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HANSARDJoint Enterprise: Young Black MenMy Lords, as I have just said, I do not accept that the study so far reveals disproportionality. I accept that this is a very sensitive subject, and we must avoid anything that…19 Oct 2023HANSARDJoint Enterprise: Young Black MenMy Lords, if I may respectfully say so, the results so far of the pilot prove nothing of the sort. The pilot showed a high number of black males in joint enterprise cases in the…19 Oct 2023HANSARDJoint Enterprise: Young Black MenMy Lords, joint enterprise case law is primarily a matter for the judiciary. The CPS applies that case law and race plays no part in individual charging decisions. Recognising…19 Oct 2023HANSARDPrison CapacityMy Lords, I would need notice of that question. I will write to the noble and learned Baroness with respect to the place of residential places in the criminal justice system.…17 Oct 2023HANSARDPrison CapacityMy Lords, I will respectfully repeat the Statement made yesterday in another place by my right honourable friend the Lord Chancellor: “The first duty of any Government is to keep…17 Oct 2023HANSARDPrison CapacityMy Lords, I will deal as best I can with the points made. Hospital pass or not, the Government have to deal with the situation in which they find themselves. On the question of…17 Oct 2023HANSARDPrison CapacityMy Lords, I am sure the evidence before and the conclusions of the committee will be borne well in mind.17 Oct 2023HANSARDPrison CapacityMy Lords, I am not in a position today to comment specifically on Berwyn. I had understood that there are many aspects of Berwyn that have been outstandingly successful. I will…17 Oct 2023HANSARDPrison CapacityMy Lords, it is undoubtedly the case that there are many offenders in the criminal justice system who have severe mental health problems. I very much welcome the noble Lord’s…17 Oct 2023HANSARDPrison CapacityMy Lords, there has been some slippage in the prison building programme, mainly as a result of difficulties with planning. As the Lord Chancellor indicated in the Statement, there…17 Oct 2023HANSARDPrison CapacityThe Government very much welcome the contribution that local agencies and other organisations make towards rehabilitation and will continue to take advantage of all the…17 Oct 2023HANSARDPrison CapacityMy Lords, as always, my noble friend makes a powerful point about the importance of families, both in avoiding crime in the first place and in supporting criminals who later…17 Oct 2023HANSARDPrison CapacityI am not in a position to draw any comparison with Germany or any other country. However, I am bound to say that we need to learn as much as we can from the experience of other…17 Oct 2023HANSARDPrison CapacityMy Lords, as your Lordships will understand, I cannot comment on particular cases in which fines for Covid infringements have been levied, nor am I in a position to say that the…17 Oct 2023HANSARDPrison CapacityThe main effort in getting remand numbers down is to do everything possible to accelerate the process in the Crown Court. We have recruited over 1,000 new judges and increased…17 Oct 2023HANSARDPrison CapacityMy Lords, I fully agree that there needs to be close interdepartmental co-operation in dealing with this difficult issue.17 Oct 2023HANSARDPrison CapacityMy Lords, I will take the last point first. Clearly, sentencing guidelines ought to be kept under constant review. At some point, as I said earlier, the whole approach to prison…17 Oct 2023HANSARDPrison CapacityMy Lords, I am sure that a comparative study of the kind my noble friend mentions would certainly be a valuable exercise. I remember some years ago the former Lord Chief Justice,…17 Oct 2023HANSARDPrison CapacityMy Lords, it is the Government’s position, as I have set out, that the resentencing exercise is not the answer. All the prisoners of which we speak are there because the Parole…17 Oct 2023HANSARDCourts (Prescribed Recordings) Order 2023I stand entirely corrected by the noble Lord, Lord Ponsonby, in relation to magistrates, whose work I have paid enormous tribute to on previous occasions, and I do so again. We…14 Sept 2023