Contributions
640 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDCriminal Justice Bill (Ninth sitting)I thank the shadow Minister and my hon. Friend the Member for Meon Valley for their contributions, and I will respond to them as best I can. First, I want to talk a little about…18 Jan 2024HANSARDCriminal Justice Bill (Ninth sitting)I will continue a little more. We are undertaking the biggest prison building exercise since the Victorian era. We have committed to creating 20,000 new prison places, and have…18 Jan 2024HANSARDCriminal Justice Bill (Ninth sitting)I thank the hon. Gentleman, who makes a fair challenge. I am only aware of exploratory conversations with European countries bound by the European convention on human rights. I…18 Jan 2024HANSARDCriminal Justice Bill (Ninth sitting)It is in the Bill that the Bill itself is compliant with the European convention on human rights.18 Jan 2024HANSARDCriminal Justice Bill (Ninth sitting)I want to address the points made by the hon. Member for Stockton North and explain why we think these matters are best placed in the policy itself rather than in the Bill. He…18 Jan 2024HANSARDCriminal Justice Bill (Ninth sitting)I thank my right hon. Friend for her intervention. She is quite right. I will try to distil her point. I expected the challenge from the Opposition this morning about the…18 Jan 2024HANSARDCriminal Justice Bill (Ninth sitting)I reassure my hon. Friend that we are making significant progress on that. It is a good point. There has been an acceleration in that process. I have some data here. Between…18 Jan 2024HANSARDCriminal Justice Bill (Ninth sitting)The provisions on the removals of foreign nationals are set out in the 2012 immigration rules; it is section 339 that governs removal. If the sentence has been two years or more,…18 Jan 2024HANSARDCriminal Justice Bill (Ninth sitting)Let me finish the point. It has to be truly exceptional. I have done cases in court for the Home Office. The Home Office is nearly always successful when it relies on that clause…18 Jan 2024HANSARDCriminal Justice Bill (Ninth sitting)I have never been involved in a case of that nature; cases where the offending is really serious tend to be much more straightforward. There is flexibility, because we can take…18 Jan 2024HANSARDCriminal Justice Bill (Ninth sitting)I thank the hon. Lady for her submission. I will confine myself simply to arguments as they relate to the prison transfer issue. Furthermore, this part of the Bill is Ministry of…18 Jan 2024HANSARDCriminal Justice Bill (Ninth sitting)I will have to get back to the hon. Gentleman on that point.18 Jan 2024HANSARDCriminal Justice Bill (Ninth sitting)I thought my last speech was supposed to be my final response, but I will come back on the two points made by the hon. Gentleman. First, I will come back to him on the point about…18 Jan 2024HANSARDCriminal Justice Bill (Ninth sitting)I thank the hon. Member for his amendments, which I will address before turning to clause 28. I hope that nothing we have said and nothing that appears in the Bill would suggest…18 Jan 2024HANSARDCriminal Justice Bill (Ninth sitting)We are committed to ensuring that any foreign prison will be subject to an inspection arrangement; it is simply the terms of that inspection arrangement that we are not putting…18 Jan 2024HANSARDCriminal Justice Bill (Ninth sitting)Can I just clarify that I have understood the hon. Lady’s intervention?18 Jan 2024HANSARDCriminal Justice Bill (Eighth sitting)I will come back to that. For the purposes of this afternoon’s Public Bill Committee, the issue is not whether the courts have an adequate understanding of grooming. I will give…16 Jan 2024HANSARDCriminal Justice Bill (Eighth sitting)Let me revert to the hon. Gentleman in writing on that point. I conceded that there is no guarantee that every single offender will attend their sentencing, but the Bill provides…16 Jan 2024HANSARDCriminal Justice Bill (Eighth sitting)The hon. Gentleman makes a good point. It is generally accepted—this is consistent with the thrust of what we have heard—that it is an affront to the victim’s family when the…16 Jan 2024HANSARDCriminal Justice Bill (Eighth sitting)The difference it makes is that now we will not necessarily even see a judge consider exercising that discretion. By putting it into primary legislation—I appreciate the word…16 Jan 2024