Contributions
399 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDPrison Services: InsourcingThe noble and learned Lord raises a really important question on how the performance differs between public and private sector prisons. It is something I have been interested in…05 Nov 2025HANSARDPrison Services: InsourcingThe noble Lord will be well aware that we have lots of maintenance issues in our prisons, 25% of which are Victorian. In HMP Preston, the first governor was appointed in 1790, and…05 Nov 2025HANSARDPrison Services: InsourcingI can only play the ball that is in front of me. What I am trying to do is to make sure that our prisons run excellently. It is very much a hybrid model of the voluntary, private…05 Nov 2025HANSARDPrison Services: InsourcingThe noble Lord raises two important points, which I have been very focused on since I took on this role. I am a commercial person, so I have been interested in getting into the…05 Nov 2025HANSARDPrison Services: InsourcingThe noble Baroness will be pleased to know that the prison industry actually grows £1.7 million in value of our own vegetables and fruit. We also do laundry services for all…05 Nov 2025HANSARDPrison Services: InsourcingThis Government inherited a well-advanced plan to outsource contracts after a 2023 Cabinet Office assessment concluded that in-house capability was not sufficient to make…05 Nov 2025HANSARDPrison Services: InsourcingThe decision to outsource maintenance contracts was based on a detailed Cabinet Office assessment that concluded that the MoJ did not have the in-house capability to deliver the…05 Nov 2025HANSARDPrison Services: InsourcingI thank my noble friend for the question. What is really important is that we make sure that we hold all operators to account between now and 2031. This applies to us, running 115…05 Nov 2025HANSARDAdult Prison Estate: Support for Young PeopleSome 68% of children in custody are there for serious violent offences and 11% are sentenced to life. So we are dealing with what experts tell me is an increasingly complex and…03 Nov 2025HANSARDAdult Prison Estate: Support for Young PeopleThe noble Lord does amazing work in this area and I appreciate his focus on it. The trauma-informed approach is well established for the transition of women within the justice…03 Nov 2025HANSARDAdult Prison Estate: Support for Young PeopleTransition from the youth to the adult estate is a critical time and needs to be managed with care and thought for the safety of the young person. The transitions policy framework…03 Nov 2025HANSARDAdult Prison Estate: Support for Young PeopleLet me take the example of the female prison population. Young adult women aged 18 to 25 make up 12% of the female prison population, but they account for just under 50% of all…03 Nov 2025HANSARDAdult Prison Estate: Support for Young PeopleThe noble and learned Lord is right to raise the transition point, because complex case panels work on where the best place for that individual to go is, but, when they arrive in…03 Nov 2025HANSARDAdult Prison Estate: Support for Young PeopleAs someone who did a little bit of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme many years ago, and not very well, I would say that it is great to see it working well in prisons. It has…03 Nov 2025HANSARDAdult Prison Estate: Support for Young PeopleI thank my noble friend for the question. I am not aware of the detailed numbers of young people in that position, but I do know that the number of children in prison has fallen…03 Nov 2025HANSARDAdult Prison Estate: Support for Young PeopleThe noble Lord raises a very important question, because the transition from the youth estate to the adult estate can be a point of great concern, both for those who work within…03 Nov 2025HANSARDAdult Prison Estate: Support for Young PeopleI am sure that the right reverend Prelate will be pleased to know that only last week I met up with the head chaplain of the Prison Service to talk about a very similar topic. The…03 Nov 2025HANSARDPrisoner Release ChecksI thank the noble Lords, Lord Wolfson and Lord Marks, for their contributions on these incredibly important issues. I will of course respond to as many of the points raised as…29 Oct 2025HANSARDPrisoner Release ChecksDecisions such as on the noble Baroness’s last point are far above my pay grade, but I shall just mention two points. First, on release in error, any release in error is far too…29 Oct 2025HANSARDPrisoner Release ChecksI thank my noble friend for her comment. We need to make sure that we support our operational civil servants on the front line—whom we trust with a huge amount of…29 Oct 2025