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Opposition day on Tuesday, 24 July 2007, in the House of Commons, led by Lord Herbert of South Downs. The answering member was Jack Straw.

Penal System

Penal system. Eighteenth opposition day (part 1). Main question negatived on division (156 to 355). Amendment agreed on division (288 to 175)

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
463 c723-66 
Session
2006-07
Department
Ministry of Justice
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Proceeding contributions
David TC Davies | 463 c746 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman was not that generous in giving way to me earlier, if I dare say that to a ...
Show all contributions (85)
David TC Davies | 463 c746-9 (Link to this contribution) I thank the right hon. Gentleman. The present system of sentencing is an absolute shambles. About t...
Jack Straw | 463 c746 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way, and I apologise for the fact that I was not able...
Humfrey Malins | 463 c750 (Link to this contribution) I do not know the answer to that. I just point out the fact that it is a national disgrace. I suspec...
David TC Davies | 463 c750 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes an important and powerful point, but are those figures so low because those off...
Humfrey Malins | 463 c750 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps one still is. We all know what we went through. I acquired some statistics recently and the...
David Heath | 463 c741 (Link to this contribution) Lord Chief Justice—good lord, no.
David Heath | 463 c741 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is right. They are cheaper—and not only by a bit. I am informed that a residentia...
David Heath | 463 c740 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman uses the term ““sex offender””, but it covers a wide spectrum of offences. I beli...
Humfrey Malins | 463 c740 (Link to this contribution) I agree with the hon. Gentleman. However, when he says that 2,500 drug rehabilitation places are ava...
David Heath | 463 c739-40 (Link to this contribution) Precisely so—there cannot be effective rehabilitation and overcrowding. However, let us consider th...
Dan Norris | 463 c740 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman consider sex offenders to have mental health problems? How would he tackle t...
Andrew Murrison | 463 c739 (Link to this contribution) I accept a great deal of the hon. Gentleman’s comments. However, does he accept that one cannot poss...
Speaker | 463 c743 (Link to this contribution) Order. Had there been a 10-minute limit placed on Back-Bench speeches, this would be the point at wh...
George Howarth | 463 c743-5 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for that helpful advice, Mr. Deputy Speaker, and as you know, I always try to follow t...
Jack Straw | 463 c745 (Link to this contribution) I am very interested in that project. My hon. Friend the Member for Preston (Mr. Hendrick) tells me ...
George Howarth | 463 c745-6 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my right hon. Friend. A number of the available interventions offer great benefits...
Lord Beith | 463 c741 (Link to this contribution) I want to illustrate my hon. Friend’s earlier point, by reminding him that the inspector of prisons ...
David Heath | 463 c741-2 (Link to this contribution) That is not an uncommon situation, sadly. Those who work in the prison education service would give ...
David TC Davies | 463 c742 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman tell us why it is that as soon somebody under 18 enters the justice system t...
David Heath | 463 c742-3 (Link to this contribution) I am very happy to call the person a child, a youth or whatever the hon. Gentleman chooses. I just n...
David Heath | 463 c741 (Link to this contribution) Indeed, Lord High Chancellor. I ask him to examine the submission from Citizens Advice, which makes ...
Andrew Murrison | 463 c737 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State has talked a lot about the state of prisons and overcrowding. Does he agree t...
Jeremy Browne | 463 c736 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman touched upon a very important aspect of the debate, which is the reduction ...
Jack Straw | 463 c735 (Link to this contribution) It certainly is not. I listened with great care to the hon. and learned Gentleman, who faffed around...
Jack Straw | 463 c734-5 (Link to this contribution) I do not accept that. We have provided additional resources to the probation service of, I think, £3...
Jack Straw | 463 c735-6 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman wants to know what it is about, I suggest that he examines the terms of refere...
Lord Herbert of South Downs | 463 c735 (Link to this contribution) While the Secretary of State is talking about sentencing policy, could he tell me what his proposed ...
Jack Straw | 463 c735 (Link to this contribution) There are two different matters here—one is the concept of indeterminate sentences, which has much m...
David Heath | 463 c739 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady is right and that is the substance of what I shall say shortly. Prison works in the s...
Angela Watkinson | 463 c739 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that not only the length of a prison sentence is important, but the pe...
Jack Straw | 463 c737 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry, I was briefed about most things, but—
Jack Straw | 463 c737 (Link to this contribution) Yes, you can. When I went to Belmarsh recently, two things struck me. Belmarsh is not just a high s...
Jack Straw | 463 c737-8 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman says MPs should too. I am unapologetic about the fact that alongside the doublin...
David Heath | 463 c738 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the opportunity to debate this issue. I agree that there is a need for a national conversa...
Lord Herbert of South Downs | 463 c738 (Link to this contribution) The extra penny on income tax was your idea.
David Heath | 463 c738-9 (Link to this contribution) Our plan was a penny on income tax to go towards education, but the hon. Gentleman’s party wants a p...
George Howarth | 463 c727 (Link to this contribution) I note that the hon. Gentleman has referred to Ford open prison in his constituency, so will he supp...
Lord Herbert of South Downs | 463 c727-8 (Link to this contribution) The problem is that the prison governor made that proposal behind the backs of people in the local c...
Jeremy Wright | 463 c726 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that one of the other things that the public and the judiciary need to be ...
Lord Garnier | 463 c730 (Link to this contribution) Will the former Home Secretary tell us precisely where the 20,000 additional places are that he clai...
Lord Herbert of South Downs | 463 c728-9 (Link to this contribution) I agree with my hon. Friend, and one of the ironies of the current early release scheme is that it d...
Jack Straw | 463 c729-30 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, To leave out from ““House”” to the end of the Question, and to add instead thereof:"“...
Jack Straw | 463 c730 (Link to this contribution) Of course I will give way to the hon. and learned Gentleman; indeed, I will refer to him in a moment...
Speaker | 463 c732 (Link to this contribution) Order. I am sorry to interrupt the right hon. Gentleman. A chorus of sedentary comments across the H...
Jack Straw | 463 c731-2 (Link to this contribution) If I may return the compliment without ruining a fine career ahead of him, I have always had great r...
Jack Straw | 463 c731 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman must know, first, that if the prisons are open prisons, which I assume he support...
Lord Herbert of South Downs | 463 c731 (Link to this contribution) Is the right hon. Gentleman satisfied with the management of a prison from which, on average, over t...
Jack Straw | 463 c730-1 (Link to this contribution) I am afraid that I cannot provide the hon. and learned Gentleman with all the information, but some ...
Jack Straw | 463 c734 (Link to this contribution) Of course. I hope that the hon. and learned Gentleman will let me know whether the Conservatives’ po...
Lord Garnier | 463 c734 (Link to this contribution) Let me return the Secretary of State to what this debate is about—the Government’s policy, which is ...
Jack Straw | 463 c732-4 (Link to this contribution) Indeed, I blame the hon. and learned Member for Harborough, not the Under-Secretary of State for Jus...
Lord Garnier | 463 c734 (Link to this contribution) Will the Secretary of State give way?
Ian Lucas | 463 c724 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps the hon. Gentleman does not understand what release on licence means. It is a long-establish...
Lord Herbert of South Downs | 463 c724-5 (Link to this contribution) How does the hon. Gentleman think that the 18 offenders who have not been tracked down will be recal...
Speaker | 463 c723 (Link to this contribution) I must inform the House that Mr. Speaker has selected the amendment in the name of the Prime Ministe...
Lord Herbert of South Downs | 463 c723-4 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move,"That this House considers that the Government’s management of the prison system has b...
Lord Beith | 463 c725 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman prayed in aid Lord Woolf, but he should not forget that Lord Woolf also said:"““n...
Nick Hurd | 463 c750-1 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way when he is pressed for time. I could not agree more w...
Lord Cormack | 463 c752 (Link to this contribution) I will be brief. I have been much impressed by the achievements of some of the community restorative...
Lord Garnier | 463 c751-2 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friends and other right hon. and hon. Members for their contributions to the debate....
Nick Hurd | 463 c751 (Link to this contribution) I am conscious of the fact that the Front Benchers wish to speak. I wish to add one small point to t...
Humfrey Malins | 463 c751 (Link to this contribution) I agree. It is such a shame. There we are: those people are locked up for most of the day, with vir...
Lord Hanson of Flint | 463 c756 (Link to this contribution) I do not know which Carter report the hon. Gentleman is reading, but the Carter report to which I re...
David TC Davies | 463 c756 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps the Minister did not hear the argument. Page 15 of the Carter report clearly states that if ...
Lord Hanson of Flint | 463 c755-6 (Link to this contribution) I thank Members for the tone in which they have conducted the debate. The hon. and learned Member f...
Lord Garnier | 463 c752-5 (Link to this contribution) Yes. The Secretary of State thought it amusing to chide me for having admitted to Mary Ann Sieghart ...
Lord Hanson of Flint | 463 c757-8 (Link to this contribution) I will reflect on what the hon. and learned Gentleman has said about there being no splits between C...
Lord Herbert of South Downs | 463 c726-7 (Link to this contribution) I strongly agree with my hon. Friend. One of the worst effects of the early release scheme is that i...
Lord Herbert of South Downs | 463 c725-6 (Link to this contribution) If we were able to rehabilitate offenders, we could reduce the prison population. We cannot rehabili...
Humfrey Malins | 463 c731 (Link to this contribution) I say straight away to the right hon. Gentleman that over the years I have had a great deal of respe...
Lord Garnier | 463 c756-7 (Link to this contribution) I know that the Minister is in full flow, but I do not wish him to continue to mislead himself, beca...
David TC Davies | 463 c746 (Link to this contribution) When we have a debate about the NHS, mention is always made of the hard work of nurses. When we deba...
Jack Straw | 463 c736-7 (Link to this contribution) There is a real problem with young, persistent serious offenders, many of whom have drifted into cri...
Philip Hollobone | 463 c728 (Link to this contribution) Is not a significant part of the problem the fact that there are 8,000 foreign prisoners in British ...
Humfrey Malins | 463 c749-50 (Link to this contribution) I begin by declaring an interest as a Crown court recorder and a district judge, who has to deal wit...
Subjects
Prisons Prisoners' release Overcrowding Prisoner escapes National Offender Management Service Reform
Link
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