most effective ways of reducing reoffending. Weston College in Weston-super-Mare runs a transformational prison education programme across the south-west of England, which supports successful rehabilitation, resettlement and employment of offenders on release. Can the Minister advise what steps the Department is taking to ensure that more offenders can develop the skills they need to successfully gain employment and reintegrate into society?
Sir Nicholas Dakin
I very much welcome the work that Weston College does in prisons. We are also developing our training offer for employers in areas such as rail tracks and construction, and HMPPS’s Creating future opportunities programme is working to improve the employability of offenders in both prison and the community.
Danny Kruger (East Wiltshire) (Con)
I declare an interest as the founder and chairman of a prison rehabilitation charity. The Minister has helpfully set out what the Government are doing about reducing reoffending, which I welcome. Is he aware, though, of the enormous pressure put on prisoners who are approaching the end of their release, given the pressures that the prison service is under? That is partly because of early release itself, which is releasing prisoners before they finish programmes provided by charities or the prisons, but also because of the churn of prisoners being shipped around the prison system because of the pressure on that system. Is there anything he can tell us about what the Government are doing to ensure that prisoners approaching the end of their sentence have some stability in the prison they are serving in so that they can get support as they approach release?
Sir Nicholas Dakin
Several of the things that I have mentioned already are designed to do exactly that, and we recognise exactly what the hon. Gentleman says. On the SDS40 scheme, prison and probation officers have done an outstanding job in supporting prisoners through that journey.
Anna Sabine (Frome and East Somerset) (LD)
A constituent of mine reported a rape and sexual offence case well over two years ago but, like many victims, is still waiting for her case to be processed by the Crown court, leaving her pessimistic about the criminal justice system’s ability properly to tackle violence against women and girls. What is the Ministry of Justice doing to tackle the backlog and support victims of VAWG through the criminal justice system?
Kim Johnson (Liverpool Riverside) (Lab)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Sir Nicholas Dakin)
My hon. Friend is right to ask this question. Under the previous Government, a process was already under way to put in place new contracts for prison maintenance. We need to make sure that those contracts deliver good value for the public purse.
Kim Johnson
I thank the Minister for that response. The prison maintenance contract is set to be retendered to the private sector next year. Prisons such as Walton in my home city of Liverpool—a crumbling Victorian prison—struggle to get the smallest repairs undertaken, and there is £1.8 billion-worth of unreported repairs within the prison system. We know that privatisation leads to higher costs and increased squalor, so can the Minister or the Secretary of State call time on this failed experiment and bring prison maintenance back in-house where it belongs?
Sir Nicholas Dakin
The previous Government paused work on essential maintenance, which has added to the problems we are now dealing with. My hon. Friend is right to say that all options need to be looked at in order to ensure we get the best possible value for money for the public purse from any new contracts or arrangements.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
I thank the Minister very much for that response. One story that has been quite prevalent in the press over the past two months has been the amount of mould growth in prisons, which will obviously lead to health issues. Will the new prison maintenance service that the Minister has referred to be able to deal with that specific issue? If it is not dealt with, it will lead to ill health among those who are in prison.
Sir Nicholas Dakin
Clearly, issues such as that need to be dealt with. Staff at His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service are doing their utmost to try to tackle those issues, but we will redouble our efforts after the hon. Gentleman’s encouragement.
Antonia Bance (Tipton and Wednesbury) (Lab)
Dave Robertson (Lichfield) (Lab)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Sir Nicholas Dakin)
One of the very first actions of the Government was to accept the Prison Service pay review body’s independent recommendations in full, delivering a pay increase of 5% for prison officers. In addition, we monitor exit interview data and use it to help design interventions to improve retention.
Helen Maguire (Epsom and Ewell) (LD)
Sir Nicholas Dakin
The hon. Member raises an important issue, which is always under review, but that is where we are at the moment.
Shaun Davies (Telford) (Lab)
Jessica Morden (Newport East) (Lab)
Sir Nicholas Dakin
I can assure the House and my hon. Friend that HMP Parc is receiving targeted support. She points to the recent visit by my hon. and noble Friends to the prison, and the Minister for Prisons in the other place is providing full evidence about this and other matters to the Welsh Affairs Committee tomorrow.
Rosie Duffield (Canterbury) (Ind)
Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst (Solihull West and Shirley) (Con)
Since the beginning of this year, 17 inmates have died at HMP Parc. It has been under the control of G4S since opening in 1997. What consideration has the Lord Chancellor made of returning the prison to the Ministry of Justice?
Sir Nicholas Dakin
As I said in answer to an earlier question from my hon. Friend the Member for Newport East (Jessica Morden), HMP Parc is receiving a lot of attention at the moment. The Minister for prisons in the other place, Lord Timpson, will be answering questions tomorrow in thorough detail and the hon. Member might wish to attend that meeting.
Alex Baker (Aldershot) (Lab)
Brian Leishman (Alloa and Grangemouth) (Lab)
Section 127 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 bans prison officers from taking industrial action and limits trade unions’ ability to protect prison officers from attacks on their terms and conditions and wages. Thankfully, these fundamental trade union rights have been reinstated for prison officers in Scotland. Does the Secretary of State agree that it is time for section 127 to change so that workers’ rights are fully restored for prison officers in the rest of the UK?
Wera Hobhouse (Bath) (LD)
Avon and Somerset police is doing an excellent job at Bath Christmas market, challenging any individual seen behaving inappropriately towards a woman or young female. What more can the Ministry of Justice do to tackle street harassment?
Draft Home Detention Curfew and Requisite and Minimum Custodial Periods (Amendment) Order 2024
Nicholas Dakin Excerpts(2 weeks, 5 days ago)
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Sir Nicholas Dakin)
I beg to move,
That the Committee has considered the draft Home Detention Curfew and Requisite and Minimum Custodial Periods (Amendment) Order 2024.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Mundell. The Government laid this draft order on 13 November. I hope that that has given hon. Members an opportunity to scrutinise the order and its accompanying explanatory documents. However, I welcome this further opportunity to be clear about what the order will do and the Government’s reasons for taking these measures.
The draft order is a key part of our continuing efforts to resolve the capacity crisis in our prisons. We inherited from the previous Government a prison system on the verge of collapse, and on 12 July the Lord Chancellor was forced to announce a measure to address the immediate risk of running out of prison places: a change to modify the automatic release point for those serving standard determinate sentences from 50% to 40%. Specified offences were excluded from the modification.
The draft order makes further important changes to the original measure by excluding a number of further offences from the modification. Also, as part of our continuing efforts to avoid running out of prison spaces, the order amends the provisions relating to home detention curfew, or HDC, by extending the maximum time that an offender can spend on HDC in the community. HDC enables eligible risk-assessed offenders to be released from prison six months early and to spend more time in the community. They are subject to an electronically monitored curfew.
We propose to extend the maximum time that an offender can spend on HDC from six months to 12. To be clear, we seek to extend the maximum curfew period only. Eligibility and suitability criteria remain exactly the same; all the exclusions remain—for example, sex offenders are still excluded in statute, and those serving sentences linked to domestic abuse remain presumed unsuitable under the policy.
It is right that the sentencing review is given time to do its work, but the capacity crisis in our prisons has not gone away. When we introduced emergency measures in July, we believed that they had bought us about a year, but after the summer of disorder the next crisis could be just nine months away, and for that reason we must implement further measures urgently to ensure that we do not face running out of places again. The change to HDC will help to ensure that the criminal justice system is able to function as it should, helping to prevent further acute capacity pressures and avoid us running out of prison places, which would cause criminal justice gridlock.
The draft order relates to release measures in the Criminal Justice Act 2003. The first part of the draft order deals with the HDC, which has been in operation since 1999. The scheme enables certain prisoners to be released from prison early, while remaining subject to significant restrictions on their liberty. Offenders who are released from custody on that basis are tagged and placed on a curfew. Curfews must be for at least nine hours per day by law, but are generally around 12 hours per day as a matter of policy. The curfew requirement must remain in force until the offender reaches what would have been the conditional or automatic release date. Those released on HDC are subject to probation supervision and other restrictions as necessary, which may include GPS location and alcohol monitoring, exclusion zones, non-contact conditions and travel restrictions. If offenders breach the terms of their conditions, they can be recalled to custody to serve the remainder of their custodial sentence.
The rules on eligibility will not change as a result of the draft order. Offenders must complete half the custodial part of their sentence before they can be considered eligible for HDC. Release on HDC is also entirely discretionary. A number of offences are excluded from scope by statute—for example serious violent and all sexual offences. Other types of offending are presumed unsuitable as a matter of policy, including those often associated with domestic abuse, such as stalking, harassment and coercive control.
Offenders serving sentences for any of the presumed unsuitable offences will not be considered for release unless the prison governor is satisfied that there are exceptional circumstances justifying this. Any offenders who meet that test will still be subject to a rigorous risk assessment process before release on HDC is approved. We are proposing to extend the maximum period that an eligible prisoner may spend on HDC to 12 months from the current maximum of six months. Those offenders eligible for HDC will continue to be risk-assessed, and will still be subject to strict licence conditions and an electronically monitored curfew.
As the previous Prisons Minister said, the re-offending rate for prisoners released directly from custody was close to 50%, but for the types of offenders released on HDC it was 23%. The previous Administration committed to doing a review when HDC was extended from four and a half months to six months. That review did not take place, and the growing crisis in our prisons has meant that we need to take further action. HDC is closely monitored by His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service and by the Ministry of Justice. Data on releases and recalls is regularly published, and that will continue.
I must be clear that this measure is urgently needed to reduce the pressure on the prison system. The challenges facing us across the prison estate are such that we must take urgent action to allow the sentencing review to take place. By extending HDC, we are using a long-standing mechanism that has robust safeguards built into it.
The order will also amend the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (Requisite and Minimum Custodial Periods) Order 2024, which established the SDS40 early release measure by modifying the automatic release point for those serving standard determinate sentences from 50% to 40%. This statutory instrument seeks to exclude six further offences from the early release measure that were not identified at the time.
SDS40 was delivered extremely effectively but there was a problem with 37 prisoners, who were released in error. The issue involved the use of an offence that had been repealed in 2020, thereby creating an anomaly. That ultimately meant that those prisoners were not identified as being ineligible for early release under SDS40. All those offenders released in error were returned to custody. Subsequently, a thorough search uncovered similar anomalies where legislation creating criminal offences had been repealed and replaced. We had already taken the decision to exclude such offending which relates to stalking, harassment, sexual harm and so-called revenge pornography from the scope of emergency early release. We are therefore acting quickly to exclude five further offences from SDS40. This will ensure that anyone convicted of any of those offences cannot be released early under SDS40, and that the spirit of the original exclusions is delivered in full.
The draft order also excludes murder from SDS40. Ordinarily, there would be no need to exclude murder, as anyone convicted of murder under English law receives a mandatory life sentence. However, some jurisdictions do not have life sentences, so it is possible in a very small number of cases that a UK national convicted of murder in a foreign jurisdiction may be given a determinate sentence for murder by that foreign court, and may then be repatriated back to the UK to serve that sentence in a prison in England and Wales. We want to ensure that no offender in that position could be released early under SDS40.
Shortly after coming to power, the Government took decisive action to stop our prisons collapsing. SDS40 was an emergency response to the crisis that we were faced with. We worked at pace to ensure that the scheme was as effective as possible while protecting the public by excluding the most serious offenders and providing specific protections for victims of certain domestic abuse offences. We have kept SDS40 under constant review and will continue to do so, and we are now acting quickly to address a small number of anomalies in the original legislation. The draft order extends to England and Wales only, and there should be no direct effect on the devolved Administrations.
Dr Kieran Mullan (Bexhill and Battle) (Con)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Mundell.
The Minister’s remarks were to be expected; they are in keeping with the trend across Government of defending decision after decision taken by them by reference to the Conservatives’ record and actions in office. That is the nature of politics, and I imagine it will continue for some time, but I am certainly not going to write any blank cheque to the Minister and the Government, nor abdicate our duty to hold them responsible and accountable for whatever they might say about their inheritance. It is our role to deliver scrutiny—of not just the overall outcome they are seeking but how they are going about it.
Although the Government’s intent to address prison capacity pressures is clear, we must critically assess: whether these measures have been properly considered; that we can expect them to be delivered competently; and that, when looked at in detail, they match up to the Government’s pledges. Our prison system faces unprecedented strain, and all the evidence suggests that that strain has become the challenge we see today primarily because of covid. If the remand population that has spiked directly because of covid were at historical levels, we would not be here; we have been left with 7,000 more people in our prisons, compared to the historical average. Members will know that this sum is greater than the numbers that the Government have released and will be going on to release to reduce the steady-state prison population.
The previous Labour Government, like this one, sought ways to manage the challenge, including through use of the end of custody licence scheme—a scheme that, as they have criticised it, Government Members should be aware was actually created by the last Labour Government. The previous Government also had a plan to change legislation to allow us to accommodate prisoners overseas and to discourage use of shorter sentences. This Government have, of course, decided to take their own measures, beginning, as we have heard, with the SDS40 scheme, and now they proposes to extend home detention curfew eligibility from 180 to 365 days.
We are told that both measures are short-term, that the impact of the steps has been fully understood and that there should be some acceptance that the Government will deliver the mechanisms effectively. Let me begin with the proposition that these are short-term measures, or, as the Minister likes to call them, “urgent”. I make the same point I made to the Lord Chancellor in the Chamber on SDS40. If these measures are expected to be short-term, why have they not been sunsetted? If the Minister is confident that they are only short-term, he should make them short-term in the legislation.
The Government have not even gone so far as to tell us the threshold for when they will review possible withdrawal. To be fair to the last Labour Government, even they did that. When they introduced the end of custody licence scheme, they set a prison capacity target—a fixed figure—at which they would review its use, and that is what happened. This Government have not even done that. As is so often the case, the devil is in the detail, or to be more precise in this instance, in the impact assessment. Why, if this is a short-term measure, is the period measuring its benefit over 10 years? It is there in black and white on page 7 of the impact assessment. The Government cannot expect the Opposition to support measures that they say are short-term when all the evidence suggests that they are not.
Next, I turn to the question of whether we have the necessary assurance that the Government have properly considered the impact of their policy. I am afraid, again, that the Minister and Committee members will need to reflect on the Government’s own impact assessment to assist them with this. Page 4 helpfully lays out those who will be affected by the policy. Quite rightly, paragraph 13 lays out that
“Victims of those released from custody”
should be included in this group. I am sure that everyone here can agree that female victims of male violence, and people who have been burgled or mugged, are impacted when they see the perpetrator walk away from prison early.
Paragraph 56, on page 10, summarises the impact assessment, stating:
“We have taken into account the potential impact of the earlier release of some offenders on the public and, particularly, victims of the offenders released.”
I am afraid that the Minister will need to help me here. Forgive me, but where exactly between pages 4 and 10 have the Government done that? Extraordinarily, the document talks about how much better it will be for the perpetrators and their families to be reunited, but what about victims and their families? Besides a cursory mention of notifying them that this will be happening and of the impact on them, it says absolutely nothing.
Finally, we come to effective delivery. Where might we look to make an assessment of that? Of course, we did not look any further than this legislation, because as well as expanding the HDC scheme, as the Minister has said, today’s legislation is also correcting errors in the SDS40 scheme. This amendment rightly excludes six additional offences that were missing from the SDS40 scheme, ensuring that those convicted serve at least half their sentence. How did the Government initially overlook offences such as breaching restraining orders, sexual harm prevention orders and serious harassment? Those are not minor offences; they carry significant harm, particularly for victims.
Dr Mullan
The Minister may shake his head and say that in some ways they were captured, but ultimately, as he has admitted, offenders have been released who should not have been.
Ultimately, this provision will also significantly change the number of electronic monitoring tags required. The framework acknowledges this, but fails to detail how the Government will ensure readiness. We have seen what happens when these systems fail. Under the SDS40 early release scheme, offenders were released without tags, posing a clear danger to the public. We are told that the Government are now up to date with the SDS40 scheme. Can the Minister tell us the situation with the wider backlog? I am afraid that the Government have not done enough to reassure us that yet further extensions to the use of tagging at this stage will be suitably managed. The Lord Chancellor has also committed to funding at least 1,000 additional probation officers by March 2025. The recruitment and training of probation officers takes time. What evidence do we have that that target will be met?
I am afraid that, on the three sensible tests against which we might view this policy, the result is wanting. The Government want to talk about our record. I remind them that they steered the Crown Court to a higher backlog, after we had reduced the backlog pre-pandemic.
Dr Mullan
The Minister frowns, but he can look it up. Pre-pandemic, the backlog was lower than the backlog that Labour left us at the end of its previous time in government. The Government criticise, saying that we forced them to release several thousand prisoners early. Perhaps Government Members do not know that they released more than 80,000 prisoners early when they were last in charge.
There is no doubt that there are challenges in our criminal justice system, but the Government should not expect and will not receive a free pass when it comes to fulfilling their responsibilities to tackle that challenge with professionalism and due diligence. The public expect better than this and we will be voting against this order on their behalf.
Sir Nicholas Dakin
I thank the Liberal Democrat spokesperson, the hon. Member for Eastbourne, for recognising at the start of his speech that the Government are taking this matter very seriously. I also say to the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Bexhill and Battle, that the official Opposition are absolutely right not to give the Government a free pass. “The public expect better”, he said, but he should bear in mind that our scheme excludes people convicted of sexual offences, while his Conservative Government did not put any exclusions in place at all. Their scheme was done hurriedly just before the election, while this is being done to take control of the prison population in response to a crisis, so that we can run the criminal justice system appropriately. If the previous Government had done their job properly, we would have inherited a situation on which we could build positively into the future, but that has sadly not been the case.
I will deal with the issues raised by the Liberal Democrat spokesman first. We take victims and victims’ voices very seriously, and we will continue to do so. Anyone convicted of offences linked to domestic abuse, such as stalking and harassment, are presumed unsuitable for HDC. Exclusions under SDS40 have to be based on specific offences, and domestic abusers are prosecuted under many powers. Our exclusions send a clear message about how seriously the Government take domestic abuse and, unlike the end of custody supervised licence scheme, we have taken specific action, and we will continue to do everything we can to ensure that victims’ voices are well represented on these issues. Victims eligible for the victim notification scheme or victim contact scheme are properly informed during the process; that is taking place. The sentencing review will look at other things, and we have made sure that there is a victims’ voice on its panel.
The shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Bexhill and Battle, rightly asked whether the electronic monitoring system is doing its job effectively. Again, we inherited a contract from the previous Government that was not performing to the level we would have wished. It is improving, but it is still not where we want it to be. It is at a point at which we are confident that it can handle the coming additional workload, but we need to continue to work hard to make sure that the contractors deliver, as they should always have been delivering; we should not have inherited a situation where they were not performing to the level that they should have been.
The shadow Minister asked when SDS40 will be reviewed. When he raised that in the Chamber, the Lord Chancellor assured him that it would be reviewed after 18 months and that it would come back to Parliament at that point.
I do hope, having had this discussion, that the Committee will support—
Sir Nicholas Dakin
As he probably realises, all impact assessments have a 10-year focus. The impact assessment is nothing to do with intention; it is about the impact if things went on for that period of time. It is the normal process. The hon. Gentleman is confusing the impact assessment with the Government’s intention. The Government’s intention is not for this provision to continue for that period of time.
Question put.
Oral Answers to Questions
Nicholas Dakin Excerpts(1 month, 2 weeks ago)
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John Slinger (Rugby) (Lab)
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.
Sir Gavin Williamson (Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge) (Con)
HMP Featherstone, HMP Oakwood and HMP Brinsford, also a young offender institution, in my constituency are brilliantly supported by amazing staff, but one of the pressures on them is the number of foreign national offenders in those prisons. What steps is the Minister taking to ensure that those foreign national offenders are returned to where they came from?
Sir Nicholas Dakin
We are already on track to remove more foreign national offenders than the Conservative party ever did.
Lee Pitcher (Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme) (Lab)
Paul Davies (Colne Valley) (Lab)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Sir Nicholas Dakin)
The young futures programme will be a prevention-first approach to crime reduction, building on the Department’s successful turnaround programme. I was very pleased to visit the first secure school which will put education at its heart, ensuring children in custody turn their lives around.
Paul Davies
Over the past decade, the quality and quantity of education in young offenders institutions has declined, as reported by Sir Martin Oliver, His Majesty’s chief inspector of education, children’s services and skills, and Charlie Taylor, His Majesty’s chief inspector of prisons. These institutions are facing difficulties in managing challenging behaviours, leading to an increase in children being put into isolation. Children in these institutions deserve a high-quality education that helps them to turn their lives around. The current system is failing them badly. Will the Minister outline what actions the Government can take to ensure that young offenders receive a high-quality education—
Mr Speaker
Order. We are in danger of not getting anybody else in. These are becoming statements rather than questions. I am sure the Minister has grasped it.
Sir Nicholas Dakin
Thank you, Mr Speaker. We know there is more to be done, as my hon. Friend outlines. Keep-apart lists make it difficult for children to access education in young offenders institutions, so we need to find different and better ways of reducing violence and delivering education in these settings.
Jamie Stone (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) (LD)
During the 12 years that I was a Member of the Scottish Parliament, one of the most instructive and rewarding parts of my role were my occasional visits, with other MSPs, to HMP Porterfield in Inverness. Does the Minister agree that encouraging MPs to do the same would do a very great deal not just for young offenders, but offenders of all ages?
Sir Nicholas Dakin
I commend the hon. Member for his actions. He is right that visits to local prisons, or prisons elsewhere, are a good thing to do. I have recently visited Humber, Wakefield, and New Hall prisons, and will be visiting Wetherby young offenders institution tomorrow.
Andy Slaughter (Hammersmith and Chiswick) (Lab)
Is the Minister worried about the increasing criminalisation of young people? I notice that the Ministry of Justice published statistics last week that say one in four people of working age in the UK had criminal convictions. Should we not look at the current disclosure framework, so that people with criminal records for minor offences from years ago are not prevented from finding work, moving on and contributing to society?
Sir Nicholas Dakin
My hon. Friend, the Chair of the Justice Committee, identifies a subject that might well be useful for his Committee to examine.
Tessa Munt (Wells and Mendip Hills) (LD)
A young person I know was involved in an incident at 16. Can the Minister assure me that, because delays to going through the youth justice system have meant that that young person has not had the case adjudicated, that young person will not be adjudged an adult if they pass their 18th birthday when a conclusion is reached?
Sir Nicholas Dakin
The hon. Member draws attention to an issue. If she would like to write to me about that particular incident, I will write back to her.
Will Stone (Swindon North) (Lab)
Gill German (Clwyd North) (Lab)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Sir Nicholas Dakin)
Good reducing reoffending activity cannot happen in overcrowded prisons, which is why we took immediate action to relieve the pressure. This will allow for better access to purposeful activity, which we all know reduces reoffending.
Jack Abbott
It was a former Prisons Minister who identified that short custodial sentences have a higher reoffending rate than sentences served outside prison. Does the Minister agree that we need to look at using technology to curtail offenders’ freedoms outside prison and ensure that we cut the cycle of crime?
Sir Nicholas Dakin
Yes. Electronic monitoring is already an important part of safely managing offenders in the community, and one of the principles of the sentencing review is to look at the punishment that offenders receive outside prison, considering how we can best use electronic monitoring and other technologies to safely manage offenders outside the prison walls.
Gill German
As a former member of a youth justice board, I know that young people who are drawn into offending often lead narrow lives with little opportunity for personal development. Has the Minister made an assessment of the provision of youth services, such as the Duke of Edinburgh’s award scheme, to engage with these young people and prevent reoffending?
Sir Nicholas Dakin
We value youth services, such as the Duke of Edinburgh’s award scheme, that enable young people to develop new skills to turn their lives around. In fact, the D of E scheme is available in all five of our young offender institutions, and 36 people in YOIs were enrolled in the scheme in August.
James Wild (North West Norfolk) (Con)
Last week I met former prisoners who had taken part in Greene King’s Releasing Potential scheme, which is now being expanded with two further training kitchens going into prisons to help people turn their lives around. What are the Government doing to boost such programmes, and the employment advisory boards that we set up, to ensure that while prisoners are rightly punished they are also rehabilitated?
Sir Nicholas Dakin
Such schemes and initiatives are exactly the sort of thing that this Government want to celebrate as best practice and replicate in other settings.
Mr Richard Holden (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)
Answers to my recent written parliamentary questions have talked of the positive impact that relations with families can have on prisoner resettlement. However, in a number of cases, particularly those involving sexual violence, the prisoner has no contact with the family and their release is usually a traumatic moment for those families and children. That is why I welcomed Labour’s manifesto pledge to introduce a national identification system for the children of prisoners as a vitally important measure. What are the Government doing to meet that pledge and break the offending cycle across generations?
Sir Nicholas Dakin
Identifying children with a parent in prison is important for ensuring that they receive the support they need. Strengthening family ties remains an integral aspect of our work, which is why our family support workers help to re-establish appropriate family ties and facilitate visits from prisoners’ children. My officials are working closely with the Department for Education to determine how much more we can do in this space.
Liz Saville Roberts (Dwyfor Meirionnydd) (PC)
Rebecca Smith (South West Devon) (Con)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Sir Nicholas Dakin)
With this Government’s scheme, unlike the previous Government’s rushed scheme, we are giving our excellent staff time to work with national and local housing partners to minimise any impact on local authorities.
Rebecca Smith
Given that secure housing on release has a proven positive impact on the recidivism rate of ex-offenders, which is something we all welcome, how many prisoners released early by this Government are being housed in hotels?
Lincoln Jopp (Spelthorne) (Con)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Sir Nicholas Dakin)
We have reduced overcrowding to ensure that prisons have the capacity to focus on education and training. For example, HMP Highpoint’s state-of-the-art rail centre of excellence gives prisoners industry-standard training and guaranteed employment on release.
Lincoln Jopp
A couple of weeks ago, I visited the Bronzefield category A women’s prison in my Spelthorne constituency. I saw that prisoners doing work were rewarded with small amounts of money, but the weighting of their pay preferred people who take part in numeracy and literacy over skills, such as working in the bicycle repair shop or the hair salon. Is that a national approach, or is it something the governor has done pragmatically to fit his personal circumstances?
Sir Nicholas Dakin
It sounds like an interesting approach. I would be grateful if the hon. Gentleman wrote to me so that I can look into it and write back to him. It is certainly the sort of thing we need to be looking at.
Jake Richards (Rother Valley) (Lab)
I join the right hon. Member for Basildon and Billericay (Mr Holden) in calling for the Government to consider the children of prisoners. I met the children’s Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Lewisham East (Janet Daby), just last week, and I know it is very much on her radar. However, this is an urgent issue. This week, I have been told about a child who had been living alone for months because the authorities simply did not know that their parent was in prison—
James Naish (Rushcliffe) (Lab)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Sir Nicholas Dakin)
The right to protest is an important part of our democracy, but it has to be exercised within the law. Sentencing in individual cases is, of course, a matter for independent courts.
Mr Gregory Campbell (East Londonderry) (DUP)
Ben Goldsborough (South Norfolk) (Lab)
A report from May 2022 showed that only nine of the 32 prison education institutions inspected were judged “good” or “outstanding” by Ofsted; additionally, less than 40% of prisoners took courses up to GCSE level. Does my hon. Friend agree that if we are to tackle rehabilitation, we must improve prison education across the estate?
Sir Nicholas Dakin
My hon. Friend is right: the quality of prison education must continually improve if we are to achieve the best possible rehabilitation outcomes.
Sir John Hayes (South Holland and The Deepings) (Con)
Will the Secretary of State make available—perhaps through a note in the Library—the number and type of foreign national offenders who, aided by deluded interest groups and dodgy lawyers, are resisting deportation by means of appeal, either to domestic courts or to European—foreign—judges?
IPP Sentences
Nicholas Dakin Excerpts(1 month, 3 weeks ago)
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Sir Nicholas Dakin)
It is a pleasure to serve under you in the Chair, Mr Efford. We have had a full and informed debate, and I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Southgate and Wood Green (Bambos Charalambous) for securing it and setting it off in such a positive way. He drew our attention to the issues and reminded us, as others did, of Lord Blunkett’s words about IPP sentences being the “biggest regret” of his political career. We all need to roll up our sleeves and work across the parties. I welcome the fact that the Opposition spokesman, the right hon. Member for Melton and Syston (Edward Argar), recognised how we, in opposition, worked constructively with the Government. He is now doing the same. The problem belongs to all of us and we should put our shoulders to the wheel to resolve it in the best way possible.
My hon. Friend the Member for Southgate and Wood Green also drew our attention to the heart of all this: these prisoners often feel a loss of hope and that they are in a cycle of despair. It is our responsibility to do all we can to break that cycle. My right hon. Friend the Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell) spoke with deep understanding and eloquence. He drew attention to the way in which prisoners often self-harm and the need for programmes to be focused precisely on the needs of individuals to bring about practical action. I hope that is where we are going now with the action plan and the dashboard behind it, which follows each individual prisoner so that the right approach can be taken for them and so that they and the prison authorities know what they have to do to allow people to move to the next stage so that there is, we hope, a positive outcome for everybody.
My hon. Friend the Member for York Central (Rachael Maskell) spoke about people languishing in their cells without hope. That is a depressing picture and we all have a big responsibility to turn back the clock so that it is no longer the case. The right hon. Member for Dwyfor Meirionnydd (Liz Saville Roberts)—I pronounced her constituency wrong but did my best, so I hope she will forgive me—drew attention to the comments of the special rapporteur. Lord Timpson met the special rapporteur yesterday, so we are taking those issues seriously as we try to move forward.
The hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) spoke with his usual warmth and passion. He drew attention to the important principles of justice, rehabilitation and the needs of the victims, and the need to balance them as we move forward. My hon. Friend the Member for Rochester and Strood (Lauren Edwards) focused on the words of Lord Blunkett, but also drew our attention to the way recall has been used in a way perhaps not anticipated at the outset. I hope that what happens later this week will help remedy some of that. The Lib Dem spokesman, the hon. Member for Winchester (Dr Chambers), gave us Tommy’s harrowing story. Sadly, there are many stories like that, and our job is to try to ensure that there are not more in the future.
A lot of the history has already been dealt with, so I will not go back over what has been covered so well by others. The Government recognise the challenges faced by those serving IPP sentences, and it is absolutely right that the sentence was abolished. More than 5,000 people are still serving IPP sentences. For those serving the sentence in prison, the Government are determined to give them the support and opportunities they need to make further progress towards a safe, sustainable release. For those serving the sentence in the community, an end to the sentence is now within their grasp.
The debate is timely, as I was pleased to meet the IPP Committee in Action with Lord Timpson today—I see members of the group in the Public Gallery—in what I felt was a positive meeting. That does not mean that everything was where we wanted it to be, but it was a constructive, positive meeting, as we tried to work with people with genuine concerns and experience to get better outcomes.
This Friday, we will implement the first phase of changes to the IPP licence period in the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024, which we supported in opposition, and we are determined to implement those vital provisions at the earliest opportunity. We will also publish an updated IPP action plan shortly, which will continue to focus on the rehabilitation of IPP offenders through frontline delivery in our prisons and in the probation service. It remains the case, however, that supporting IPP offenders continues to present a number of challenges, particularly when it comes to those who have never been released. In addition, we must never lose sight of the paramount importance of protecting the public, which the right hon. Member for Melton and Syston spoke about so sensibly.
The changes to the IPP licence in the Victim and Prisoners Act will mean that this Friday those who were first released at least five years ago—or four years ago for those convicted when they were under 18—and who have spent the last two on licence without recall to custody will have their licence automatically terminated on 1 February 2025. The qualifying period for when the Secretary of State must refer an IPP licence to the Parole Board for consideration of licence termination, which is currently 10 years, will be three years, or two for those convicted when under 18. Commencing the new measures means that the IPP licence will end automatically for around 1,800 people on 1 November. In addition, 600 people will be referred to the Parole Board to consider licence termination on 1 February 2025. We anticipate that the changes, once fully implemented, will reduce the number of people serving IPP sentences in the community by around two thirds.
I recognise that the changes will not automatically result in any change to the status of those serving IPP sentences in prison. For that reason, the Government are determined to give those people every chance to make further progress in reducing their risk and eventually obtaining a release direction from the Parole Board in a way that prioritises public protection. As hon. Members have said, there is a responsibility on us to provide hope, but also to ensure that hope is realistic and proper.
The IPP action plan is one of the first steps in delivering that. The refreshed plan, which my hon. Friend the Member for Southgate and Wood Green asked for, places greater emphasis on effective frontline delivery in our prisons to ensure that prisoners serving IPP sentences have robust and effective sentence plans that they are actively engaging with, and that they are in the correct prison to access the right interventions and rehabilitative services. Lord Timpson, the Minister for prisons, probation and reducing reoffending, is determined to use his role to achieve that, including by ensuring that HMPPS delivers effective sentence planning and timely prison transfers. Lord Timpson would also remind us that in the Timpson business he had 30 IPP prisoners as good, effective colleagues, so he has lived experience of working hard to deliver for people in this area.
Those efforts will ensure that IPP prisoners can get to the right place to pursue the programme of intervention that they need to reduce their risk and make further progress towards a future release by way of the direction from the Parole Board. Around 30% of IPP prisoners are not currently in the correct prison to start the next formal intervention specified in their sentence plan. We are clear that that must be addressed as a matter of urgency, notwithstanding the challenges brought about by the current population pressures, which the Government are taking decisive action to tackle.
Rachael Maskell
My constituent has been waiting 17 years for release. Can the Minister provide a timeframe by which my constituent can expect to hear what the justice system further expects of him before he gets that release?
Sir Nicholas Dakin
Each case is different, so I come back to the importance of individual plans for individual prisoners, and the fact that they need to know, from conversations with the prison authorities, exactly where they are and what intervention is there, and they can see themselves progressing positively towards a positive outcome. It is impossible to give a timeframe on each individual case, but I would hope that each individual would have a feel of what the timeframe might look like for them.
Every prison now has a dedicated full-time neurodiversity support manager, and each has attended a bespoke awareness session on the IPP sentence and its impact on those serving it. Those managers are working with frontline staff to help them improve their support and communication with neurodiverse IPP prisoners, fostering good relationships and effective support for improved prospects of progression. We will continue to focus on delivering good education training and work opportunities in prison to build skills, alongside support for IPP prisoners to access employment and accommodation on release.
The IPP action plan is reviewed annually, and the Government will continue to scrutinise thoroughly progress made. To increase accountability, next summer the Lord Chancellor will be laying before Parliament the IPP annual report, which will detail the activity that has been undertaken to support those serving the IPP sentence, and hopefully address the points that have been made about where individuals lie in relation to confidence and assistance. If the anticipated progress is not being made, we will then consider what more we must do to drive the progress that we are determined to see. We will not accept no progress; we expect and demand progress, and that is what we will be looking for.
I appreciate that those still serving the sentence in prison will consider that they have not really benefited from the previous IPP action plans—there is some scepticism. This Labour Government will not allow that to be the case in future. We will robustly drive meaningful actions to deliver actual changes to how well IPP prisoners are protected and supported. That includes supporting those who have never been released, and those who have been recalled to custody. Recall remains a vital function in managing the risk of released IPP prisoners. The thematic review from His Majesty’s inspectorate of probation highlights the fact that decisions to recall IPP offenders have been proportionate and necessary, and that must continue to maintain public protection.
The Government’s overriding priority remains the protection of the public—I was pleased that the Opposition spokesperson, the right hon. Member for Melton and Syston, reiterated that in his comments—but, as my hon. Friend the Member for York Central pointed out, that needs to be robust and consistent. It is vital for public confidence and protection that those serving the IPP sentence in prison are released only following a thorough risk assessment that finds that their risk has reduced to the point where they may be safely managed in the community. That is a judgment for the independent Parole Board, which has also recognised that a greater focus on the IPP cohort is necessary. The board has set up a dedicated IPP taskforce so that IPP cases are handled and reviewed by Parole Board members with the appropriate knowledge, experience and expertise of the IPP sentence.
Legislating to give every IPP prisoner a definite release date and post-release licence would result in most of them being released automatically—we are coming on to the issue of resentencing, which I know is an issue of huge contention and concern—but, in many cases, the Parole Board has repeatedly determined that those individuals are too dangerous to be released, not having met the statutory release test. In those circumstances, sadly, public protection has to take priority.
The alternative would be resentencing via the court, which would likely result in most offenders still in custody being released without any licensed supervision, despite the Parole Board having assessed in the past two years that those individuals should remain in custody for the protection of the public, having not met the statutory release test. Either approach, sadly, would pose an unacceptable level of risk to members of the public, and, in particular, to victims. I am especially concerned that resentencing could result in dangerous IPP prisoners being released, without a licence period, into the community.
John McDonnell
I do not want to disagree with my hon. Friend, but that is a distorted reading of the Justice Committee report. It actually saw resentencing as enabling a refocusing on these particular prisoners, and an expert panel was to be involved to ensure that there was not a mass release in that way; there would be a staggered release, with all the expertise and support available. I think that the Minister has misread the Justice Committee report and should revisit it.
Sir Nicholas Dakin
I will very happily revisit the report as my right hon. Friend advises, but the reality is that we need to crack on with this. We need to get things to a better place as quickly as possible, and that means having the right support available to support each individual, to move them on their way. There may be a way of resentencing happening, but it is complicated and it has significant risk, which is why we are not going there. People released in those circumstances would not be subject to any licence conditions, including those that protect victims, for example by prohibiting contact with victims and enforcing exclusion zones. I do not accept that that is an acceptable position for victims.
On IPP offenders in the community, a resentencing exercise would also halt the risk management and support for these individuals, some of whom will be at the critical moment of having been recently released from custody. The Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 makes significant changes to the IPP licence period and allows for the termination of the IPP sentence in a safe, sustainable way, ensuring that the public and victims are best safeguarded. It is about balance, and I recognise that there are very strong arguments— and good arguments—for the balance to be elsewhere, but this is where the Government want to place the balance at the moment.
Rachael Maskell
The big issue, which I think all colleagues across the Chamber have been raising consistently in this debate, is people’s mental health. Continuous uncertainty will continue to mean people having very poor mental health, including self-harming and, tragically, losing their lives. Will the Minister ensure that he puts time frameworks around what he is talking about, so that people can start planning in their mind what their future looks like? At the moment, they are still looking down a very dark hole.
Sir Nicholas Dakin
Each IPP prisoner should know what they need to do in order to make progress through the system or towards the community, and each IPP prisoner should also know what the system should be doing to support them. That is the question, really, and I look towards friends and family because they are a massive resource in this respect. If individual IPP prisoners do not know what they should be doing in order to move on the journey towards release, or they do not know what the system should be doing to support them on the journey towards release, which includes support on mental health and other support of that kind, then there is an issue that we need to focus on and deal with. That is my answer to that point.
I will come on to the questions asked by the Opposition spokesperson, the right hon. Member for Melton and Syston, about what progress is being made on the action plan. I hope I have managed to cover off in my response the fact that the action plan is central and progressing in the way that we would wish. I have just mentioned mental health support. In relation to the licence breach, where the licence is still in force and victims become aware that an offender has breached a licence condition—for example, if they have entered an exclusion zone—they may report it to the police or their victim liaison officer. Where the licence is terminated, all licence conditions end, including exclusion zones.
John McDonnell
This debate has been helpful in expressing the concerns that people have. I am worried that we have been in this situation many times before, relying on an action plan that is never implemented effectively. I hope the Minister is saying that this one will be, but I must say that I have some scepticism, given the resources within the prison network and system at the moment. It is worth revisiting the discussion about the Justice Committee recommendations. Will he meet with a number of us from both Houses to talk through those and see whether, as we monitor this action plan, we can actually prepare a fall-back if it does not work?
Sir Nicholas Dakin
I am happy to meet my right hon. Friend and colleagues across both Houses with Lord Timpson to discuss progress on this in broad terms, because we can work together. We all want improvements, and we want this long-standing injustice to be put right for the future, and if we work together we are more likely to achieve that. I thank everybody who has spoken in this most timely and helpful debate, particularly my hon. Friend the Member for Southgate and Wood Green, who secured it.
Oral Answers to Questions
Nicholas Dakin Excerpts(3 months, 1 week ago)
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Paul Davies (Colne Valley) (Lab)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Sir Nicholas Dakin)
Hon. Members are right to focus on reducing reoffending. Nearly 80% of offending is reoffending, and it has an immense cost to the taxpayer and to communities. As the Lord Chancellor said, we have inherited a difficult situation in relation to prison capacity, which makes it harder to address the rehabilitation needs of prisoners. The House should have no doubt that this Government will roll up our sleeves and get on with the job of reducing reoffending.
Bobby Dean
My point speaks to what the Minister just said. The lack of prison capacity means that some people are locked up in their cells for 22 or 23 hours a day, and many prisons are ranked insufficient or poor for delivering purposeful activities such as education and training. How does the Minister plan to address that while we still have a bulging prison population? How will he increase the provision of those purposeful activities?
Sir Nicholas Dakin
We are taking the hard decisions that are necessary to create space and capacity in the Prison Service to address that issue. The hon. Member is right that the report from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons identified the provision of sufficient purposeful activity as its No. 1 issue to address. We know that education and employment help to reduce significantly the chance of reoffending, and we will work to do that with the Prison and Probation Service.
Monica Harding
As my hon. Friend the Member for Carshalton and Wallington (Bobby Dean) mentioned, the chief inspector of prisons said this morning that prisoners can sometimes be banged up in their cells for up to 22 hours a day, that classrooms and workshops are empty, and that education and training are simply not given the priority they need. Does the Secretary of State agree that, in order to cut reoffending, it is time to introduce a proper workable plan to improve the rehabilitation of people leaving prison?
Sir Nicholas Dakin
My own example demonstrates that training and education are very important in whatever role one takes on, so I agree wholeheartedly with what the hon. Member says.
Paul Davies
Addressing literacy in UK prisons is crucial for successful rehabilitation. Improved literacy skills empower inmates with better job prospects, aiding their reintegration into society. Education fosters personal growth, self-esteem and decision-making abilities, which are essential for a crime-free life. Investing in prison literacy programmes is a vital step towards creating safer communities and offering inmates a genuine second chance. What comprehensive strategies are being implemented to address that?
Sir Nicholas Dakin
My hon. Friend is exactly right: literacy and numeracy are crucial. I was pleased to visit HMP Humber recently, where I saw excellent best practice. It is important that those programmes are in place, that we learn from best practice and that we continue to do our best in that area.
Andy Slaughter (Hammersmith and Chiswick) (Lab)
A key driver of rehabilitation and the prevention of reoffending is sentencing policy. In our manifesto, we promised a review of sentencing policy—quite properly. When is that likely to take place, and will it take account of the very interesting recent paper by former Lord Chief Justices on sentencing inflation?
Sir Nicholas Dakin
The paper to which my hon. Friend refers is a significant one, and I urge all Members to look at it. The Government are committed to a review of sentencing policy, and it will commence as soon as it can. We will report in due time.
Alison Hume (Scarborough and Whitby) (Lab)
Josh MacAlister (Whitehaven and Workington) (Lab)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Sir Nicholas Dakin)
My hon. Friend is completely right: prison officer recruitment targets are essential. Prison officers do a fantastic job. We have seen how they have gone above and beyond over recent weeks and months, so I pay tribute to them. Nationally, we are currently above staffing targets, but challenges remain in certain sites with a high number of vacancies, and bespoke interventions are being developed for those sites.
Josh MacAlister
I thank the Minister for that answer, and I praise the Government team for the way they have responded to the complete chaos left in the wake of 14 years of a Conservative Government.
In my previous work I visited young offenders institutions, which have been left in total chaos by the last Government. Part of their recklessness was to start a botched recruitment process for the graduate recruitment training programme for prison officers. It is currently delivered by Unlocked Graduates, which is doing fantastic work. The Government’s chief inspector of prisons has said there is a real risk that that programme ending will add to the recruitment problems that the Government face. Will they restart that procurement process and meet me to discuss its future?
Sir Nicholas Dakin
I am happy to meet my hon. Friend to discuss that matter. His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service worked to reprocure the next iteration of the graduate scheme, with contracts for an open procurement exercise. Although Unlocked Graduates was identified as the winning bidder and was offered the contract, it did not confirm its intent to sign the contract. The Department is now working hard to come up with plans to put a graduate scheme in place for future years.
Mr Jonathan Brash (Hartlepool) (Lab)
Christine Jardine (Edinburgh West) (LD)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Sir Nicholas Dakin)
The hon. Member is right that drugs in prison is a big issue that the Government are working hard to tackle. I would be very happy to write to her with further details of what we are doing.
Jess Asato (Lowestoft) (Lab)
Siân Berry (Brighton Pavilion) (Green)
Sir Nicholas Dakin
The hon. Member is right that this is a big issue. The Prison and Probation Service is working hard to ensure that appropriate accommodation is available, and working hard with partners across the country in different regions. I am very happy to meet the hon. Member to talk about the issue further.
Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)
Amazing charities such as Survive in York depend for their survival on the rape and sexual abuse support fund. However, without certainty over the amount, and if and when the funding will come, it is hard to leverage funding from other sources, such as the national lottery. When will the funding be announced, and will the Minister meet me to discuss this vital funding as demand rises?