Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Robert Buckland and James Davies

Wednesday 19th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Sir Robert Buckland]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on her consistent advocacy for projects in the Celtic sea as chair of the all-party parliamentary group on the Celtic sea. The necessity for securing timely consents is an imperative, and I will continue to work with the Welsh Government and all stakeholders to ensure that the huge opportunities that this presents are capitalised upon.

[Dr James Davies (Vale of Clwyd) (Con)]

12. What steps his Department is taking to help deliver the north Wales growth deal.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Robert Buckland and James Davies

Tuesday 16th March 2021 Commons Chamber

[Dr James Davies (Vale of Clwyd) (Con)]

What steps the Government are taking to reform the Mental Health Act 2007.

[The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Robert Buckland)]

We are determined to work across Government to modernise the Mental Health Act 2007 so that it ensures that patients receive the right care in the right setting at the right time. Prison should be a place for rehabilitation, not a convenient holding pen for those people for whom mental health is the primary driver of their offending.

[Robert Buckland]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for her continuing interest in this important process. We are consulting widely on these proposed reforms, including service users, carers and professionals, to ensure that we get this once-in-a-generation opportunity right. The consultation is now available on the gov.UK website, and will close on 21 April.

[Dr Davies [V]]

Will the Secretary of State explain how reforms of the Mental Health Act will strengthen the role that the justice system plays in protecting society’s most vulnerable, both in north Wales and across the country?

[Robert Buckland]

I am very grateful to my hon. Friend who, from his professional experience, has a great deal of expertise and knowledge in this area. Among other reforms, we want, in particular, to increase patient access to the Mental Health Tribunal, which provides vital independent scrutiny of detention orders. We wish to expand its powers so that it plays a greater safeguarding role. Health policy is devolved to Wales, so it will be for the Welsh Government to decide whether they wish to join the UK Government on many of our reforms in the White Paper, and we will continue to work closely with them in order to secure that partnership.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Robert Buckland and James Davies

Tuesday 2nd February 2021 Commons Chamber

[Robert Buckland]

The hon. Lady is right to raise the particular challenges facing women prisoners. There does seem to be a different effect of the current restrictions on women prisoners as opposed to the male estate. Sadly, we have seen rates of self-harm and, indeed, repeated self-harm from individual prisoners increase. I assure her that the female offender strategy that we launched two years ago is at the heart of our considerations. It is all about understanding why a lot of women not just self-harm, but end up in the custodial estate in the first place. We continue with work on that. More investment is coming, with the creation of secure centres. We will continue to look at ways in which we can reimagine and redesign how women are incarcerated. She will be glad to note that overall numbers in the custodial estate remain quite low compared with recent years as a result of covid and, indeed, the approach that the courts have been taking.

[Dr James Davies (Vale of Clwyd) (Con) [V]]

  Despite best efforts, the transfer of prisoners increases the risk of covid-19 transmission. With prison occupancy 6% lower than at this time last year, what steps is my right hon. and learned Friend taking to ensure that transfers take place only where absolutely necessary?

[Robert Buckland]

My hon. Friend is right to raise this issue. We have taken steps to minimise the risk from transfers. We allow only essential transfers—for example, where courts need to be served and justice must carry on. We have clear policies in place to define the need for essential transfers, and we have our compartmentalisation strategy, which means that new admissions to prisons are kept separate from the general population. We are testing new prisoners and, indeed, testing those being transferred between prisons to minimise the risk of spreading the virus.