Oral Answers to Questions

Robert Halfon Excerpts

Tuesday 9th October 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. We are running over time, but I feel the parliamentary day would be incomplete if we did not hear from the right hon. Member for Harlow (Robert Halfon), so we shall.

[Robert Halfon (Harlow) (Con)]

17. What discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Education on breaking the link between school exclusion and prison.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Edward Argar)]

My right hon. Friend is right to highlight this issue: 23% of those given short custodial sentences were previously excluded from school. I have not personally met the Secretary of State for Education to this discuss this matter, but I have corresponded with the Minister with responsibility for schools on exactly this issue. I regularly meet the Under-Secretary of State for the Department for Education about linked issues, and my officials and I are engaged with the Department for Education on its exclusions review.

[Robert Halfon]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. An increasing number of pupils are being excluded from our schools, and 60% of our prisoners were excluded when in our education system. What action is the Ministry of Justice taking to work with the Department for Education to provide serious support to those who have experienced exclusion and are at risk of offending?

--- Later in debate ---

[Lucy Frazer]

The hon. Gentleman is right to highlight that waiting times for tribunals could be reduced. We are recruiting new members of the tribunals; in February and March, we appointed 226 new medical members of the social security tribunal. I am also meeting, and have met twice, my counterpart in the Department for Work and Pensions to ensure that we can get those waiting times down.

[Robert Halfon (Harlow) (Con)]

T8. One problem that we have faced in Harlow with unauthorised encampments is the cat-and-mouse scenario that when camps are evicted they can just move further down the road. What can my hon. and learned Friend do to strengthen the law and end the problem of unauthorised encampments once and for all?

[Lucy Frazer]

As I represent a rural constituency, I completely understand my right hon. Friend’s point. The Government have recently consulted on the powers available to local authorities to deal with such problems and we are now looking at how we might strengthen the powers of local authorities and landowners.