Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Robert Buckland and Eddie Hughes

Tuesday 9th July 2019 Commons Chamber

[Robert Buckland]

I am always interested in meeting staff from across the prison estate, and that includes the teachers who are here today. The hon. Gentleman is right to highlight Peter Clarke’s important report. That report contains significant findings relating to the ongoing challenges, but it also celebrates the professionalism, the caring and the well-run safe, calm parts of our prison estate that exemplify a successful history and pattern of working. I was delighted to be able to attend the prison officer of the year awards last week to acknowledge some of the outstanding service given by prison officers and other employees in HMPPS.

[Eddie Hughes (Walsall North) (Con)]

4. What steps the Government are taking to encourage divorcing couples to reconcile.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Robert Buckland and Eddie Hughes

Tuesday 4th June 2019 Commons Chamber

[Eddie Hughes (Walsall North) (Con)]

18. What recent progress his Department has made on recruiting 2,500 new prison officers.

[The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Robert Buckland)]

Our target to recruit an additional 2,500 officers was successfully achieved in the first quarter of last year, ahead of schedule. From October 2016 to 31 March this year, there was an increase of 4,675 full-time equivalent prison officers.

[Eddie Hughes]

I welcome that increase in the number of prison officers. What progress has been made with the key worker scheme in prisons?

[Robert Buckland]

The key worker scheme is an important part of improving support for prisoners, leading to safer prisons. That work has begun in all 92 prisons in the male closed estate, and 66 of them have completed implementation activities and started to deliver key work. Only last week I spoke to prisoners in two of those prisons who are already receiving the benefits of that interaction.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Robert Buckland and Eddie Hughes

Thursday 11th April 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Solicitor General]

My right hon. Friend is right to raise this issue. She will be glad to know that, as part of the work that my right hon. and learned Friend the Attorney General and I have done to publish a new report on disclosure, I will be chairing a tech summit in June to deal precisely with how we can make artificial intelligence work to help with the huge challenge of trawling through that sort of data.

[Eddie Hughes (Walsall North) (Con)]

In cases where rape leads to pregnancy, does my hon. and learned Friend agree with the intention behind the 10-minute rule Bill introduced by the hon. Member for Sheffield, Heeley (Louise Haigh) to remove parental rights from fathers of children conceived through rape?

Section 1 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019

Debate between Robert Buckland and Eddie Hughes

Tuesday 9th April 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Solicitor General]

My right hon. and learned Friend is right to talk about the need to avoid cliff edges. To that extent, I can agree that today we are seeking to create a situation whereby we will have the flexibility to leave if ratification takes place. That aspect of his intervention is a very important one to remember. The negotiability of the position is simply that the talks between the parties are ongoing and if there is something fruitful as a result, we can proceed to use the provisions of section 13, with which all of us are notably very familiar. Those stages can then be passed and ratification will be deemed to be complete.

[Eddie Hughes (Walsall North) (Con)]

What advice would my hon. and learned Friend give me to pass on to council candidates for the forthcoming local elections? For two years, they have been telling constituents that we were leaving on 29 March; then it became 12 April. We now have a wipe-clean board in my office so we can fill in the current date that we are leaving. What should our candidates be telling people on the doorstep?

[The Solicitor General]

Just like my hon. Friend, I am an assiduous canvasser and I am having those conversations myself. The message that I would give to my constituents is that we are doing our part and trying our very best to resolve this situation, but we now need all elements—all Members of Parliament—to come together in a spirit of compromise, so that we can get on with the job that we were mandated to do.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Robert Buckland and Eddie Hughes

Thursday 7th March 2019 Commons Chamber

[Eddie Hughes (Walsall North) (Con)]

8. What steps the Law Officers have taken to promote public legal education.

[The Solicitor General (Robert Buckland)]

The Attorney General and I are the pro bono champions of Government. As part of that, I work closely with those involved in public legal education, supporting initiatives to increase its profile and to reach more members of the public.

[Eddie Hughes]

It is important that all citizens have the opportunity to learn about the law and their basic criminal legal rights, so will the Solicitor General explain his vision for the public legal education committee?

Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Advice

Debate between Robert Buckland and Eddie Hughes

Thursday 29th November 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Solicitor General]

The hon. Lady will see on Monday a document setting out the Government’s legal position. She will be able to question the senior Law Officer about that and then, in the debate, she will be able to make further points if she views the information that she has received as somehow insufficient. Knowing my right hon. and learned Friend the Attorney General, he will dilate at length if he is asked to.

[Eddie Hughes (Walsall North) (Con)]

Does my hon. and learned Friend agree that if the information given by a lawyer to a client is to be made public in future, that information is likely to be much more caveated and cautious, and therefore less useful?

[The Solicitor General]

My hon. Friend is right—the information becomes useless, actually, if that is the case. There are good reasons why privilege exists, but over and above that, there are constitutional reasons why the Law Officers’ permission has to be sought if, first, the fact that advice might or might not have been given is to be disclosed, and secondly, the content of any such advice is to be disclosed.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Robert Buckland and Eddie Hughes

Thursday 1st November 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Solicitor General]

The hon. Lady makes a very good point. The waste industry, car cleaning and such activities are clearly a focus for this type of unlawful behaviour. The police and the Crown Prosecution Service are indeed working with other agencies, but I take the particular point she makes and I will re-emphasise it to the CPS.

[Eddie Hughes (Walsall North) (Con)]

Will my hon. and learned Friend tell the House what the CPS is doing to support and protect vulnerable people who have been the victims of crime in order to secure their valuable evidence?

[The Solicitor General]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to talk about the victims. I have mentioned the decision to be made about the vulnerable victims of human trafficking. We have a particular mechanism that we use to protect the position of people who might otherwise be in the country unlawfully and to give them support so an informed decision can be made about their involvement in the process. I am confident that the CPS is working very hard always to improve its approach to victims.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Robert Buckland and Eddie Hughes

Thursday 21st June 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Solicitor General]

With respect, it is difficult for me to estimate. Being realistic, prosecutions are not reflecting the number of forced marriages that exist, but we saw an increase in convictions between 2011-12 and last year from 23 to 32. We also now have over 1,500 forced marriage protection orders, which are designed to prevent the crime from taking place at all.

[Eddie Hughes (Walsall North) (Con)]

3. What recent steps the Law Officers have taken to promote public legal education.

[The Solicitor General (Robert Buckland)]

I have launched a new public legal education panel formed of leading organisations that promote the importance of teaching people about the law and their basic civil and criminal rights. As part of that, I am able to work closely with those involved in PLE, supporting initiatives to increase its profile and to reach more members of the public.

[Eddie Hughes]

I thank the Solicitor General for that answer, but what more can be done to inspire young people in Willenhall, Bloxwich and Walsall North to pursue a career in the legal profession?

[The Solicitor General]

I commend my hon. Friend for his interest in this subject and his passion for spreading opportunity in his constituency. My advice to him and to legal practitioners in the Walsall and Bloxwich area is that they should get into and work with our schools and take part in “lawyers in schools” sessions, which not only help to deliver PLE, but inspire young people into a future legal career.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Robert Buckland and Eddie Hughes

Thursday 8th February 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Solicitor General]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to raise this issue and I commend financial institutions such as Nationwide that have already created much more secure specialist phone lines for elderly people and, in particular, for carers for those who are unwell, to conduct their transactions. That is an excellent example of how the financial services sector can drive and design out this type of fraud.

[Eddie Hughes (Walsall North) (Con)]

6. What steps the CPS is taking to strengthen global co-operation in prosecuting human trafficking and modern slavery.