Prevention of Future Deaths Report: Terance Radford

Ruth Cadbury Excerpts

Wednesday 20th March 2024 Westminster Hall

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship for what I believe is the first time, Dame Maria. I thank the hon. Member for Ashfield (Lee Anderson) for obtaining this important debate today, and for the humanity he brought to his speech. My thoughts are with Terance Radford’s family and friends for their bravery throughout this time, and for coming here today.

I have read the coroner’s report, the Ministry of Justice’s response and—perhaps most powerfully—what Terance’s family said in the aftermath of the killing. Terance, or Terry, was an 87-year-old grandfather who had served this country—a retired teacher and a former magistrate who was simply waiting for a bus before he was struck and killed by a car driven by a man released from prison the day before.

I will focus today on the specifics of the case, the wider issues within our prison, probation and justice system, and finally, the issues that remain within the home detention curfew system and other early release schemes. Three crucial issues in this case were ignored before the release of the driver whose actions killed Terance. First, he was being kept in a segregated wing after committing acts of violence, yet this was not considered to be a factor to prevent early release. Secondly, an ongoing investigation into his behaviour was still outstanding. Thirdly, the probation service had not done a proper risk assessment about his release. The report by the corner is damning—organisations not talking to each other, risk assessments not being carried out, and gaps in the early release scheme not being closed until it was too late.

Terance was failed by the justice system and by the Government. One key purpose of prison is to keep the public safe. We need to uphold confidence and support for our justice system, as other Members have said. I thank the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) for his, as always, careful and considerate remarks.

Cases such as this have shaken our constituents’ faith in the justice system, and no more so than that of Terance Radford’s family and friends. According to reports, the driver had assaulted prison officers, threatened to kill an officer and set two fires to the prison. That is not an isolated case. Yes, the specific factors cited around home detention curfew may have been case-specific, but too often we have seen individuals released from prison without proper risk assessments and without different services talking to each other. We have seen three serious case reviews—Damien Bendall, Jordan McSweeney and Joshua Jacques—where individuals were released after incorrect or insufficient risk assessments, sometimes by staff with too little experience, and then the offender went on to commit a serious further offence.

We might ask why our justice system is in this state. For 14 years, we have seen a crisis in our criminal justice system—crises in our courts, our prisons and our probation sector. The loss of experienced staff and a high turnover in the staffing of prisons and the probation service means a crisis in which ever-bigger gaps are forming—gaps that create more victims.

The report from the former chief inspector of probation was damning. Too often, proper risk assessments are not happening. I am repeating myself, but that is no coincidence; time and again we see serious cases like this, where an individual has died, a report is released finding gaps, the Minister comes to this place and tells us that it is all broadly fine, and we are expected to wait until the next serious report to repeat the cycle.

It is on that subject that I want to probe the Minister on how we prevent that from happening, being quite aware that there is an outside chance that I might be in his position after the general election. The Government are currently looking to expand home detention curfew in the Sentencing Bill. Last Monday, in a statutory instrument debate, I asked the Minister when that Bill would be coming back. We have since read in The Sunday Times that the Justice Secretary has been having angry phone calls with No.10 about this, so I will give the Minister another chance: could he confirm when the Sentencing Bill will come back to this House? Do the Government still plan on expanding home detention curfew?

Likewise, if it is expanded, what specific safeguards will be in place to protect victims of crime, including victims of domestic violence? How will the Government ensure that there are adequate probation officers to carry out the required risk assessments if more people are released on home detention curfew? The Ministry of Justice impact assessment estimates that an additional 850 offenders will be managed by probation as a consequence of the changes. The probation service is already overstretched; how will it cope with an additional 850?

I also want to put on record my concern about the lack of transparency on the end of the end of custody supervised licence—ECSL—scheme. It is another scheme to release prisoners early, and it is now being expanded to release more prisoners, yet the Minister says that the Government will only publish numbers annually. Also on the ECSL scheme, I have seen an example where a victim of domestic violence saw their abuser released and housed near them. It was only after an intervention and escalation that alternative housing was found somewhere else. What is specifically being done to protect victims when prisoners are released early under the ECSL scheme?

We know that our criminal justice system is in crisis. It is heartbreaking and wrong that people such as Terance—a man in his 80s just waiting at a bus stop—end up featuring in reports and having their names echoing around this place, when those years of his life should have been spent with his family and loved ones. I look forward to the Minister’s response.

Draft Criminal Justice Act 2003 (Suitability for Fixed Term Recall) Order 2024

Ruth Cadbury Excerpts

Monday 11th March 2024 General Committees

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under you for the first time, Mr Pritchard.

This important SI will reduce from 28 to 14 days the time that an individual on a fixed recall must spend in prison. On its surface, this initiative may help address the overcrowding crisis in our prisons. Once again, however, the Government are rushing into yet another change that will put more pressure on our already overstretched probation services—which are a fundamental part of the criminal justice system—without giving them any extra support. Halving from 28 to 14 days the time that that already overstretched service, probation officers and charities will have to prepare each offender on release means that there will be less time to sort where that prisoner will stay, what they will do with their time, what income they will have, whether there will be any restrictions on where they can go, and whether an ankle monitor will need to be fitted.

Frontline probation workers are already under huge pressure, and this feels like yet another rushed change to the early release policy. We should remember that we are here today because of the prisons crisis that successive Conservative Ministers have caused.

[Shailesh Vara]

The hon. Lady is making an important point on the work levels of probation officers. However, does she agree that it is better that low-level offenders are not kept in prison unnecessarily for long periods, associating with more hardened criminals from whom they may pick up habits that would be to their detriment when they are released? It is better that they are outside if, all matters considered, they are of a low level. That is notwithstanding the pressures on the probation service; I recognise that problem, but it is one to be dealt with.

[Ruth Cadbury]

I agree with the principle that the right hon. Member mentions. However, we are talking about people who have been recalled—those who have been in prison, released and then recalled for some reason. It is a small part of the serious problem of the high level of reoffending, which we do not have time to go into today. We need to address the reoffending rate, but that is for a different debate.

I have a lot of respect for the Minister, but I believe that we have had a dozen Prison Ministers in the last decade. We have had more Ministers than new prisons. The prisons that we have are in a dreadful state: they have sewage in cells, urine on walls and, in the case of HMP Dartmoor, radioactive radon gas seeping in, which has resulted in the closure of more than 150 cells.

This SI is part of the Government’s prompt response to the prisons crisis. As the right hon. Member for North West Cambridgeshire has said, it is shifting the pressure from prisons on to, as I have said, the overstretched probation service. Probation staff are overworked and undervalued, and we know that there are huge vacancies and problems with staff retention. The Minister will no doubt respond by saying that 2,000 new probation officers have been recruited, but we know that 19% of the new starters left within the first year.

Cases that require experience are being left to probation officers with too little of it and who have been in post only a few months, sometimes with tragic consequences. Many officers leave because they are stressed. Nearly 50,000 work days were lost in 2022 because of stress among probation staff.

Some of those being released early have committed offences relating to domestic abuse. I know that there are some exceptions in the SI, but will there be enough time to ensure that victims are informed before their release? As I have said, cutting from 28 to 14 days means that a lot will have to be done. Will there be time for that key element to be addressed on behalf of the victims?

Additionally, I have heard from probation officers that we are back to offenders being released early on a Friday afternoon, which is contrary to Ministry of Justice policy stating, quite rightly, that release must take place early in the week. We know that those Friday releases make it extremely difficult for probation staff and the charities that support the work to ensure that adequate housing and other support are in place as soon as the prisoner comes out of the gates. Can the Minister confirm that the MOJ still has a policy of no Friday releases from prison, and why is that not being fully implemented? Why am I hearing from probation officers that they are dealing with Friday releases?

One of the core functions of the probation service is public protection. We have seen warning after warning—there have been too many damning cases, whether it was Damien Bendall, Jordan McSweeney or Joshua Jacques. Our probation service is at breaking point, and the public are the ones at risk from that. The Government have pointed to the Sentencing Bill as a way out of the crisis, but I am taking this opportunity to ask the Minister to confirm on the record when the Sentencing Bill will be returning. Can he confirm that Committee stage will be happening and, if so, when? Will he confirm that the Bill will not get pulled?

We have all read the latest account of blue on blue in The Times today, which suggested that No. 10 are dragging their feet because they are worried about their Back Benchers. I remind the Minister that we are in this Committee today because we do not have enough prisons or enough prison places—and that is because the Government have failed to stand up to their own Back Benchers with the new prison proposals.

This crisis is not victimless. The capacity crisis in prisons is also hitting victims of crime. As the reoffending rate continues to rise, prisoners are not getting the access they need to the classes, training or sessions that help to reduce their reoffending, improve their behaviour, treat their addiction or anger management and so on. This measure is not going to reduce reoffending if there has not been time to put together the elements of an essential support package once through the prison gate.

I also remind the Minister that the Government have acknowledged that the changes they are introducing to address the prison overcrowding crisis are putting huge pressures on our probation service but we have not seen any policy changes since October around probation. We have heard warm words, but we have seen no action.

Frontline probation officers are having to work on their days off and in their holidays in a frantic bid to keep the public safe, but they are being set up to fail. The Ministry of Justice and Ministers seem to be trying to pretend that there is no crisis and seem to be allergic to releasing information on these various schemes that are releasing prisoners early. Probation officers frankly do not have faith in the Government after 14 years of failure, and this SI is yet another admission of failure.

Oral Answers to Questions

Ruth Cadbury Excerpts

Tuesday 20th February 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call shadow Minister Ruth Cadbury.

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

We need to tackle the revolving door of reoffending in our justice system, yet the reoffending rate, as a proportion of those leaving prison, continues to rise. Whatever the Secretary of State may say, I have heard time and again that the lack of secure housing, adequate and appropriate healthcare, education, job training and job support means that prisoners are being left to fail after they are released. It is the victims of crime who suffer when ex-prisoners reoffend. Can the Secretary of State announce when the Government expect the reoffending rate to go down?

[Alex Chalk]

It is important to note that reoffending is down compared with under the last Labour Government. The hon. Lady shakes her head, but one can dispute opinions in this House, but not facts. The reoffending rate in 2010 was around 31%; it is 25% now. That means fewer people falling victim to crime.

The hon. Lady refers to accommodation, and she is right to do so. What she did not advert to is this Government’s decision to provide 12 weeks’ guaranteed accommodation, which did not happen under a Labour Government. When I went to Luton and Dunstable, I spoke to a probation officer who has done the job for 30 years, and do you know what he said? It is the single most effective measure to drive down reoffending. Who did that? Not the Labour party, but us.

Draft Employment Tribunals and Employment Appeal Tribunal (Composition of Tribunal) Regulations 2023

Ruth Cadbury Excerpts

Tuesday 16th January 2024 General Committees

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Elliott. I thank the Minister for his remarks.

It is a pleasure to speak for the official Opposition in this debate on a statutory instrument to bring in the changes to the membership that oversees employment tribunals that were introduced under the Judicial Review and Courts Act 2022. In the previous system, tribunals sat between the MOJ and the Business Department; under the draft regulations, the Secretary of State for Justice will delegate power to the Senior President of Tribunals to decide the composition and make-up of the panels. The reason given by the Government is that it creates greater scope for panels consisting of a single member, who, I understand, will always be an employment judge. We do not oppose the change and will not vote against the instrument today. The decision on whether to have a single judge or a multi-member panel will depend on the case and the need for relevant and appropriate experience.

Turning to the wider context around employment tribunals, the Minister mentioned that the change is being introduced to bring about a more unified justice system; he also mentioned more flexibility and better use of resources. I am sure that those formed part of the Government’s reasoning. However, as the Minister in the other place said, we also have to consider the backlog. At the end of 2022, the employment tribunal backlog stood at 475,000 cases, with a wait of some 49 weeks for a decision. That is a long wait for justice for workers who have been wronged in their workplace—bullied, denied pay, or subjected to other mistreatment—and who decide to pursue their case to tribunal. I was sure that the Minister would mention the coronavirus and say that the backlog is down from its peak. It is, but it is still there, and I note that it is 60% bigger than the backlog in 2010, when we last had a Labour Government. However, I am not here to make party political points, of course—heaven forbid!

When this statutory instrument was debated in the other place, concerns were voiced about ensuring that the changes do not override the important role played by lay members, especially in employment cases where technical and specific knowledge is required and can make a key difference to the outcome of a case. I welcome the Minister’s comments about diversity in membership of the panels, but I hope it encompasses diversity of specialist skills and technical knowledge. That was mentioned in the Government’s consultation. I see that the Senior President of Tribunals has also conducted a consultation and the responses are being considered. I thank the Minister for his clarification on this, and I hope we will see the results very soon.

I also hope the Minister will let us know how the Government will monitor and assess the impact of these changes, especially if we see a significant change in the outcome of tribunal cases that are heard by a single member. As my noble Friend Lord Ponsonby said in the other place, if in the future we see further changes and a further reduction in the number of multi-member panels, that will need profound and serious justification.

I look forward to hearing the Minister’s response.

Oral Answers to Questions

Ruth Cadbury Excerpts

Tuesday 9th January 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

The latest figures show that the reoffending rate among those leaving prison has increased. That is partly because prison is failing to rehabilitate—which is no surprise, given how overcrowded, understaffed and dangerously unsafe many prisons are. In one case, after heavy rain, prison officers were having to wade through raw sewage while prisoners remained locked in their cells. Does the Minister accept that the appalling state of our prisons is not only failing to reduce crime, but breeding it?

[Edward Argar]

The hon. Lady will not be surprised to hear that I do not agree with her assessments. I would highlight that reoffending rates are down on where they were when we inherited them in 2010. I have highlighted to the hon. Lady the investment in new staff and in our buildings. I would also highlight to her, and I hope that we will enjoy her support on this, the success of tough community sentences in reducing reoffending, compared with sentences of fewer than 12 months. I look forward to her support in delivering those changes.

[Ruth Cadbury]

I am going to remain on the subject of the prison estate. The Minister made a valiant attempt to defend the Conservatives’ woeful record on prisons, but they are failing to build the prison spaces we need to reduce this cycle of crime. Just last week it was revealed that the Government had built only 380 of the 1,000 pop-up prison cells that they promised by the end of 2023. Therefore, can the Minister at the very least confirm when the remaining 620 pop-up places will be built?

[Edward Argar]

I would gently say to the hon. Lady that we will take no lessons on prison building from the Labour party—the party that promised three Titan prisons, with 7,500 places. How many were built? Zero. This is a Government who are committed to building 20,000 new, state-of-the-art prison places. Two prisons have already been built. One is in construction. One has just received planning permission, and I am hopeful that the other two of the six will receive that in due course.

Oral Answers to Questions

Ruth Cadbury Excerpts

Tuesday 21st November 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

In response to the question from my hon. Friend the Member for Cambridge (Daniel Zeichner), the Secretary of State said that he had recruited 1,000 additional probation officers, but in fact that recruitment campaign has resulted in 76 fewer probation officers between March last year and March this year. Owing to the excessive workload, staff are leaving in droves. The proposed new presumption in favour of extended sentences and the extension of electronic monitoring will simply offload more pressure from prisons on to the probation service, will it not? What are the Government doing to address these issues of excessive workload and the loss of probation staff?

[Alex Chalk]

On a point of detail, as of 30 September 2023 the increase on the previous year was 4.2% for band 3 probation officers, 6.9% for band 4 officers and 13% for senior probation officers. The so-called attrition rate, or resignation rate, is also down. There are more probation officers, and more of them are remaining in place. The reason that matters is the fact that experience counts. This is an extremely difficult job, and making good judgments requires wisdom and experience. We are investing in the probation service so that its officers can do their job on behalf of our communities.

Draft Justification Decision (Scientific Age Imaging) Regulations 2023

Ruth Cadbury Excerpts

Monday 20th November 2023 General Committees

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under you, Mr Gray, and to follow the right hon. Member for Charnwood. It is unusual for me, having only been in my post for two months, to not be the newbie in the room.

The change made by the draft statutory instrument allows the Government to seek to verify the age of unaccompanied asylum seeking children. It is more than 18 months since the legislative framework was set in the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 for these assessments to take place, yet we have still not had some rather straightforward questions answered. We have had, by my count, four different Home Secretaries since then, so it is strange that we have not had these answers. While I accept the limitations of our business here today, I cannot avoid the fact that several questions remain, among them the cost and impact to the NHS, which is already massively under pressure. We would expect the Government to address those questions in the impact assessment, but as far as I am aware no such assessment has been provided. Don’t worry, though, because the Government have said that

“the policy and design are still under development”.

They appear to be building the bridge as they cross it.

It is unclear to me, as it was to the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee in the other place, why this instrument is being moved forward while the policy and process are still being developed. Looking at the SI, I was surprised to see that the Government do not know what the cost of the new imaging process will be. My hon. Friend the Member for Aberavon (Stephen Kinnock) asked the then Home Secretary, the right hon. and learned Member for Fareham (Suella Braverman), about it in December 2022, and she said she did not know. Does the Minister now have an estimate for the cost to the public purse of rolling out the policy?

In the submissions made to the Lords Committee, the lack of an assessment was a major issue for several stakeholders, some of whom the Minister has already named. That matters because of not only the costs, but the wider policy implications that the policy poses. The SI says the Secretary of State has a power to make regulations specifying a scientific method, but that is conditional on the Secretary of State having determined that the method is appropriate for assessing age after seeking scientific advice. The Minister will point to the Age Estimation Science Advisory Committee that has been set up, but beyond that, what steps have the Home Office taken to see the opinions and views of other stakeholders on this practice?

I have read the very real concerns that the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health has about the policy. The House of Lords Committee expressed palpable frustration about trying to get basic information about this case and the consultation between the Government and the wider medical community. These questions matter as there is by no means any evidence of a clear consensus among experts. In fact, a report in the New Scientist suggested that the widely held view among experts is that age verification is based on “pseudoscience”. The Government claim that 49% of asylum claims with a disputed age were found to be adults. Has the Home Office assessed how accurate this new method will be?

Additionally, what consultations were made with local authorities and medical authorities, both of which will be on the frontline of dealing with age assessments? I know from talking to the chief executive of my own local authority, Hounslow, the cost and difficulty of carrying out these age assessments, because it is the duty of local authorities to carry them out.

A range of expert bodies representing everything from social work to dentistry have warned that these medical procedures for non-therapeutic purposes are unethical. Even if we leave aside the questions of morals and ethics, we can all surely see that the full implementation of the changes foreseen by these regulations will likely face formidable barriers on an entirely practical level. What thought have the Government given to those barriers, and what steps does the Department plan to take by way of mitigation? Those are just two further questions to which I believe the Government have an absolute duty to provide clear answers. I am always open to the chance, however remote, that the Minister may surprise me and let me know what consideration the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice have given to those questions.

That brings me to the issue of the review mechanism. I can see that the Ministry of Justice will review the use of X-rays by the Home Office. Will the Minister be able to let us know what steps will be taken as part of this review mechanism? What information will be made public and when will the review take place?

I will finish more broadly, on a point about migration and the approach taken by the Government. Just last week, we saw their flagship policy on Rwanda rejected by the Supreme Court, despite years and years of claims—

[The Chair]

Order. I fear those matters are beyond the scope of the statutory instrument we are discussing today, so perhaps the hon. Lady might like to return to that.

[Ruth Cadbury]

Thank you, Mr Gray. That was one example of a scheme which the Government were warned would be costly and would not work. We fear that that will also be the case for this statutory instrument. From my own casework experience, I must confess that I am deeply sceptical about the Home Office’s claims about its ability to deliver its policies.

In summary, I hope that the Minister can enlighten us about the costs, the lack of an impact assessment, the review process, and the engagement that will take place with groups such as the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health especially, which has raised its own concerns about this policy. I hope that we can see some much-needed transparency on this issue.

[Jon Trickett (Hemsworth) (Lab)]

rose—

Prisons

Ruth Cadbury Excerpts

Tuesday 24th October 2023 Commons Chamber

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

I thank the Minister for his speech, and for a valiant attempt to defend 13 years of failure, not just within our prisons but across the wider criminal justice system. The Opposition will be supporting this order—the change to the timing of release for foreign national offenders—because the Government have got themselves into a mess and, once again, it is the job of the Opposition to help them get out of that mess. We will be supporting this change because we are a responsible party, and because we know that the crisis in our prisons needs to be addressed. The order is a necessary measure to tackle the overcrowding crisis in our prison estate. However, I want to make it clear that it is a half-baked measure, cooked up in a panic in the Department. It is a change that has neither been consulted on nor planned, one that comes as part of a quick rush to address the overcrowding crisis—a crisis that has been long coming, but I will get on to that later.

Mr Deputy Speaker, we are both old enough to know that this is a theme under Conservative Governments. I recall that, back in the 1990s, prisons were so poor that prisoners were escaping with ease—the Conservatives are in such dire straits that they have begun recycling their scandals. It is no wonder that the public, having been through this, know what failure looks like. That is what we are confronted with today: a failure to protect the public, a failure to protect victims, and a failure by the Government to ensure that our prisons have enough space.

I will cover three areas in my remarks: the lack of planning around our prison population, the implementation of this new programme, and the wider issues around victims. Let us first look at the lack of planning. The overcrowding crisis in our prisons has been looming for years, with the National Audit Office, the Justice Select Committee and the Chief Inspector of Prisons all having warned the Government about it. In 2020, the Government were told specifically by the National Audit Office that they were unlikely to be able to build the 20,000 prison places they promised by the mid-2020s on time, yet the Government ignored that warning. I guess those 20,000 prison places are in the same place in the sky as the 40 new hospitals and 50,000 new nurses.

Back in 2016, the then Conservative Prime Minister said of the Prison Service that

“the failure of our system today is scandalous”.

If it was scandalous in 2016, I am not sure what word we would need to use now—perhaps something rather unparliamentary. When asked about this failure, the Government and the Ministry of Justice will point to the new prison places they promised, yet only around 25% of those places have been delivered. Plans for new prisons have been delayed and I understand from a report in The Guardian that one MOJ official said that badgers—yes, badgers—were to blame for a delay in building a new prison. The crisis has got so bad that the Government have been forced to use police cells as alternatives to prison places.

We should also remember that this is not the first time that the Government have made promises about the removal of foreign national offenders. Back in 2015, the then Prime Minister, the former Member for Witney, spent £25 million to help Jamaica build a new prison—of course, like a lot of the promises he made, it fell through. Successive Conservative Governments have made promise after promise on foreign national prisoners, and those promises have fallen through every time. This is not even the first time that this policy has been looked at: we saw changes regarding foreign nationals in recent legislation, and the Government considered changes to the early removal scheme last year.

[Paul Holmes]

The shadow Minister has mentioned overcrowding in our prisons, which is a problem. As the Minister outlined, there are 10,000 foreign national offenders in our prison estate. I welcome the fact that the shadow Minister will vote for the motion today, but can she explain to this House why at every stage, her party has voted against legislative measures to ensure that those people are removed, which would remove the problem that she is castigating us for?

[Ruth Cadbury]

I am new to this brief, but I do not believe that is the case.

If the Government considered this change in the past, why did they not introduce it back then? Did they think it was better to wait for a crisis? We should remember that this prison crisis—which has been looming for years—is having an impact every day on prison staff, inmates and the victims of crime. We still have prisoners having to use a bucket as a toilet in their cell. We have prisoners locked up for 22 hours a day, and prisons so understaffed that prison officers cannot even take prisoners to the library or to classrooms for education. Education is so essential to those prisoners’ rehabilitation, and for many of them, it is a condition of their eventual release. It is no wonder that the latest figures show that the reoffending rate has risen: it now stands at 25% for male former prisoners. That cycle of crime creates more victims.

I now turn to the detail of the order and its implementation. The policy will require significant input from the Home Office, along with the MOJ. As one prison governor has said,

“I expect it will require significant numbers of new Home Office staff for this initiative to be effective.”

We understand that the Home Office already faces huge problems with staffing, and I am sure I speak for many Members across the House when I say that I do not have complete faith—or even much faith at all—in the Home Office after the mess we have seen them make over the past year. Nor can I say I have much faith in the Home Secretary, the right hon. and learned Member for Fareham (Suella Braverman), who always seems to be auditioning for the role of the next Leader of the Opposition.

We also know that this Government have talked a lot about foreign national offenders, but after 13 years of Conservative rule, the number of removals of FNOs has dropped by 40%. The Government will point to the impact of covid, but in 2022, the Government were removing around half the number of foreign national offenders that they were pre-covid. What are the Government doing differently this time? Whether they are removing foreign nationals with 12 or 18 months left of their sentence, the point remains that the Government still need to be able to remove offenders from the UK.

I am sure the Minister will have prepared lines about the Opposition and our approach, so I will give him advance notice that we do have a plan. Labour would create a returns unit to triage and fast-track the removal of those who have no right to be in the UK, including foreign national offenders. We will recruit an additional 1,000 Home Office caseworkers to tackle the drop in removals that we have seen since the Conservatives entered office in 2010.

Having looked at both the Government’s statement last week and the memorandum attached to this statutory instrument, I could not see any information about the estimated cost or the additional resources needed, including for any legal costs or challenges to deportation. The Government need to set out exactly how many more caseworkers are needed and how much this plan will cost the taxpayer. The prisons crisis is already costing taxpayers; for example, over £20 million is spent on using police cells for prisoners, and I suspect that number will rise. A running theme from last week’s announcement is the large hole in funding. In particular, the grossly overstretched probation service will be expected to pick up a lot of the pieces from the Government’s latest crisis.

I want to finish by speaking about victims, in the context of both this statutory instrument and the wider criminal justice system. As a party, we have been clear that we want a justice system that works for victims, protects them from crime and supports them. I have one question for the Minister: could foreign offenders who commit violent or sexual offences be freed to their home country up to 18 months early because of this change? Will he take this opportunity to reassure victims that that will not be allowed to happen? Victims of crime will be worried that perpetrators will be released early. Over the past month, I have heard from prison staff, probation officers, inspectors, non-governmental organisations and so many across the criminal justice system about just how much of a mess our prisons and wider justice system are in, and that is because of 13 years of Conservative misrule and mismanagement.

Draft Courts (Prescribed Recordings) Order 2023

Ruth Cadbury Excerpts

Monday 18th September 2023 General Committees

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dame Angela.

I thank the Minister for outlining the provisions contained in the order and the reasons behind them. As he explained, the SI disapplies section 41 of the Criminal Justice Act 1925, which prohibits filming in court, and section 9 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981, which prohibits audio recording for some specific purposes. The Opposition are pleased to support the instrument.

We completely recognise the need for CCTV in court precincts to ensure the safety and security of all those who work in and attend our courts. Indeed, when this order was being debated in the other place, my noble Friend Lord Ponsonby shared an anecdote of a case that came before him as a magistrate in which a tribunal judge had been assaulted, and explained how vital the CCTV evidence from the precinct outside the courtroom had been in securing a conviction. I also once had a constituent who was assaulted at his workplace in a court building, and I believe that, had this order been in place and body-worn cameras been permitted, he might have been better served. We wholly support the continued presence of the CCTV; although as such CCTV recording is already considered lawful, I am not sure what is gained by including it in the SI—but if it is helpful to put the matter utterly beyond doubt, then so be it.

The matter of body-worn video by operational court staff is less settled currently, so we strongly welcome the clarification of the lawfulness of wearing body-worn video in court precincts. Body-worn video evidence can be hugely helpful in building cases, and we agree that it will assist in keeping all those working and attending court safe and secure. However, I do appreciate that the scope for the use of body-worn video is limited to when there has been a security alert or escape. There is good reason why we limit recordings in our courts—in part to protect the privacy of court users—so I welcome proportionate limits being placed on such filming.

The Opposition wholly welcome the provision relating to adoption cases. It is right that those who wish to commemorate such a happy occasion with a photo alongside the judge or magistrates—should that judge or magistrate be prepared to do so—in court will now be free to do so.

The final provision, which corrects the omission in the Crown Court (Recording and Broadcasting) Order 2020 on sentencing remarks, is straightforward, and of course we support it.

In conclusion, the changes in this SI are all relatively narrow and straightforward and we are happy to support them.

Question put and agreed to.

Oral Answers to Questions

Ruth Cadbury Excerpts

Tuesday 12th September 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Let me welcome the shadow Minister to her post.

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

Thank you, Mr Speaker.

In July, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation reported that it had found that far too many potential victims of domestic violence are at risk from those on probation due to wide-ranging systemic failures in the service. Furthermore, the chief inspector of the probation service said that things have deteriorated since the 2018 report into the probation service. Is the Minister not concerned that, once again, after 13 years of Conservative rule, things are continuing to get worse for victims of domestic violence?

[Damian Hinds]

First, may I join you, Mr Speaker, in welcoming the hon. Lady to her place? I look forward to working constructively with her. She raises an important point about the protection of people from domestic abuse from those who are on probation. I can reassure her that we have put in place further measures and, indeed, invested additional money—£1.5 million a year—to support those extra checks into addresses of where offenders may be going, to make sure that there is not that domestic abuse risk.