argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Rape and Violence against Women and Girls: Prosecutions and Convictions — House of Commons, 2021-11-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Dominic Rennie Raab (Conservative, Centre-right): I totally share the hon. Lady’s sense of frustration on behalf of victims up and down the country. There is no single silver bullet, precisely because it is a system-wide failure. As has already been mentioned, more victims are reporting to police stations than before; that is positive. We have Operation Soteria, the whole purpose of which is to shift the way in which investigations address these crimes to make them suspect-centric, rather than focusing on the behaviour of victims There are a number of technical things that we can do: section 28 has been mentioned; and improving phone technology and digital disclosure is another aspect. It will be important when we publish the criminal justice scorecards for rape that we can see not just at a national level, but—in due course, following that—at a local level, which areas are getting it right and why those other places are not following best practice, and that we ensure we can correct the gaps.
Electronic Tagging of Offenders — House of Commons, 2021-11-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Christopher Laurie Malthouse (Conservative, Centre-right): I am happy to report excellent progress on our electronic monitoring programme. We recently expanded our world-first acquisitive crime project, GPS tagging all those released from prison who were convicted of those crimes, to cover half of England and Wales. Between April and September, more than 1,500 offenders had to wear a sobriety tag.
Electronic Tagging of Offenders — House of Commons, 2021-11-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Kieran John Mullan (Conservative, Centre-right): The Minister will know that it is actually a relatively small number of hardcore, prolific offenders who are responsible for so much of the misery that is inflicted on our constituents. I therefore welcome the progress on tagging and encourage him to think about other offences that we could use it on. What discussions has he had with the police about the resources that they need to bring back in people who may be breaching their tags?
Electronic Tagging of Offenders — House of Commons, 2021-11-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Christopher Laurie Malthouse (Conservative, Centre-right): It is typical of my hon. Friend to think about the burden on policing. He is one of the primary supporters of the police in this House; I am grateful to him for that. We hope that the GPS tagging programmes—specifically, as he says, for prolific acquisitive criminals—will actually reduce the burden on policing. As he knows, something approaching 50% of offenders who have been burglars or robbers go on to reoffend. By putting a tag on their ankle so that we know where they are 24 hours a day, we essentially put a probation officer or police officer alongside them. We hope that that will be a huge deterrent. It also means that if there is a breach or somebody is identified as being at the same place that a crime has occurred at the same time, it is much easier for the police to find them because we can track them down through the tag. As we expand the programme further, from six to 19 police forces across the country, we need to monitor the impact on policing, albeit that, thus far, the police are enthusiastic proponents of the scheme.
Electronic Tagging of Offenders — House of Commons, 2021-11-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Aaron Stuart Bell (Conservative, Centre-right): Newcastle-under-Lyme plays host to the North Staffordshire Justice Centre, so I know that my constituents will welcome what the Minister has said. What steps will he take to invest in the latest technological advances, so that tagging will keep pace with the behaviour of offenders?
Electronic Tagging of Offenders — House of Commons, 2021-11-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Christopher Laurie Malthouse (Conservative, Centre-right): That is a brilliant question, not least because my hon. Friend has put his finger on the button of where we need to go next. As part of the £183 million that the Treasury has now invested—with some confidence, I like to think—in the future roll-out of our electronic monitoring programme, we have £19 million to invest in future technology. In particular, I am keen to stimulate the market to find the holy grail of tagging, which would be a drugs tag that we could fit to the ankle of offenders with that kind of problem, and therefore deter them from taking drugs in the first place.
Community Payback — House of Commons, 2021-11-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Stephen James Metcalfe (Conservative, Centre-right): Requiring offenders to give back to their communities not only delivers a just punishment but sends out a clear signal to other criminals that crime does not pay. Can my right hon. Friend assure the House that where a community sentence is given, the offender actually then serves it?
Community Payback — House of Commons, 2021-11-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Christopher Laurie Malthouse (Conservative, Centre-right): I can assure my hon. Friend that we are investing significant extra resources, time and effort into making sure that community payback is both seen and effective. He is quite right that we want the public to see that justice is done, and we want offenders to know that their punishment is meaningful. There is a third reason why community payback is important, however, which is that offenders need to learn what the rest of us know—that we all have to play our part in building a great community and a safe neighbourhood. By this method we can almost teach them the value of contribution to their local neighbourhood We want to make sure that community payback is visible, and that means that there will be more people out there on the street cleaning up, improving the environment and so on. That will enable us to square the circle, with a sense of repaying a debt to society but also an ongoing commitment to it.
HMPPS Staff: Government Pay Policy — House of Commons, 2021-11-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Questions: What recent assessment he has made of the effect on (a) recruitment, (b) morale and (c) retention of Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service staff of the Government’s pay policy for public sector workers.
Victoria Atkins (Conservative, Centre-right): I start by thanking all prison and probation officers and staff across the country. They do an absolutely vital job protecting the public and rehabilitating offenders, and they deserve our thanks and our acknowledgment. Pay awards for this financial year across HMPPS are subject to the public sector pay pause, which was imposed due to the covid-19 emergency, but I welcome the Chancellor’s recent Budget announcement on public sector pay and the fact that from 2022, it will return to a normal pay setting process.
HMPPS Staff: Government Pay Policy — House of Commons, 2021-11-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Questions: What recent assessment he has made of the effect on (a) recruitment, (b) morale and (c) retention of Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service staff of the Government’s pay policy for public sector workers.
Victoria Atkins (Conservative, Centre-right): I am delighted to inform the right hon. Gentleman that I have met not just the POA but the Prison Governors Association and many of the smaller unions that represent the interests of vital members of staff such as chaplains and educationalists, who play a really important role in the prison system. I very much look forward to working with the POA and others not just on matters of pay but on ensuring that we value their role in the prison system. I want prison officers to feel safe in their workplace, for example. That is not up for question. We should be making sure that they feel safe, and that is one of my priorities as Minister with responsibility for prisons.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-11-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Dominic Rennie Raab (Conservative, Centre-right): Over the last month, I have visited HMP High Down, Ford prison and the new state-of-the-art prison at Glen Parva. Today, we opened a new super-court at Loughborough, which will help to reduce the courts backlog, along with a real-terms increase in MOJ funding of 12% by 2024-25.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-11-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Caroline Ansell (Conservative, Centre-right): I warmly welcome my right hon. Friend’s work to bring together employers in the offender employment summit, and the significant investment that is to come. One more key element to addressing reoffending is the third sector. Will he join me in paying tribute to Sussex Pathways, which does such tremendous work for offenders pre and post release, so that they can make good on some of the opportunities afforded them in prison? What specific steps is the Department taking to connect women with employment and education opportunities?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-11-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Dominic Rennie Raab (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We need a tailored approach to the female prison estate. I can tell her that the number of women in custody has fallen by almost a quarter since 2010. That reflects the Government’s investment in community services and community sentences. Custody should remain the last resort for women, but we need to ensure we have better services that are better tailored. That is why we have 500 new places in the women’s estate—a mixture of open and closed conditions—tailored particularly to mental health challenges, addiction, skills and work. Indeed, there are some trailblazing examples of work in prisons, such as The Clink restaurant in HMP Downview.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-11-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Victoria Atkins (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Lady for drawing the House’s attention to that tragic case. She will know that we asked the ombudsman to examine it in detail, and we are very grateful to the ombudsman for having gone through it so that the Department, HMPPS and other providers can learn the lessons from that terrible incident. We have set out extensive plans to help women who are pregnant, mums and babies in prison, and that framework has been published and is being very much implemented. On her wider point about supporting women in custody, we have the female offenders strategy. The Government maintain our aim that we should support women outside of custody and give magistrates the confidence to impose community sentences, but we must ensure that when women are in the female prison estate, they are supported, but importantly, rehabilitated. If they leave prison, we want them to be able to re-enter society and we want to protect the public.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-11-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Questions: Across the UK, more and more young women are reporting being spiked by injection, a truly abhorrent attack on people just trying to have fun. What are the Government doing to protect women who are being attacked in this way?
Christopher Laurie Malthouse (Conservative, Centre-right): We share my hon. Friend’s abhorrence at this appalling new phenomenon. To reassure him, the Home Secretary and I are in close touch with the National Police Chiefs’ Council, which is co-ordinating local and national investigation assets across the country to try to prevent the crime and help protect young women.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-11-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Questions: Across the UK, more and more young women are reporting being spiked by injection, a truly abhorrent attack on people just trying to have fun. What are the Government doing to protect women who are being attacked in this way?; We heard the pretty shameful remarks to the Opposition earlier about immigration cases. If the Secretary of State wants to help reduce the backlog in court cases, will he consider speaking with the Home Secretary and dropping plans to criminalise asylum seekers for exercising their legal rights under international conventions signed by this country? Those plans are estimated to cost more than £400 million.; Last week a new report was published by a group of Conservatives on Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council, which found multiple current examples of what they allege to be active grooming and child sexual exploitation in multiple locations across Rotherham. The working group felt that the response from Rotherham Council was“practically non-existent, and at times the working group has felt that various elements within the Council are deliberately avoiding talking about CSE.”What steps can the Secretary of State’s Department not only to bring the perpetrators to justice but to ensure that the sentencing fits this abominable crime?
James Roger Cartlidge (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to my hon. Friend; these are sensitive matters. We remain clear that allegations of child sexual abuse and exploitation must be thoroughly and properly investigated by police. Since Alexis Jay’s report into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham, significant improvements have been made in how local authorities and the police safeguard children both in Rotherham and across the country. However, we know that there is further to go, and we continue to drive improvement in response to actions set out in the "Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Strategy". We are also bringing forward measures in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill that will ensure that an additional cohort of serious and sexual offenders will now serve two thirds of their sentence in custody, instead of half.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-11-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Questions: Across the UK, more and more young women are reporting being spiked by injection, a truly abhorrent attack on people just trying to have fun. What are the Government doing to protect women who are being attacked in this way?; We heard the pretty shameful remarks to the Opposition earlier about immigration cases. If the Secretary of State wants to help reduce the backlog in court cases, will he consider speaking with the Home Secretary and dropping plans to criminalise asylum seekers for exercising their legal rights under international conventions signed by this country? Those plans are estimated to cost more than £400 million.; Last week a new report was published by a group of Conservatives on Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council, which found multiple current examples of what they allege to be active grooming and child sexual exploitation in multiple locations across Rotherham. The working group felt that the response from Rotherham Council was“practically non-existent, and at times the working group has felt that various elements within the Council are deliberately avoiding talking about CSE.”What steps can the Secretary of State’s Department not only to bring the perpetrators to justice but to ensure that the sentencing fits this abominable crime?
James Roger Cartlidge (Conservative, Centre-right): I pay tribute to the hon. Lady in her role as chair of the APPG. It is precisely because I see the importance of legal aid that I went to the meeting at which she launched the report. I very much enjoyed it; colleagues from both sides of the House were there. Key to this is the criminal legal aid independent review under Sir Christopher Bellamy QC. Of course, we are still waiting for him to publish that, but we look forward to seeing it as soon as possible.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-11-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Questions: Across the UK, more and more young women are reporting being spiked by injection, a truly abhorrent attack on people just trying to have fun. What are the Government doing to protect women who are being attacked in this way?; We heard the pretty shameful remarks to the Opposition earlier about immigration cases. If the Secretary of State wants to help reduce the backlog in court cases, will he consider speaking with the Home Secretary and dropping plans to criminalise asylum seekers for exercising their legal rights under international conventions signed by this country? Those plans are estimated to cost more than £400 million.; Last week a new report was published by a group of Conservatives on Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council, which found multiple current examples of what they allege to be active grooming and child sexual exploitation in multiple locations across Rotherham. The working group felt that the response from Rotherham Council was“practically non-existent, and at times the working group has felt that various elements within the Council are deliberately avoiding talking about CSE.”What steps can the Secretary of State’s Department not only to bring the perpetrators to justice but to ensure that the sentencing fits this abominable crime?; The criminal justice system has had a good spending review settlement, which is welcome and, frankly, a relief. Will Ministers ensure that that helps to put prolific offenders for crimes such as burglary behind bars?
Dominic Rennie Raab (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend is right that we have seen a 12% boost to the Department’s budget, which will see £11.5 billion invested by the end of the Parliament. That will help us build prison places and invest in tagging as well as the drugs, skills and work regimes for people in prison and on licence to cut reoffending and protect the public.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-11-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Questions: Across the UK, more and more young women are reporting being spiked by injection, a truly abhorrent attack on people just trying to have fun. What are the Government doing to protect women who are being attacked in this way?; We heard the pretty shameful remarks to the Opposition earlier about immigration cases. If the Secretary of State wants to help reduce the backlog in court cases, will he consider speaking with the Home Secretary and dropping plans to criminalise asylum seekers for exercising their legal rights under international conventions signed by this country? Those plans are estimated to cost more than £400 million.; Last week a new report was published by a group of Conservatives on Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council, which found multiple current examples of what they allege to be active grooming and child sexual exploitation in multiple locations across Rotherham. The working group felt that the response from Rotherham Council was“practically non-existent, and at times the working group has felt that various elements within the Council are deliberately avoiding talking about CSE.”What steps can the Secretary of State’s Department not only to bring the perpetrators to justice but to ensure that the sentencing fits this abominable crime?; The criminal justice system has had a good spending review settlement, which is welcome and, frankly, a relief. Will Ministers ensure that that helps to put prolific offenders for crimes such as burglary behind bars?; Many victims of crime feel extremely vulnerable. What steps is my hon. Friend taking to bring forward measures focused on protecting the victims of crime by ensuring that they are constantly supported through the criminal justice system?
Thomas Christopher John Pursglove (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend is a long-standing advocate for victims in his community. I hope he will be reassured that we will consult as soon as possible on how we best guarantee victims’ rights in law and the level of support that they can expect. We will want to hear from a wide range of individuals and stakeholders to inform that process and shape policy, getting it right from reporting the crime through to the courtroom experience.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-11-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Questions: Across the UK, more and more young women are reporting being spiked by injection, a truly abhorrent attack on people just trying to have fun. What are the Government doing to protect women who are being attacked in this way?; We heard the pretty shameful remarks to the Opposition earlier about immigration cases. If the Secretary of State wants to help reduce the backlog in court cases, will he consider speaking with the Home Secretary and dropping plans to criminalise asylum seekers for exercising their legal rights under international conventions signed by this country? Those plans are estimated to cost more than £400 million.; Last week a new report was published by a group of Conservatives on Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council, which found multiple current examples of what they allege to be active grooming and child sexual exploitation in multiple locations across Rotherham. The working group felt that the response from Rotherham Council was“practically non-existent, and at times the working group has felt that various elements within the Council are deliberately avoiding talking about CSE.”What steps can the Secretary of State’s Department not only to bring the perpetrators to justice but to ensure that the sentencing fits this abominable crime?; The criminal justice system has had a good spending review settlement, which is welcome and, frankly, a relief. Will Ministers ensure that that helps to put prolific offenders for crimes such as burglary behind bars?; Many victims of crime feel extremely vulnerable. What steps is my hon. Friend taking to bring forward measures focused on protecting the victims of crime by ensuring that they are constantly supported through the criminal justice system?
Christopher Laurie Malthouse (Conservative, Centre-right): I understand the hon. Member’s distress at that case. As he knows, we are busy about the job of increasing police capacity. We are over halfway to the 20,000 extra police officers—we have 11,053—and a significant number of those are heading towards the west midlands.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-11-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Questions: Across the UK, more and more young women are reporting being spiked by injection, a truly abhorrent attack on people just trying to have fun. What are the Government doing to protect women who are being attacked in this way?; We heard the pretty shameful remarks to the Opposition earlier about immigration cases. If the Secretary of State wants to help reduce the backlog in court cases, will he consider speaking with the Home Secretary and dropping plans to criminalise asylum seekers for exercising their legal rights under international conventions signed by this country? Those plans are estimated to cost more than £400 million.; Last week a new report was published by a group of Conservatives on Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council, which found multiple current examples of what they allege to be active grooming and child sexual exploitation in multiple locations across Rotherham. The working group felt that the response from Rotherham Council was“practically non-existent, and at times the working group has felt that various elements within the Council are deliberately avoiding talking about CSE.”What steps can the Secretary of State’s Department not only to bring the perpetrators to justice but to ensure that the sentencing fits this abominable crime?; The criminal justice system has had a good spending review settlement, which is welcome and, frankly, a relief. Will Ministers ensure that that helps to put prolific offenders for crimes such as burglary behind bars?; Many victims of crime feel extremely vulnerable. What steps is my hon. Friend taking to bring forward measures focused on protecting the victims of crime by ensuring that they are constantly supported through the criminal justice system?
Robert Peter Moore (Conservative, Centre-right): The main reason for my call for a Rotherham-style inquiry into child sexual exploitation in the Bradford district is to bring justice to the victims of these offences and help ensure the safety of children across my constituency. Will my hon. Friend join me in that call so that we can tackle the issue once and for all?