Oral Answers to Questions

Patrick Hurley Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Sir Nicholas Dakin]

It is right and proper that IPP sentences were abolished. Various organisations have considered resentencing. None of them has identified an approach that would not involve releasing offenders whom the Parole Board has determined pose too great a risk to the public. We do not wish to give false hope to those serving the sentence by establishing an expert panel, but we will continue to work robustly with this group and do everything in our power to address the problem that we recognise.

[Patrick Hurley (Southport) (Lab)]

20. What steps her Department is taking to help support ex-offenders into employment.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Sir Nicholas Dakin)]

This Government’s plan to support women is clear and ambitious. The aim is to reduce the number of women going to prison. Our Women’s Justice Board will support that. The independent sentencing review’s recommendations—[Interruption.] I am on the wrong question; apologies. [Interruption.] Well, you got a preview of the next answer, Mr Speaker.

We are committed to ensuring that offenders leave prison with the jobs and skills needed to lead law-abiding lives. That is why we have launched regional employment councils, which for the first time bring businesses together with prisons, probation and the Department for Work and Pensions to support offenders in the community.

[Patrick Hurley]

We got there eventually! Employment is crucial to reducing reoffending, and data shows that offenders who are employed within six weeks of leaving prison have a reoffending rate around half of those out of work. Will the Minister outline how the regional employment councils, including in Southport and the Liverpool city region at large, will help to drive down reoffending?

[Sir Nicholas Dakin]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right that securing employment is known to reduce the risk of reoffending significantly. The Minister for prisons in the other place has led a business with a track record of getting offenders into employment, and I understand that National Highways is starting to build strong partnerships as chair of the employment councils in Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire.

Oral Answers to Questions

Patrick Hurley Excerpts

Tuesday 11th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Adam Thompson (Erewash) (Lab)]

11. What steps her Department is taking to help tackle violence against women and girls.

[Patrick Hurley (Southport) (Lab)]

14. What steps her Department is taking to help tackle violence against women and girls.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Alex Davies-Jones)]

First, I want to acknowledge something horrific that happened in my constituency over the weekend. In Talbot Green, my constituent Joanne Penney was tragically shot and killed on Sunday night. I pay tribute to the police, who took swift action, and my thoughts are of course with the victim, her friends and her family. She will be mourned by our whole community. Her loss has been deeply felt.

The Government have made an unprecedented commitment to halving violence against women and girls in a decade. That is underpinned by our new strategy, which will be published shortly. We have introduced new offences of creating deepfake intimate images and taking intimate images without consent. We have also launched a new domestic abuse protection order in selected areas, including in Cleveland just last week, and we are determined to do more.

--- Later in debate ---

[Alex Davies-Jones]

As part of this Government’s safer streets mission, we have committed to improving confidence in the police and the criminal justice system. We will introduce specialist rape and sexual offence teams in every police force, as well as domestic abuse experts in 999 control rooms. We will also give victims of adult rape access to an independent legal adviser to help them understand and uphold their rights from day one. I want every victim, whether in Erewash or in Pontypridd, to know that they are heard, and that this Government support them.

[Patrick Hurley]

May I associate myself with colleagues’ comments about the tragic events in the Minister’s constituency?

Back in 2021, a young woman in my constituency was the victim of an alleged assault. Even now, in 2025, she advises that there has been no trial, and she worries that she could run into the accused around town. What can be done to expedite such cases in which violence is alleged, to better protect our citizens and ensure that our streets are safe from crime?

[Alex Davies-Jones]

The Government are committed to bearing down on the caseload and bringing waiting times down for victims. Since July, we have put more funding into Crown courts, so that they will have their greatest capacity ever, and we have doubled magistrates’ sentencing powers to free up time for the Crown courts, so that they can hear the most serious cases. We have also commissioned Sir Brian Leveson to recommend once-in-a-generation reforms to our criminal courts, and we look forward to receiving his report in the spring.