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Rehabilitation of Prisoners

: We can learn our lesson from Germany. It is clearly succeeding where we are not. Extending the use of tough community sentences will be good. There can be no better way to rehabilitate prisoners than by moving them into the community. That is the best place for them. In conclusion, we need to help offenders, in particular young people, to avoid reoffending by increasing the resources for education, training and skills. Basic literacy, numeracy and communication skills are incredibly important. This is a complex world and, although simply having a job is a start, the likelihood of keeping it without other support is slim. We do not want people to slip backwards. I look forward to hearing the Minister address some of the points that I have made and would welcome hearing what action she proposes to take, what funding is proposed and what the time scale is for action and change. I would also welcome an assurance that downgrading targets will not be the Government's answer to not reaching them. At present that is a significant failing.