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Rehabilitation of Prisoners

: As the hon. Lady knows, we are conducting a pilot of satellite tracking. She would not expect me to commit to adopting it until we have studied the pilot. One problem with pilots is that sometimes they say that things are more difficult than they look on paper and sometimes they say that they are easier. However, it is sensible to learn the lessons of pilots before the schemes are rolled out. Otherwise the roll-out may not work so well. I ask the hon. Lady to watch this space. I share her enthusiasm for the use of new technology, but I am not committing to anything until I know how it works in practice. The debate has shown that across the House there is a determination that prison should do what it says on the tin—reduce reoffending. As members of the public, we want less crime. We want to feel safe in our homes. That is not necessarily achieved by a prison regime that locks people up. Of course while they are locked up, they are not offending, but if, during that time, we do nothing to reduce the likelihood of their offending again on release, the present chronic and shocking levels of reoffending—the historic, appalling levels of reoffending—will continue. That is why we must be determined to reduce reoffending. I believe that the alliances that I have referred to will help to do that. An employer-led alliance working with offender managers and the prison service will ensure that, practically, we can do what we would like to do with employers. We must work with civic society—local authorities and others—to deal with issues such as reparations and restorative justice, to which some hon. Members have referred. We must also use the strength of the voluntary sector and general society. The Select Committee called for an annual progress report, and I expect our report to be published next week. I hope that my right hon. Friend the Member for Southampton, Itchen does not consider that disrespectful. It would have been nice to be able to publish it in time for this debate, but he is well aware that these things roll on with their own timetables and suddenly bump into other things, so I apologise for that. It will show what we have achieved in the areas that can affect reoffending, and I shall ensure that it is made available to members of the Committee for them to consider.