argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Prison Staff: Health and Safety — House of Commons, 2019-07-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman raises an important point and he is right to alert us to the day-to-day bravery of prison staff in whatever part of the prison estate they work. A lot of work is going on to improve how prison staff interact with prisoners, and the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018 allows the courts to impose greater sentences to deal with assault. I will look very carefully at the proposals that are being set out tomorrow and work with Members across the House to ensure that we rise to the challenge of prison violence.
Prison Staff: Health and Safety — House of Commons, 2019-07-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady raises a very interesting point. While I think it would be invidious of me to comment on a particular case, I can see the force of her point. That is quite clearly a very serious assault and there are aggravating features in there, which make it particularly distressing for the worker involved. As I said, a lot of important work is going on with regard to body-worn cameras and we need the roll-out of PAVA spray to help protect prison officers who, let us face it, are doing such an important job that is all too often unheralded.
Prison Staff: Health and Safety — House of Commons, 2019-07-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend raises an important point. Indeed, the service has started research on the effects on prison staff of second-hand exposure to psychoactive substances, in particular across 10 prisons. That testing programme will be extended. We have also established a drugs taskforce, because the best way to deal with the risk is to minimise the use of drugs in prisons. That is a tough challenge, but one that the whole service is working towards.
Prison Staff: Health and Safety — House of Commons, 2019-07-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): I am always interested in meeting staff from across the prison estate, and that includes the teachers who are here today. The hon. Gentleman is right to highlight Peter Clarke’s important report. That report contains significant findings relating to the ongoing challenges, but it also celebrates the professionalism, the caring and the well-run safe, calm parts of our prison estate that exemplify a successful history and pattern of working. I was delighted to be able to attend the prison officer of the year awards last week to acknowledge some of the outstanding service given by prison officers and other employees in HMPPS.
Divorce — House of Commons, 2019-07-09
Topic: Law and Crime
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): When people make the difficult decision to divorce, the evidence suggests that counselling will often be too late at that stage. Seeking counselling would be a personal choice for those involved. For counselling to bring a change of direction, it would require the willing co-operation of both people in the marriage. We will look at the information available to people who are contemplating divorce to see whether we can strengthen signposting to marriage counselling, and our Bill will provide the opportunity for parties to reflect on the decision to divorce by introducing a minimum timeframe within the legal process. Couples who can reconcile will be able to do so.
Divorce — House of Commons, 2019-07-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Edmund Francis Hughes (Conservative, Centre-right): Now that divorce is being made easier, with no-fault divorce going on the statute book, should we have parallel provision to help couples to save their marriages? I think the best way to do that would be further investment in services under section 22 of the Family Law Act 1996.
Divorce — House of Commons, 2019-07-09
Topic: Social Welfare
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): I think there is a wider debate to be had about how Government as a whole can address issues that lead to relationship breakdown. Simply funding marriage support services may not address the heart of the issue or reach the people who need help most at the right time, but I agree that there is a need to test what works to help couples to stay together, and I am happy to listen to the arguments about that.
Divorce — House of Commons, 2019-07-09
Topic: Law and Crime
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): Family mediation offers a way to resolve child or financial arrangements without litigation, and child contact centres provide safe, neutral venues where separated couples can build sustainable long-term child arrangements. In reforming the legal process for divorce, we will look to strengthen how couples are signposted to such services. My right hon. Friend refers to counselling, a service for people whose relationships are in trouble. As well as using services such as Relate, many people draw on family, friends and others they can trust. A marriage is more likely to be saveable before the legal process of divorce has begun.
Divorce — House of Commons, 2019-07-09
Topic: Law and Crime
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): As I said earlier, there is a wider debate on this matter. I believe that the earlier such support can be provided, the better. When it comes to reform of divorce law, my argument is that by that stage it is often too late. In any event, the current requirement in our divorce law to attribute blame and fault makes it all the harder for marriages to be reconciled.
Divorce — House of Commons, 2019-07-09
Topic: Law and Crime
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): I do agree with my hon. Friend, and I am interested by the insights into the Bottomley household. The fact that our current divorce laws introduce conflict at the point of divorce can make the break-up of relationships more confrontational than it needs to be in what are already difficult circumstances.
Short Sentences — House of Commons, 2019-07-09
Topic: Law and Crime
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): There is persuasive evidence that short custodial sentences do not work for the purposes of rehabilitation and helping some offenders to turn their backs on crime. They are highly disruptive to people’s lives, and provide little time for the Prison Service to do any meaningful rehabilitative work. In certain circumstances, community sentences are more effective in reducing reoffending and addressing offenders’ needs. Unless we tackle the underlying causes of reoffending, we cannot protect the public from being victims of crime. There is a strong case for abolishing short custodial sentences, with some exceptions, and I shall set out proposals shortly.
Short Sentences — House of Commons, 2019-07-09
Topic: Law and Crime
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): "Shortly" means "shortly". [Laughter.] I am not going to elaborate on that, but I will say that in considering sentencing reform it is necessary also to look more broadly at the probation system. That is why I recently announced proposals to reform probation that will inform offender management and strengthen confidence in probation. However, I advise the hon. Gentleman to watch this space.
Short Sentences — House of Commons, 2019-07-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert James MacGillivray Neill (Conservative, Centre-right): I welcome the link that my right hon. Friend has made between sentencing and probation. Does he agree that one of the compelling arguments in favour of reform is that the vast majority of people who are given short sentences tend to be repeat petty offenders whose behaviour is often driven by a number of factors such as drug addiction, debt, alcoholism and mental health issues—which are not and cannot best be treated in a custodial setting—and that we ought to invest far more in treating those people effectively outside, in the interests of public protection as much as anything else?
Short Sentences — House of Commons, 2019-07-09
Topic: Law and Crime
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): I entirely agree with the Chairman of the Justice Committee. If we put people inside for a short time—for instance, prolific shoplifters—we want to address that criminality, but all that we actually do is make them more likely to reoffend and continue to be prolific criminals. Evidence shows that when it comes to reoffending rates, community sentences work better, but we need to do everything we can to ensure that they can be improved.
Short Sentences — House of Commons, 2019-07-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Victoria Mary Boswell Prentis (Conservative, Centre-right): I very much hope that a large amount of time is left to my right hon. Friend, who has been a truly reforming Secretary of State in this area, and I endorse everything said on this question by my fellow members of the Select Committee on Justice. However, does the Secretary of State agree that it is very important that if we do have community sentences they are robust and well enforced? Given that the original question was asked by a Scottish MP, I am conscious of the fact that one in three community payback orders in Scotland are ignored by criminals.
Short Sentences — House of Commons, 2019-07-09
Topic: Law and Crime
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is right to highlight that point, and much though I believe that we should make rapid progress in this area, I think that we should do so in a way that ensures the system works properly, and I do think that the link with, for example, strengthening community sentences and the way the probation system works is very important. I hope that we are moving in a direction whereby we can make progress and we focus on ensuring that these prolific petty offenders do not reoffend and we are led by the evidence on what is the most effective way to achieve that, and my sense is that there is a large cross-party consensus on this point.
Short Sentences — House of Commons, 2019-07-09
Topic: Law and Crime
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): Again, we have been led by the evidence. Offender management is not working as we need it to work with regard to the CRCs, but some of the other activity CRCs do is done very well: there is good innovation and good measures are taken, and we should recognise that. So I believe the private and voluntary sectors have a significant role to play, but it is different from the role played until now. In terms of commissioning and so on, I believe we need to ensure that reflects local circumstances and that is part of our plans.
Prisoners: Access to Work — House of Commons, 2019-07-09
Topic: Labor
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): A year ago, our education and employment strategy set out plans to transform the way prisoners develop the skills they need to secure employment on release, and in addition our new release on temporary licence framework aims to increase the number of people these opportunities are available to by allowing more prisoners to access it sooner and for longer.
Prisoners: Access to Work — House of Commons, 2019-07-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): I am delighted to say that large companies such as Greene King from the catering and hospitality sector and Wates from the construction sector are now working with the new futures network that was set up last year to bring more employers, large and small, into partnerships with prisons.
Prisoners: Access to Work — House of Commons, 2019-07-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Mark Julian Francis Pawsey (Conservative, Centre-right): Futures Unlocked is a charity in my constituency with a community café supported by Warwickshire police and crime commissioner Philip Seccombe. It gives work experience to people who have just completed a prison term and has just been awarded the Queen’s award for voluntary service. That is a great example of opportunities that can be offered after release, but what can be done beforehand?
Prisoners: Access to Work — House of Commons, 2019-07-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): I join my hon. Friend in supporting Futures Unlocked and extend my congratulations to it on receiving the Queen’s award, and my hon. Friend is right to talk about what can be done beforehand. It is about building confidence, and that is why the new futures network that I mentioned, which brokers partnerships with employers to provide opportunities before release, will be crucial if we are to extend the benefit of this scheme and reduce reoffending.
Prisoners: Access to Work — House of Commons, 2019-07-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Daniel Robert Kawczynski (Conservative, Centre-right): There is still some reticence among certain companies to employ ex-offenders. The Minister has highlighted some of the real success stories in the private sector where companies have specifically hired ex-offenders in a very effective way. What is his Department doing to showcase those success stories, to ensure that more companies follow this important goal?
Prisoners: Access to Work — House of Commons, 2019-07-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is right to talk about changing the culture. A number of companies are quite openly employing ex-offenders. Also, the Ban the Box initiative, which is all about encouraging companies to employ people with previous offences and removing the tick-box exercise, is supported within the Government and increasingly in the wider business community. I attended an event with the creative industries only three weeks ago to highlight that important initiative.
Legal Advice Deserts — House of Commons, 2019-07-09
Topic: Government Operations
Paul Christopher Maynard (Conservative, Centre-right): I anticipated that the hon. Gentleman might ask about his local situation. Although a contract was awarded in Ipswich in the last tender, we are waiting for the provider to advise us that it has managed to recruit staff to provide advice. We are aware that this will be restricting access, and we will shortly consider re-tendering the service. I am more than happy to meet the hon. Gentleman to discuss this further.
Legal Advice Deserts — House of Commons, 2019-07-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Julia Louise Lopez (Conservative, Centre-right): Public confidence in the legal aid system is often determined by high-profile cases such as the inquests into the Manchester bombing and the London Bridge attacks, in which the taxpayer funded the legal fees of the public authorities and, in the case of London Bridge, the widow of one of the terrorists, but not the victims of the attack. Many people feel instinctively that this is not right, so what work is the Minister doing to build confidence in the justice of the current system so that the victims of terror do not face their own legal advice desert?
Legal Advice Deserts — House of Commons, 2019-07-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Paul Christopher Maynard (Conservative, Centre-right): I certainly hear what my hon. Friend says. Our thoughts will always be with those who have lost loved ones in any terror attack. Our review of legal aid shows that bereaved families do not need specific legal representation at the vast majority of inquests. It is important to ensure that these inquests remain inquisitorial, but what is known as equality of arms has to be a key consideration, as we know from Dame Elish Angiolini’s report. I am therefore working closely with my officials to look at what more can be done to help those families who are in an inquest situation.
Legal Advice Deserts — House of Commons, 2019-07-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Paul Christopher Maynard (Conservative, Centre-right): As we survey the decaying embers of a dying regime reaching its inevitable conclusion, it is good to see the shadow Secretary of State showing that he is waving and not drowning, as he desperately tries to draw attention to the fact he is full of vim and vigour. As he will know, we are currently reviewing legal aid thresholds and exceptional case funding. We are bringing special guardianship orders back within the scope of legal aid, and we are looking at legal support action plans I am unclear, the more I listen to Labour Front Benchers, about why they assume that the only way to provide legal support is to fund it through legal aid. We will shortly have a question on law centres and, for me, there have to be a number of ways to provide legal support. [Interruption.] "And for us," I hear the hon. Gentleman say from a sedentary position, and I am pleased to hear that.
Probation Reform — House of Commons, 2019-07-09
Topic: Law and Crime
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): I am pleased to have announced plans to streamline probation delivery, through the National Probation Service, to build on the role of the private and voluntary sectors in driving innovation and to better support skilled probation officers. These changes will allow the public, private and voluntary sectors to play to their strengths and ensure stronger supervision and support for offenders. We are now developing the commercial and operational frameworks that will underlie the future system, and we are planning for the transition. We are undertaking a full programme of market engagement to inform our plans, in addition to engagement with probation staff and trade unions.
Probation Reform — House of Commons, 2019-07-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Sarah Louise Newton (Conservative, Centre-right): Probation works best when working with local partners. A brilliant charity in my constituency is owed £1,800 as a result of Working Links going into administration. This is a significant sum for the Dracaena Centre in Falmouth. Will the Secretary of State intervene to ensure it is paid for its excellent work?
Probation Reform — House of Commons, 2019-07-09
Topic: Social Welfare
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): We will look at the specific case my hon. Friend raises, but we have already intervened to ensure those charities that have lost out as a consequence of what happened with Working Links receive support. I will make sure I look at her individual case.
Probation Reform — House of Commons, 2019-07-09
Topic: Law and Crime
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): To be fair to the CRCs, I am not sure that any of them is taking steps to get profits—but perhaps to reduce their losses. In truth, the shareholders of CRCs have somewhat subsidised probation services in recent years. We will hold the CRCs to their contractual obligations and ensure they deliver what they are contractually obliged to deliver.
Leaving the EU: No Deal — House of Commons, 2019-07-09
Topic: International Affairs
Questions: What steps his Department has taken to prepare for the UK leaving the EU without a deal; and if he will make a statement.
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): Our justice system is respected across the world. That was the case before we joined the EU, and it will continue to be the case after we leave. The Department has taken all necessary steps to ensure we are prepared for a deal across MOJ interests and for the possibility of a no-deal exit, to the extent it is possible to do so This includes working closely with other Departments to ensure that essential services continue; working with suppliers of key products to ensure essential supplies are in place; providing the courts and judiciary with additional training and resources to enable them to prepare for possible changes; and ensuring that contingencies are in place for any potential traffic disruption in the south-east of England.
Leaving the EU: No Deal — House of Commons, 2019-07-09
Topic: International Affairs
Questions: What steps his Department has taken to prepare for the UK leaving the EU without a deal; and if he will make a statement.
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): What I would say to the hon. Gentleman is that leaving the EU without a deal risks some significant impacts across the justice system, including potential disruption to goods and services to our prisons; an increase in case load and case complexity across court jurisdictions; increased pressure on our courts system; the loss of access to several law enforcement tools, including the loss of data exchange tools, making it more difficult to protect the public; and market access impacts on our legal sector, restricting or removing our ability to operate in EU markets. So do I think a no-deal Brexit is a good idea? No, I do not.
Leaving the EU: No Deal — House of Commons, 2019-07-09
Topic: International Affairs
Questions: What steps his Department has taken to prepare for the UK leaving the EU without a deal; and if he will make a statement.
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): Both candidates for the leadership of my party have made it clear that they do not want a no-deal Brexit, and I wish them well—[Interruption.] I understand that the chances are "a million to one", so I wish them well in their endeavours.
Leaving the EU: No Deal — House of Commons, 2019-07-09
Topic: International Affairs
Questions: What steps his Department has taken to prepare for the UK leaving the EU without a deal; and if he will make a statement.
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): First, I can confirm that I suspect we do read different newspapers, but I agree that the loss of access to various law enforcement tools would make it more difficult to protect the public. I am sure there are ways in which these issues can be addressed, but a much better way forward would be to leave the EU—this is where we disagree—with a deal.
Leaving the EU: No Deal — House of Commons, 2019-07-09
Topic: Foreign Trade
Questions: What steps his Department has taken to prepare for the UK leaving the EU without a deal; and if he will make a statement.
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): First, I think I read different newspapers from the hon. Gentleman, although I do read the Morning Star when he has an article in it. [Interruption.] Which is not quite every day, although it sometimes feels like it. On trade deals with the US, it is the intention of this Government, and, I suspect, of the next Government, to enter into a trade deal with the US, but we would want to do so in a way that protects public services.
Tackling Reoffending: Voluntary Sector — House of Commons, 2019-07-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): The voluntary sector has a pivotal role in supporting rehabilitation and helping offenders to turn their lives around. I want to expand that role, including in the delivery of local and specialist services by smaller organisations. We have committed to tender up to £280 million of contracts for unpaid work, accredited programmes and rehabilitation interventions in the future model.
Tackling Reoffending: Voluntary Sector — House of Commons, 2019-07-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Nigel Paul Huddleston (Conservative, Centre-right): There are indeed many brilliant charities and voluntary organisations that help ex-offenders get back on their feet, including in my constituency the likes of Caring Hands in the Vale, which is led by the brilliant Diane Bennett, and other organisations that work throughout the country, such as The Right Course, which is led by Fred Sirieix. What practical help can the Government give to such organisations?
Tackling Reoffending: Voluntary Sector — House of Commons, 2019-07-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is right to raise the excellent work done by those two organisations. In fact, more than 10,000 people work for voluntary organisations that are involved in criminal justice, and I want to involve them more closely. I have mentioned the dynamic framework, but we will also have a £20 million regional outcomes fund to pilot innovative programmes. The new regional probation model will allow local approaches at a local level.