Support for Offenders’ Families

Tom Pursglove Excerpts

Tuesday 7th December 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Tom Pursglove)]

I thank my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Wiltshire (Dr Murrison) for securing this important debate and doing the cause that he seeks to advance real justice in the way that he presented his case and the arguments that he marshalled.

The case that my right hon. Friend has highlighted demonstrates the sometimes overlooked impact that one person’s criminal behaviour can have on their family and friends. It is difficult not to be troubled by the circumstances that he described and the impact that that has on families, as the hon. Member for Bristol East (Kerry McCarthy) set out in the case of her constituents. Many families, not just those my right hon. Friend alluded to, feel that they are being unfairly punished in the eyes of others for someone else’s actions. The circumstances he described are horrendous and unthinkable. He called it a “wall of misery”, and I think that is rather an apt description.

As my right hon. Friend set out, the consequences of these crimes can be devasting and are felt long after the knock on the door that he described. The empathy that I feel—I am sure all Members feel it—for all those who have been affected in this way in our country is very difficult to put into words. I think the circumstances of that knock on the door are also very difficult to comprehend, not least because of the betrayal of trust that those family members must feel about what has happened. The magnitude of the trauma and the circumstances that they are presented with is unthinkable.

In April this year we updated the victims code, providing victims with a clear set of entitlements and setting out the levels of service that a victim of crime can expect from the criminal justice system. For the purposes of the code a victim is someone who has suffered harm, including physical, mental or emotional harm, directly caused by a criminal offence. A person who has suffered harm as a direct result of witnessing a crime is also a victim for the purposes of the code and is able to access services that support victims.

While I have great sympathy for families in the circumstances that my right hon. Friend described, I recognise that that provision will not automatically apply to families of offenders. However, support is available for those who have been directly harmed. There are of course certain circumstances in which a family member is a direct victim or a witness to a crime perpetrated by their loved ones, and it is right that we offer them support to cope and, as far as possible, to recover from those crimes. For example, our national homicide service works tirelessly to support those bereaved by domestic homicide. We know that being impacted by crime can have a lasting impact, especially for children and young people. That is why in July this year we worked with the homicide service to launch dedicated casework support for children and young people impacted by these crimes.

The crimes my right hon. Friend spoke of are some of the most abhorrent and are often perpetrated in the home and by those we should feel safe in the company of. Where families, following an arrest or a conviction, face the sort of damaging attention on social media that he described, that should be treated with the utmost seriousness. Therefore we are taking steps in the Online Safety Bill to place new duties on companies to keep their users safe online. I expect, this Government expect and I think this House expects—we have seen this reflected in the debates we have witnessed in recent weeks—that the tech companies must take responsibility for these matters and must take robust action when inappropriate content is hosted on their sites. That is a reasonable expectation and one that, time and time again, this House has echoed. Therefore I for one certainly echo the importance of the Online Safety Bill being introduced in due course.

We are determined to improve support for victims of crime so that they can recover and confidently seek justice through the criminal justice system. We continue to invest significant funding in victim and witness support services, given the increasing demand and the impact of the pandemic. This year we will spend £300 million across Government, with the Ministry of Justice providing just over £150 million. That funding will go towards a range of support services, including the national witness service, rape support centres and local organisations commissioned by police and crime commissioners. I can also confirm that we will consult imminently on a victims law so that we can make tangible improvements for victims across the criminal justice system. I look forward to meeting my right hon. Friend to discuss the contents of the consultation as soon as possible after publication.

As I said earlier, I have huge empathy with innocent families who, through no fault of their own, end up in these circumstances. As Members of this House, we can all think of families in our constituencies who have been caught in the sort of trauma we are discussing this evening. I am truly shocked to hear about the levels of post-traumatic stress disorder linked to these cases, but it is not surprising that there are those levels of PTSD.

While the families we are talking about may not fall within the definition in the victims code, that does not exclude them from accessing the support they need to recover from the harm caused. Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service funds the national prisoners’ families helpline, which provides free and confidential support for those with a family member at any stage of their contact with the criminal justice system. The service’s highly trained and skilled staff provide practical information and emotional support for those who simply need reassurance or guidance. They are also able to point families, including children, to sources of additional support should they need it. Several charities also provide support for families affected by the actions of a family member, including PACT, Nepacs, the Lucy Faithfull Foundation and Children Heard and Seen.

The Government are committed to ensuring that everyone who requires mental health support, including offenders’ family members, has access to timely mental health treatment based on clinical need.

As part of the Government’s commitment to build back better, we published our mental health recovery action plan in March 2021, backed by an additional £500 million for this financial year, to ensure we have the right support in place. The plan aims to respond to the impact of the pandemic on the mental health of the public, specifically targeting groups that have been most affected, including those with severe mental illness, young people and frontline staff.

While in some cases further contact between a family and prisoner might not be appropriate, it is right that we reflect that, in the majority of instances, there are significant benefits to both the offender and their family of maintaining the family relationship to help to tackle reoffending when the prisoner is released. The impact of imprisonment on a family member can be significant. For example, for a child of an incarcerated parent there can be social stigma, loneliness and isolation, along with feelings of resentment about being abandoned.

While offenders are in custody, we have an opportunity to support them to appreciate the impact that their offending behaviour has on not only themselves but their family and especially their children. We believe that regular, quality engagement between a prisoner and their children is essential to mitigate the potential harms that a child of an incarcerated parent might experience.

While the focus of the Ministry of Justice’s work is ostensibly on supporting the offender and helping their rehabilitation, there are other initiatives across Government that can support those family members who have to simply carry on. The supporting families programme continues to drive early help and better co-ordination of services for families with multiple and complex needs, including those involved with, or at risk of, crime and anti-social behaviour.

The Government are committed to ensuring that the supporting families programme delivers. That is why the Chancellor recently announced an expansion of the programme, taking total planned investment across the next three years to £695 million, which will enable local authorities and their partners to provide help earlier and secure better outcomes for up to 300,000 families across all aspects of their lives. As well as supporting the recovery of those who have been affected by crime, the programme encourages early intervention to prevent families from entering the criminal justice system in the first place.

To conclude, I hope I have demonstrated the importance we place on supporting children and families of offenders and that, in the time available, I have been able to provide clear examples of how we are working to properly support those leaving prison and their families. I recognise that my right hon. Friend has raised a number of valid points, and there are areas that Government as a whole should reflect on. We should obviously reflect on whether the package of measures and the help that is in place remain appropriate—we must always keep these matters under constant review. I am grateful for the way he introduced this Adjournment debate and for the important matters he raised. I look forward to meeting him to discuss them, and I am very grateful for his contribution tonight.

 

 

Question put and agreed to.