argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Prisons: Sexual Offenders — House of Commons, 2016-09-06
Topic: Law and Crime
Samuel Phillip Gyimah (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend makes a very valid point. Those at HMP Lewes who are charged with sexual offences are generally held in separate units that provide suitable accommodation for their offending behaviours. Perhaps I can reassure her that the prison received £153,000 of the Government’s £12 million fund for safety, and that it plans to spend that on staff, focusing on safety and on violence reduction. There is a recruitment drive going on at the moment. Staff are being vetted and a number of staff will be starting imminently.
Prisons: Sexual Offenders — House of Commons, 2016-09-06
Topic: Law and Crime
Samuel Phillip Gyimah (Conservative, Centre-right): On this rare occasion, I agree entirely with the hon. Gentleman—the quality of leadership in a prison makes a huge difference to the regime. It makes a huge difference to how staff are inspired and to the rehabilitation of offenders. That is why Government Members are arguing for prison reform to empower governors, give them control of budgets and enable them to get local resources to meet the needs of offenders.
Released Offenders: Employment — House of Commons, 2016-09-06
Topic: Law and Crime
Samuel Phillip Gyimah (Conservative, Centre-right): Most offenders arrive in prison with very low levels of educational attainment, very high levels of substance misuse and a very poor employment history. I believe that the purpose of modern prisons is to keep the public safe and to tackle each of those issues, so that prisoners have the foundations to secure and hold down a job on release.
Released Offenders: Employment — House of Commons, 2016-09-06
Topic: Law and Crime
David James Mackintosh (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend, but I have recently visited prisoners from my constituency who told me that offenders do not have access immediately on their release to national insurance numbers, bank accounts or unemployment benefits. Will the Minister let me know what steps the Government are taking to improve this situation?
Released Offenders: Employment — House of Commons, 2016-09-06
Topic: Law and Crime
Samuel Phillip Gyimah (Conservative, Centre-right): I agree with my hon. Friend that if "through the gate services", as we call them, are to work and to stop reoffending, national insurance numbers, bank accounts and so forth need to be in place. There is a series of programmes in place to tackle this problem, including an offender banking programme, which opens about 5,000 new bank accounts every year.
Released Offenders: Employment — House of Commons, 2016-09-06
Topic: Labor
Samuel Phillip Gyimah (Conservative, Centre-right): As my hon. Friend has rightly identified, tackling the challenge—and it is a challenge—of getting prisoners work when they leave requires a concerted effort across government and locally across the community. Every prisoner has the opportunity to meet a DWP work coach before release, and the work coach’s role is to guide them towards employment. Work coaches can also ensure that prisoners know their national insurance numbers and get the other services they need to be able to make an appropriate transition into the community.
Released Offenders: Employment — House of Commons, 2016-09-06
Topic: Law and Crime
Samuel Phillip Gyimah (Conservative, Centre-right): Since being appointed to this job, I have met a number of governors, and most of them tell us that they want to be empowered to match resources to the needs of prisoners in their prisons, working with local employers and the whole community. That is what governors want, but this is not the responsibility of governors alone. If we want prisoners to be able to go out and find work, businesses have a role, the community has a role and we all have a role. If prisoners can leave, get jobs and restart their lives for the better, we all benefit.
Released Offenders: Employment — House of Commons, 2016-09-06
Topic: Law and Crime
Samuel Phillip Gyimah (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady is obviously right that many prisoners arrive at prison with huge learning difficulties and disadvantages. That is well documented. We need individual programmes tailored to the needs of the prisoner, and the way to do that, as my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State said, is to empower governors to work with probation companies and rehabilitation organisations to deliver those programmes.
Prisoners: Literacy — House of Commons, 2016-09-06
Topic: Education
Elizabeth Mary Truss (Conservative, Centre-right): Fewer than half of the people entering prison have basic standards of English and maths. This is a huge problem because we know that low levels of education can prevent people from securing jobs on release and leading law-abiding lives.
Prisoners: Literacy — House of Commons, 2016-09-06
Topic: Education
Neil Quentin Gordon Parish (Conservative, Centre-right): The Secretary of State is quite right to say that both literacy and numeracy are essential to getting a job. Should we not therefore put more resources into educating prisoners on release so that they are able to get jobs?
Prisoners: Literacy — House of Commons, 2016-09-06
Topic: Law and Crime
Elizabeth Mary Truss (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The fact is that too many people enter our prisons without those skills. We need to use their time in prison to help them to gain the basic skills so that they can succeed outside. We have started measuring prisoners’ skills by testing them as they enter prison. I am keen to see that we measure real progress made during prisoners’ stay in prison and hold governors accountable for that.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2016-09-06
Topic: Law and Crime
Elizabeth Mary Truss (Conservative, Centre-right): I am proud to take on the role of Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary, upholding the rule of law and reforming our justice system. I am determined to ensure that our prisons are places of safety and reform where offenders can get off drugs, improve their education, and develop the work skills they need so that they are less likely to reoffend. I pay tribute to our brave prison officers and probation staff Over the next couple of months I shall lay out my plans for prison reform, and set out plans to modernise the courts so that we can continue to have a world-leading justice system.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2016-09-06
Topic: Law and Crime
Elizabeth Mary Truss (Conservative, Centre-right): I am due to meet James Munby next week to discuss that issue in more detail. Some progress has been made in opening up the family courts, but there is, of course, a balance to be struck between highly sensitive issues and opening them up fully. I will look at the issue in more detail.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2016-09-06
Topic: Law and Crime
Questions: Will my right hon. Friend commit herself to using all the powers at her disposal to protect British military personnel and veterans, who have served our country bravely and with great honour, from spurious and outrageous legal claims such as those pursued by, for instance, public interest law firms?
Elizabeth Mary Truss (Conservative, Centre-right): I am delighted to tell my hon. Friend that this summer the Legal Aid Agency pulled the plug on its contract with Public Interest Lawyers, who will no longer be ambulance-chasing our brave service personnel. Legal aid should support vulnerable people in our society, and should not be used to pursue spurious cases against the armed forces who do so much to serve our country.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2016-09-06
Topic: Law and Crime
Questions: Will my right hon. Friend commit herself to using all the powers at her disposal to protect British military personnel and veterans, who have served our country bravely and with great honour, from spurious and outrageous legal claims such as those pursued by, for instance, public interest law firms?
Elizabeth Mary Truss (Conservative, Centre-right): I fully acknowledge that we do have issues with violence and safety in our prisons. The levels are unacceptable. I am determined to deal with this issue and I will lay out my plans very shortly.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2016-09-06
Topic: Law and Crime
Questions: Will my right hon. Friend commit herself to using all the powers at her disposal to protect British military personnel and veterans, who have served our country bravely and with great honour, from spurious and outrageous legal claims such as those pursued by, for instance, public interest law firms?
Elizabeth Mary Truss (Conservative, Centre-right): Our probation services do vital work and the Minister responsible for prisons and probation is looking very closely at this issue, but I would point out that those now on shorter sentences get much more support thanks to our new probation contracts.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2016-09-06
Topic: Law and Crime
Questions: Will my right hon. Friend commit herself to using all the powers at her disposal to protect British military personnel and veterans, who have served our country bravely and with great honour, from spurious and outrageous legal claims such as those pursued by, for instance, public interest law firms?; I would never excuse criminal behaviour but some prisoners and former prisoners I have met have been denied opportunities in life that many of us take for granted. What are the Department and other Departments doing to ensure the life chances agenda extends to prisoners?
Samuel Phillip Gyimah (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend for that question. Some of the problems in society are magnified in our prisons. As the Prime Minister said, if we are going to have a country that works for everyone, prison reform is very much a part of that, including on literacy, training, work in prisons and employment opportunities when people are released.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2016-09-06
Topic: Law and Crime
Questions: Will my right hon. Friend commit herself to using all the powers at her disposal to protect British military personnel and veterans, who have served our country bravely and with great honour, from spurious and outrageous legal claims such as those pursued by, for instance, public interest law firms?; I would never excuse criminal behaviour but some prisoners and former prisoners I have met have been denied opportunities in life that many of us take for granted. What are the Department and other Departments doing to ensure the life chances agenda extends to prisoners?; The Secretary of State will know that Charlie Taylor was asked to carry out a review of the youth justice system last year. An interim report was published in February, and we were promised the final report in July. We still do not have it; can the Secretary of State tell us when we will have it, and give us an explanation for the delay?; Does the Department intend to promote English law, the rule of law and our legal sector around the world, particularly to take advantage of the opportunities that may arise from Brexit?
Elizabeth Mary Truss (Conservative, Centre-right): English law has had a huge impact, spreading the rule of law around the world. It is the law of choice in over a quarter of jurisdictions, and Brexit gives us even more opportunities to promote this. I will be championing our £25 billion legal services industry as a key part of post-Brexit global Britain.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2016-09-06
Topic: Law and Crime
Questions: Will my right hon. Friend commit herself to using all the powers at her disposal to protect British military personnel and veterans, who have served our country bravely and with great honour, from spurious and outrageous legal claims such as those pursued by, for instance, public interest law firms?; I would never excuse criminal behaviour but some prisoners and former prisoners I have met have been denied opportunities in life that many of us take for granted. What are the Department and other Departments doing to ensure the life chances agenda extends to prisoners?; The Secretary of State will know that Charlie Taylor was asked to carry out a review of the youth justice system last year. An interim report was published in February, and we were promised the final report in July. We still do not have it; can the Secretary of State tell us when we will have it, and give us an explanation for the delay?; Does the Department intend to promote English law, the rule of law and our legal sector around the world, particularly to take advantage of the opportunities that may arise from Brexit?; The Justice Committee has expressed concern that judges are now reporting that they hear no money claims at all—claims that were brought by workers in low paid sectors and which often succeeded. So when will the Government publish the review of the impact of employment tribunal fees, which is now six months overdue, and act to restore justice for low paid workers?
Oliver Heald (Conservative, Centre-right): May I start by welcoming the Justice Committee’s report on court and tribunal fees? We are intending to respond, and we are also going to publish the review of changes to employment tribunal fees in due course. This is an important area and we will do that.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2016-09-06
Topic: Law and Crime
Questions: Will my right hon. Friend commit herself to using all the powers at her disposal to protect British military personnel and veterans, who have served our country bravely and with great honour, from spurious and outrageous legal claims such as those pursued by, for instance, public interest law firms?; I would never excuse criminal behaviour but some prisoners and former prisoners I have met have been denied opportunities in life that many of us take for granted. What are the Department and other Departments doing to ensure the life chances agenda extends to prisoners?; The Secretary of State will know that Charlie Taylor was asked to carry out a review of the youth justice system last year. An interim report was published in February, and we were promised the final report in July. We still do not have it; can the Secretary of State tell us when we will have it, and give us an explanation for the delay?; Does the Department intend to promote English law, the rule of law and our legal sector around the world, particularly to take advantage of the opportunities that may arise from Brexit?; The Justice Committee has expressed concern that judges are now reporting that they hear no money claims at all—claims that were brought by workers in low paid sectors and which often succeeded. So when will the Government publish the review of the impact of employment tribunal fees, which is now six months overdue, and act to restore justice for low paid workers?; I want to ask the new Secretary of State about the treatment of women giving birth in prisons and those with young children, and whether she will do more to ensure children have access to their mothers and, where appropriate, their fathers, and can be as near to them as possible.
Phillip James Lee (Conservative, Centre-right): One hundred babies resided in mother and baby units in English prisons in 2015. Prisons do an excellent job in making these environments as pleasant as possible and babies are able to spend time away from the prison with nominated carers. However, knowing the importance of the early years for child development, it is essential that we consider alternative ways of dealing with female offenders, including those with young children and babies and other caring responsibilities.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2016-09-06
Topic: Transportation
Questions: Will my right hon. Friend commit herself to using all the powers at her disposal to protect British military personnel and veterans, who have served our country bravely and with great honour, from spurious and outrageous legal claims such as those pursued by, for instance, public interest law firms?; I would never excuse criminal behaviour but some prisoners and former prisoners I have met have been denied opportunities in life that many of us take for granted. What are the Department and other Departments doing to ensure the life chances agenda extends to prisoners?; The Secretary of State will know that Charlie Taylor was asked to carry out a review of the youth justice system last year. An interim report was published in February, and we were promised the final report in July. We still do not have it; can the Secretary of State tell us when we will have it, and give us an explanation for the delay?; Does the Department intend to promote English law, the rule of law and our legal sector around the world, particularly to take advantage of the opportunities that may arise from Brexit?; The Justice Committee has expressed concern that judges are now reporting that they hear no money claims at all—claims that were brought by workers in low paid sectors and which often succeeded. So when will the Government publish the review of the impact of employment tribunal fees, which is now six months overdue, and act to restore justice for low paid workers?; I want to ask the new Secretary of State about the treatment of women giving birth in prisons and those with young children, and whether she will do more to ensure children have access to their mothers and, where appropriate, their fathers, and can be as near to them as possible.; The Secretary of State alluded earlier to the closure and imminent sale of Holloway prison and she may be aware of the wish to site a woman’s centre on the site. Discussions are taking place, I understand, with the Mayor of London. Can the Secretary of State confirm that she and the Government will play their part in ensuring an outcome that secures services for women on that site?; Following the closure of Buxton courthouse in my constituency, the previous Minister decided, following my representations, that the work should go to Stockport, not Chesterfield, as had originally been intended. However, a sign has now appeared on the disused courthouse saying that the work has gone to Chesterfield. Will my hon. and learned Friend please investigate this and ensure that the decision made by the Minister is implemented, rather than the one envisaged by the officials in the original, flawed consultation?
Oliver Heald (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising this issue. He will be pleased to hear that I have had that notice taken down. The response to the consultation stated that the work would go to Stockport and Chesterfield, and that is what is happening.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2016-09-06
Topic: Law and Crime
Questions: Will my right hon. Friend commit herself to using all the powers at her disposal to protect British military personnel and veterans, who have served our country bravely and with great honour, from spurious and outrageous legal claims such as those pursued by, for instance, public interest law firms?; I would never excuse criminal behaviour but some prisoners and former prisoners I have met have been denied opportunities in life that many of us take for granted. What are the Department and other Departments doing to ensure the life chances agenda extends to prisoners?; The Secretary of State will know that Charlie Taylor was asked to carry out a review of the youth justice system last year. An interim report was published in February, and we were promised the final report in July. We still do not have it; can the Secretary of State tell us when we will have it, and give us an explanation for the delay?; Does the Department intend to promote English law, the rule of law and our legal sector around the world, particularly to take advantage of the opportunities that may arise from Brexit?; The Justice Committee has expressed concern that judges are now reporting that they hear no money claims at all—claims that were brought by workers in low paid sectors and which often succeeded. So when will the Government publish the review of the impact of employment tribunal fees, which is now six months overdue, and act to restore justice for low paid workers?; I want to ask the new Secretary of State about the treatment of women giving birth in prisons and those with young children, and whether she will do more to ensure children have access to their mothers and, where appropriate, their fathers, and can be as near to them as possible.; The Secretary of State alluded earlier to the closure and imminent sale of Holloway prison and she may be aware of the wish to site a woman’s centre on the site. Discussions are taking place, I understand, with the Mayor of London. Can the Secretary of State confirm that she and the Government will play their part in ensuring an outcome that secures services for women on that site?; Following the closure of Buxton courthouse in my constituency, the previous Minister decided, following my representations, that the work should go to Stockport, not Chesterfield, as had originally been intended. However, a sign has now appeared on the disused courthouse saying that the work has gone to Chesterfield. Will my hon. and learned Friend please investigate this and ensure that the decision made by the Minister is implemented, rather than the one envisaged by the officials in the original, flawed consultation?
Oliver Heald (Conservative, Centre-right): As the hon. Gentleman will have heard, we recognise that we need to produce our review—which we are going to publish—and to respond to the Justice Committee’s report. Those documents will be available in the Vote Office, and that will happen in due course. We are committed to doing that.