argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Prisoner Rehabilitation Services — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Social Welfare
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): I absolutely agree—that is a very good point. May I single out for praise the John Lewis Partnership, which does such a fantastic job in helping people from a variety of backgrounds to be all they can be? I stress that there are other organisations, such as Greggs the bakers and, of course, Timpson, the shoe and key repair firm. John Timpson’s leadership in providing ex-offenders with a second chance is exemplary.
Prisoner Rehabilitation Services — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): The excellent work that is done in Stafford prison is close to my hon. Friend’s heart, and he is absolutely right. We need to make use of the most sophisticated means that psychologists can devise to help people to tackle the problems that led them to offend. I had the opportunity earlier this week to talk to the psychologist in charge of that work at the National Offender Management Service, and to guarantee her all support in the weeks and months ahead in dealing with those terrible crimes.
Prisoner Rehabilitation Services — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: Lord Laming is inquiring into looked-after children and the criminal justice system. As well as rehabilitation, what is the Justice Secretary doing to help youngsters who have been in care to avoid a life in crime?
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): I welcome Herbert Laming’s work. He has been an inspirational figure in social work. He is right to draw attention to the high number of male and particularly female offenders in our jails who spent their lives in care. Working with the Education Secretary and the Minister for Children and Families, who has responsibility for children in care, I hope we can work on the reforms of the coalition Government to ensure that more children in dysfunctional homes can be adopted and fostered quickly, and that there are better educational outcomes for children who have to spend their lives in care.
Prisoner Rehabilitation Services — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Questions: Lord Laming is inquiring into looked-after children and the criminal justice system. As well as rehabilitation, what is the Justice Secretary doing to help youngsters who have been in care to avoid a life in crime?
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman is a distinguished barrister and historian and is absolutely right, because the historical record shows that, overall as a country, we have been very poor at reducing the rate of recidivism. We need to ensure that, both in our prisons and afterwards, we have high-quality services provided by professionals who know how to change the behaviour of individuals who deserve a second chance.
Prisoner Rehabilitation Services — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Questions: Lord Laming is inquiring into looked-after children and the criminal justice system. As well as rehabilitation, what is the Justice Secretary doing to help youngsters who have been in care to avoid a life in crime?
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): I congratulate the right hon. Gentleman on his re-election as Chairman of the Home Affairs Committee. He did an exemplary job in the previous Parliament and I know he will do a very good job in this Parliament. May I also thank him for his kind words about my dress sense? When it comes to cutting a sartorial dash, there are few who can match him The right hon. Gentleman is absolutely right that drug addiction is one of the principal factors that lead individuals to commit crime. It is also the case that there is an unacceptable level of drug use, both of illegal drugs and so-called legal highs, in our prisons. We are determined to ensure that the psychological support currently available in prison, and the support rehabilitation companies can provide for individuals who are drug-addicted, is enhanced so that individuals can be weaned off a habit that brings misery to themselves and to their victims.
Prisoner Rehabilitation Services — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Questions: Lord Laming is inquiring into looked-after children and the criminal justice system. As well as rehabilitation, what is the Justice Secretary doing to help youngsters who have been in care to avoid a life in crime?
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): Both our jurisdictions have a great deal to learn from one another. I am very grateful to the hon. and learned Lady for mentioning that, and for the very constructive tone she took in last week’s Westminster Hall debate on these issues. I hope to have the chance to visit prisons in Scotland soon and to talk to the Scottish Justice Minister about some of these issues.
Court Estate: Gloucestershire — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Richard Michael John Ogilvie Graham (Conservative, Centre-right): I have discussed the issue of the courts in Gloucestershire—and in Gloucester in particular, where we have a Crown court that predates the battle of Waterloo—with the Minister and his predecessors for several years. As my neighbour and colleague, my hon. Friend the Member for The Cotswolds (Geoffrey Clifton-Brown), has said, our courts are in a dire position. Will he confirm today that the Department will look very closely at the state of the courts and take advantage of the opportunity to use the site we have reserved free of charge in Blackfriars?
Court Estate: Gloucestershire — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Shailesh Lakhman Vara (Conservative, Centre-right): I congratulate my hon. Friend on his re-election. I know the issue of the court structure was a key element in the general election. It is good to see that, post-election, he continues to battle for that cause. We have met and corresponded on this issue, so he will be aware that, as we speak, officials are engaged in considering the best way forward.
Prisons: Work — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Andrew Edmund Armstrong Selous (Conservative, Centre-right): We want prisons to be places of industry and purposeful activity by replicating as far as possible a normal working week, and by teaching skills that lead to employment on release and reduced reoffending. From 2010-11 to 2013-14, the number of hours worked in prisons increased by a third from 10.6 million to 14.2 million in public sector prisons.
Prisons: Work — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Matthew Robert Warman (Conservative, Centre-right): The Minister will be aware that a number of my constituents in North Sea Camp open prison are already undertaking a great deal of paid work. What work is the Department doing to ensure that people are moved to open prisons at the right time, rather than before time?
Prisons: Work — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Andrew Edmund Armstrong Selous (Conservative, Centre-right): Only prisoners assessed as at low risk of absconding and low risk of harm to the public, and who are within two years of release, may be allocated to an open prison. An open prison provides resettlement opportunities, including paid work that can support successful reintegration into the community and help to reduce the risk of reoffending. We want all prisoners to take advantage of these opportunities. We will continue to encourage all prisoners to do so.
Prisons: Work — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Edward Garnier (Conservative, Centre-right): Between 2005 and 2009, I visited about 65 prisons in England and Wales, and it was my universal experience that the work done by prisoners was more or less useless to the outside world. In one prison, I saw people making hairnets. No doubt there is a market for hairnets—
Prisons: Work — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Labor
Edward Garnier (Conservative, Centre-right): None of the prisoners in that prison—it was not too far from Lichfield!—was ever going to leave prison to work in a hairnet factory. Will my hon. Friend please ensure that proper wages are paid for the work we tell prisoners to do, so that they can support their families, rather than the welfare state, and can leave prison and get a job that they want to do?
Prisons: Work — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Andrew Edmund Armstrong Selous (Conservative, Centre-right): I have great respect for my right hon. and learned Friend and for his seminal work, "Prisons with a Purpose". Of course we want high-quality work. I could show him what is happening in Halfords academy at Olney prison, where prisoners are trained to be bicycle mechanics so that they can get a job on release; or I could tell him about the new work we are doing with the Ministry of Defence, which has been much appreciated by that Department.
Prisons: Work — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Andrew Edmund Armstrong Selous (Conservative, Centre-right): We are doing a great deal about it. The first and most important thing is that we were successful in recruiting more than 1,700 extra prison officers in the year to March, and we are going to carry on recruiting the same number of prison officers. That will lead to more staff on the wings, allowing more access to work activities to achieve exactly what the hon. Lady wants.
Burglary — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Michael Penning (Conservative, Centre-right): Since 2010, crime has fallen across the country, and in my hon. Friend’s constituency by 19%. Burglary has a disproportionate effect on victims, which is why we are pleased that custodial cases for domestic burglary have increased from 22.6 months in 2010 to 26 months in 2014.
Burglary — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Laurence Anthony Robertson (Conservative, Centre-right): I am pleased that the Minister is taking this crime very seriously indeed. Police forces tell us that a very small number of people commit a very high percentage of burglaries. Is it not easier to take those people out of circulation for even longer so that, very simply, they will not be able to commit those crimes?
Burglary — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Michael Penning (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right. That is why this Parliament has decided that the maximum prison sentence for this offence should be 14 years. It is for the judiciary to decide what sentence burglars get, but I am sure that the judiciary listens to the will of Parliament.
Burglary — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Michael Penning (Conservative, Centre-right): A pilot project to get rid of cautions and defer prosecutions took place in three constituencies during the last Parliament, and it is doing really well at the moment. This is exactly the sort of thing that the hon. Gentleman is talking about. People will know how the offences they have committed affect the community. We can keep them out of prison for low-level offences, but put them in prison for high-level offences.
Burglary — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
David John Barrington Burrowes (Conservative, Centre-right): Mandatory sentencing with "two strikes and you’re out" has had its impact on burglary. When is the Minister going to get on and implement this mandatory "two strikes and you’re out" policy for knife crime? It was introduced in January, but now we need to ensure that we set a clear implementation date rather than have the latest "as soon as possible" response from the Department.
Burglary — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Michael Penning (Conservative, Centre-right): It is right and proper to pay tribute to Nick de Bois, whose work on knife crime from the Government Benches led to legislation being put on the statute book. My hon. Friend, who knows me well, will know that I intend to implement it as soon as I possibly can.
Burglary — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Michael Penning (Conservative, Centre-right): As the hon. Gentleman knows, the issue of mandatory minimums is devolved to Northern Ireland, but we will continue to look into it very carefully. I am pleased to say that last Thursday I met David Ford, Northern Ireland’s Justice Minister, and the Deputy Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland. The matter was also discussed during the Anglo-Irish summit in Dublin.
Prison Officer Recruitment — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Andrew Edmund Armstrong Selous (Conservative, Centre-right): I believe that prison officers are among the unsung heroes of the public sector. Day in day out, they do amazing work in protecting the public. I am pleased to report that we more than met our target of 1,700 new prison officers by March 2015, and we intend to recruit a further 1,700 by March 2016.
Prison Officer Recruitment — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Chloe Rebecca Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): I welcome that update. As the Minister knows, prison officers serving in HMP Norwich in my constituency, which he visited recently, and at nearby prisons such as Bure, work incredibly hard in difficult circumstances. Will he do everything possible to support them in relation to their work and conditions?
Prison Officer Recruitment — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Andrew Edmund Armstrong Selous (Conservative, Centre-right): Of course I will. Both Norwich and Bure prisons are well resourced with prison officers and have a full complement of staff, but the National Offender Management Service will continue to monitor the resources that are available to both governors. I was very impressed with the work that was being done in Norwich prison, and also by the work being done in Café Britannia, outside the prison gates.
Prison Officer Recruitment — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Andrew Edmund Armstrong Selous (Conservative, Centre-right): I will write to the right hon. Gentleman with the exact figures. However, our benchmarking exercise has brought about a number of developments, not least the prisoner-facing roles that prison officers did not always have before. The right hon. Gentleman knows as well as I do that we have closed 14 prisons. The National Audit Office has complimented us on our management of the prison estate, and we continue to recruit more prison officers.
Prison Officer Recruitment — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Andrew Edmund Armstrong Selous (Conservative, Centre-right): I am very surprised to hear that. We take prison officer training extremely seriously, but I shall look into what the hon. Gentleman has just told me as a matter of urgency. We are increasing the amount of time that prison officers spend being trained, and we continually improve the training we give them.
Departmental Absence Management — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: International Affairs
Questions: How many days of sickness absence there were in his Department in (a) 2012, (b) 2013 and (c) 2014; and if he will make a statement.
Henry Bellingham (Conservative, Centre-right): Obviously, those are disappointing figures. Is the Minister aware that last year’s figures were twice as bad as those in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and four times as bad as those in the Department for International Development? What will she, the Secretary of State and other Ministers do to improve morale and sort out this very disappointing situation?
Departmental Absence Management — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Questions: How many days of sickness absence there were in his Department in (a) 2012, (b) 2013 and (c) 2014; and if he will make a statement.
Caroline Julia Dinenage (Conservative, Centre-right): A large proportion of Ministry of Justice roles involve front-line prison staff, whose working environment is, of course, more physically rigorous than those of staff with office-based roles. It is important to note that other Departments’ sickness numbers do not include front-line roles such as those of soldiers, police officers and, indeed, nurses. When we take into account only civil servants who are employed in Whitehall, we see that Ministry of Justice staff actually take fewer sick days than those in other Departments.
Departmental Absence Management — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Questions: How many days of sickness absence there were in his Department in (a) 2012, (b) 2013 and (c) 2014; and if he will make a statement.
Caroline Julia Dinenage (Conservative, Centre-right): Of course the Department takes any assault on a prison officer incredibly seriously. It is essential that prison officers feel that the full weight of the state is behind them as they fulfil their duties. When there are serious assaults on prison staff, the perpetrators will be prosecuted unless there is an extremely good reason for not doing so.
Reoffending — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Michael Penning (Conservative, Centre-right): May I take this opportunity to welcome the hon. Lady? Edmonton is a part of the world I know extremely well: it is where I grew up and did my early schooling, in Montagu Road. We have opened up the delivery of rehabilitation services through a diverse range of public, private and voluntary sector providers, who are providing excellent new facilities so that we can have fewer people reoffending.
Reoffending — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
John Michael Howell (Conservative, Centre-right): In the last Parliament, I visited a prison in Denmark with the Justice Select Committee. One of the biggest contributors to preventing the prisoners from reoffending was their ability to cook their own food. Does the Minister agree that that ability is not a reward for good behaviour but an essential part of dealing with reoffending?
Reoffending — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Michael Penning (Conservative, Centre-right): I am not the prisons Minister but I have visited many prisons, not least the ones on the edge of my own constituency, and I have seen that happening in our own prisons. Giving people life skills is vital, as is giving them somewhere to live when they come out.
Reoffending — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Labor
Michael Penning (Conservative, Centre-right): I reiterate what the Secretary of State said earlier. Companies such as National Grid, Timpson and Greggs are doing a wonderful job for the community as well as for the individuals involved. Getting people back into work is by far the best way of giving them the self-esteem that they need and ensuring that they do not commit crimes.
Reoffending — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Michael Penning (Conservative, Centre-right): I was responsible for drugs while I was at the Home Office as well, and I shall be responsible for taking the relevant legislation through the House when it arrives here from the other place. This matter is taken enormously seriously, and I am sure that the prisons Minister is doing everything he possibly can to ensure that drugs do not get into our prisons.
Reoffending — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Michael Penning (Conservative, Centre-right): I shall write to the hon. Lady on the exact question she has asked. The Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 has given prisons additional powers to test specifically for controlled drugs. I take this seriously, and I have stood outside prisons on patrol with the police and seen individuals pinging drugs across the fences. That is the sort of thing we need to address, making sure those people get penalised exactly like those who are taking the drugs.
Youth Justice — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): There has been a welcome decline over the past few years in the number of young offenders, but we know that more needs to be done to prevent young people being drawn into crime. We are committed to preventing youth offending and supporting young people to turn their back on crime.
Youth Justice — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady makes a very important point. As we discussed earlier in this questions session, there is often a link between circumstances of deprivation and a propensity to offend among young people. Sadly, far too many people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds grow up in homes where they do not have the stability, support and love that all of us think every young person should have. We need to do more to intervene long before young people fall into the hands of the justice system. Working with the Department for Education, I hope we can improve the way in which we support families, support the family courts and support the care system to look after damaged and fragile young people.
Court Reform — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Peter James Guy Aldous (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to the Secretary of State for that answer. Lowestoft magistrates court plays an important role in providing local access to justice in north-east Suffolk. Will he meet local users and me to agree on the steps that need to be taken to ensure that the court continues to play that role into the long term?
Court Reform — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): I would be delighted to meet my hon. Friend and those who have benefited from the administration of justice in the part of Suffolk he represents, but it is important to recognise that a third of our courts and tribunals are used less than 50% of the time. We do need to reform our court estate, but we can do so and improve access to justice by taking a 21st-century approach to ensuring that justice is served.
Court Reform — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): We are going to review the operation of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, the Act that transformed and reformed our legal aid landscape. We are also, as I have today, going to ask the very richest in the justice system to do a little bit more. One thing that struck me is that there are people in senior solicitors’ firms and in our best chambers who are not doing enough, given how well they have done out of the legal system, to support the very poorest—they need to do more.
Court Reform — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Jonathan Simon Djanogly (Conservative, Centre-right): Does my right hon. Friend agree that to have a more efficient courts service we need a more efficient listing system, and that to get that we need to take more of our existing courts and put them into fewer buildings and to have more efficiency in the use of technology?
Court Reform — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is, not for the first or for the last time, absolutely right. He was a great Justice Minister and he is absolutely on the button when he makes the point that we need a more efficient administration of justice in the interests of victims, witnesses and taxpayers.
Court Reform — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): As usual, I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for the generous and bipartisan tone in which he conducts these exchanges. I am also grateful to him for drawing attention to some of the reforms that we have made to reduce the amount spent on legal aid. When his colleague and friend the right hon. Member for Tooting (Sadiq Khan) was the shadow Justice Secretary, he made the point that the amount that the previous Labour Government spent on legal aid was unsustainable. We will review the reforms that we have made to ensure that we can maintain access to justice and also safeguard the interests of victims, witnesses and taxpayers.