Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Stephen Morgan and Lucy Frazer

Tuesday 8th October 2019 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Morgan (Portsmouth South) (Lab)]

1. What recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding for women’s centres to rehabilitate female offenders.

[The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lucy Frazer)]

I start by saying how deeply upsetting it was to hear of the recent tragic incident at HMP Bronzefield. It was a terrible incident, and my thoughts are with all those who have been affected. As would be expected, there are a number of ongoing investigations, including an investigation by the police.

The hon. Gentleman is right to highlight the important role of women’s centres in providing holistic support to vulnerable women. This approach forms part of our female offender strategy, which announced a £5 million investment in community provision for women from 2018 to 2020. As we take forward the strategy, we are committed to ensuring sufficient funding for female offenders.

[Stephen Morgan]

Almost half of all women sent to prison are homeless, up significantly in the past few years. Does the Minister really believe that this Government’s approach of failing to properly fund women’s centres is working?

[Lucy Frazer]

Of course it is important that we look after all our offenders, and we have a particular strategy in relation to female offenders. We not only want to ensure they get adequate care in prison, but we are also intervening early to try to prevent women from entering the justice system at all.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Stephen Morgan and Lucy Frazer

Tuesday 23rd April 2019 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Morgan (Portsmouth South) (Lab)]

22. What assessment he has made of trends in the number of people able to access early legal advice for welfare benefits cases.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Lucy Frazer)]

In the most recent Legal Aid Agency civil tender, the number of offices providing legal aid services on welfare benefits increased by 188%. In February, we set out our legal support action plan, which focused on the importance of early legal support. We will be establishing a number of pilots in a range of areas of law to see how best we can support those in need. It is critical that welfare decisions are made right the first time, and we are working with the Department for Work and Pensions to help ensure that.

[Lucy Frazer]

Legal aid is available in welfare cases on points of law to the upper tribunal and the higher courts. A wide variety of considerable support is also available from some fantastic third sector organisations. I visited a number of them recently, and they are doing an excellent job. As I mentioned, we are also looking in our legal aid action plan at how we can provide people with support early on in a variety of areas, which may include this area.

[Stephen Morgan]

Recent BBC research found that 1 million people live in areas with no legal aid provision for housing, with a further 15 million in areas with just one provider. Does the Minister not agree that only rogue landlords benefit from this situation?