Contributions
1,269 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDProbation ServicesI am very grateful to my hon. Friend. I pay tribute to the work he did as a Minister in the Department. I can reassure him that this is not a return—a “back to the future”—but a…11 Jun 2020HANSARDProbation ServicesI am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman. He talked about turning the clock back, and in some of his remarks I felt as if the years had fallen away and we were back in the 1980s…11 Jun 2020HANSARDProbation ServicesI think it is morally right to harness whatever we can to help us deal with not only offenders, but the causes of offending. That will often be Government-led and state-led, and…11 Jun 2020HANSARDProbation ServicesI pay tribute to the work of Baroness Corston, which has informed policy over many years. I know that she would welcome the female offenders strategy, which enjoyed cross-party…11 Jun 2020HANSARDProbation ServicesI am grateful to my hon. Friend, who has consistently raised these issues in the past year to 18 months. She is right to hold me to account on that need to maintain a mixed…11 Jun 2020HANSARDProbation ServicesWith your permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, I should like to make a statement on the Government’s plans for the future of probation services in England and Wales. I want to take…11 Jun 2020HANSARDProbation ServicesI am grateful to the hon. Gentleman, who I know takes a keen interest in these issues. Perhaps I will emphasise the second part of his question. I thoroughly agree about the need…11 Jun 2020HANSARDProbation ServicesI am very grateful to my right hon. and learned Friend, who served with distinction in the Department I now lead. He is right to make that point that this is not about blind…11 Jun 2020HANSARDProbation ServicesI know that the hon. Lady will be familiar with this: the structure will be regional, within the national framework of the national probation service. The accountability will then…11 Jun 2020HANSARDProbation ServicesThe hon. Gentleman makes a thought-provoking point and links the Thomas commission to it. Of course, the Welsh Government must respond to that, but we are ahead of the hon.…11 Jun 2020HANSARDProbation ServicesI am grateful to my hon. Friend. These decisions are never made lightly or easily, and I can assure him that they are made on the evidence and not as a result of ideology, which,…11 Jun 2020HANSARDProbation ServicesI am grateful to the hon. Gentleman. He knows that there is already an agreement between my Department and Greater Manchester to devolve more powers and to work on a commissioning…11 Jun 2020HANSARDProbation ServicesMy hon. Friend has put his finger on it, as usual. He is absolutely right to talk about the focus and purpose of the prison and probation environments. We must relentlessly think…11 Jun 2020HANSARDProbation ServicesThe hon. Lady makes a very good point. She will be glad to know that last year we invested a further £22 million in through-the-gate services in England and Wales. I have seen for…11 Jun 2020HANSARDProbation ServicesI am very grateful to my hon. Friend, who has long taken a keen interest in these issues. She is absolutely right to highlight the good work of that particular organisation—in…11 Jun 2020HANSARDProbation ServicesI am sure that the hon. Lady would seek to qualify her remarks by paying tribute to the ethos that I have seen among the CRCs and their teams in terms of their dedication to the…11 Jun 2020HANSARDProbation ServicesI am always happy to encourage free association of workers. It is part of who we are as a civilised society. The hon. Lady represents the great city of Durham, so many of her…11 Jun 2020HANSARDProbation ServicesMy hon. Friend, who speaks for the residents of Dudley so powerfully, is right to remind us about those ideological experiments indulged in by a Government of which the right hon.…11 Jun 2020HANSARDProbation ServicesThe hon. Lady will be glad to know that, as part of the female offender strategy that we agreed in 2018, we are making investments in organisations that work in that specialist…11 Jun 2020HANSARDProbation ServicesMy hon. Friend asks a very pertinent question. There is a tension, as I think he would acknowledge, between the need for swift justice and the value that properly crafted and…11 Jun 2020