argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Short Prison Sentences: Homelessness — House of Commons, 2018-12-18
Topic: Law and Crime
Roderick James Nugent Stewart (Conservative, Centre-right): This is a very good challenge. We can use licence conditions to try to ensure that somebody does not return to the scene of their offending. The problem, as the hon. Lady will be aware, is that we of course have to balance that against the importance of family relationships for rehabilitation. We want to try to locate someone in a place where they will not be tempting into further reoffending, but we do not want to locate them in a place where they lose all contact with family and community.
Short Prison Sentences: Homelessness — House of Commons, 2018-12-18
Topic: Law and Crime
Andrew Edmund Armstrong Selous (Conservative, Centre-right): Does the Minister agree that it is wrong for local authorities to discriminate against ex-offenders by putting them at the bottom of the queue, sometimes saying they have no local connections—through no fault of their own, if they have been in prison—and that ex-offenders should be treated fairly and equally, along with everyone else?
Short Prison Sentences: Homelessness — House of Commons, 2018-12-18
Topic: Law and Crime
Victoria Mary Boswell Prentis (Conservative, Centre-right): I am proud to have become a trustee of Nacro recently. Will the Minister continue to work with me and Nacro to reduce the number of prisoners who are released at the end of the week, which thereby reduces the number of services available to them?
Short Prison Sentences: Homelessness — House of Commons, 2018-12-18
Topic: Law and Crime
Thomas Christopher John Pursglove (Conservative, Centre-right): Care after Combat’s mentoring scheme for 360 veterans has achieved a fivefold reduction in reoffending. Quite rightly, we are spending a small amount to save £20 million in the system. What are the Government doing further to support these sorts of mentoring initiatives to tackle both homelessness and reoffending?
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Co-operation on Justice — House of Commons, 2018-12-18
Topic: International Affairs
Lucy Claire Leigh (Frazer) (Conservative, Centre-right): The withdrawal agreement will ensure a smooth and orderly departure from the EU on 29 March. It includes an implementation period until the end of 2020, during which existing civil and commercial judicial co-operation will continue. We have also agreed that the cases started before the end of the implementation period will be concluded under existing EU rules, and subsequent judgments in those cases will be enforced.
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Co-operation on Justice — House of Commons, 2018-12-18
Topic: Law and Crime
Lucy Claire Leigh (Frazer) (Conservative, Centre-right): I know that my hon. Friend, as Chair of the Justice Committee, has done a significant amount of work on this issue, and I have been pleased to respond to a number of debates that raised these important issues. The deal will allow us to continue working closely with the EU, specifically on family matters, which are important to so many citizens. We will continue to press for broader civil jurisdiction arrangements.
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Co-operation on Justice — House of Commons, 2018-12-18
Topic: International Affairs
Lucy Claire Leigh (Frazer) (Conservative, Centre-right): As the right hon. Gentleman will know, the political declaration sets out the framework for the negotiations that will go forward. I would encourage him to read the assessment the Government produced on 28 November on the security partnership, which compares the impact of the criminal justice and law enforcement proposals set out in the political declaration with a no deal scenario.
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Co-operation on Justice — House of Commons, 2018-12-18
Topic: International Affairs
Lucy Claire Leigh (Frazer) (Conservative, Centre-right): As I mentioned, the Prime Minister has made it clear that she is seeking to ensure that the measures that underlay them, and the co-operation within them, will continue as far as possible post Brexit I should mention, because the hon. and learned Lady often asks about liaison with the Scottish Government, that I spoke to my counterpart, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice on 29 November, and he reiterated to me how pleased he was with our engagement at official level on the negotiations with the EU.
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Co-operation on Justice — House of Commons, 2018-12-18
Topic: International Affairs
Lucy Claire Leigh (Frazer) (Conservative, Centre-right): My Department is making a lot of efforts to ensure we have the right deal. We have received £17 million for EU Brexit preparations. We have over 110 full-time employees, including newly recruited employees, working across deal and no deal. I would say, as the Lord Chancellor said in his FT article at the weekend, that the Conservative party is ensuring the future of our country, whereas the leader of the Labour party is just trying to make political points to ensure a general election.
Ease of Initiating Legal Proceedings — House of Commons, 2018-12-18
Topic: Law and Crime
Lucy Claire Leigh (Frazer) (Conservative, Centre-right): The Government are simplifying many application processes, making it much easier to initiate proceedings. Once a decision to get divorced has been made, one can now petition for a divorce online. Probate can be applied for online and a money claim can be issued, for up to £10,000, using our online courts process.
Ease of Initiating Legal Proceedings — House of Commons, 2018-12-18
Topic: Law and Crime
Lucy Claire Leigh (Frazer) (Conservative, Centre-right): Litigants in person do need support through our justice system, which is why, over the past few years, we have spent £6.5 million investing in helping them through the court process. Many of our reforms which form part of our £1 billion programme will make sure that forms are easier, applying to court is easier, getting to court and the whole process is easier for people whether they have a lawyer or not.
Prison Officers: Retention — House of Commons, 2018-12-18
Topic: Law and Crime
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): Recruiting and retaining engaged and motivated staff is critical to making our prisons safer and stopping reoffending. We have spent an additional £100 million to ensure we have thousands of extra prison officers at the frontline, allowing us to run better regimes and improve staff-prisoner relationships. From October 2016 to September 2018, there was a net increase of 4,364 full-time equivalent prison officers. We know that the retention of staff will take more than a one-size-fits-all approach. Specific action is being taken where attrition is most acute.
Prison Officers: Retention — House of Commons, 2018-12-18
Topic: Law and Crime
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): Of course, a deal was offered to prison officers and rejected a couple of years or so ago, but to come back to the point about morale, it is important that we address violence in prisons. That is why we have increased the number of staff, why we are giving prison officers the tools that they need—for example, PAVA—and why we are determined to ensure that we can turn this increase in violence around.
Prison Officers: Retention — House of Commons, 2018-12-18
Topic: Law and Crime
Andrew James Bridgen (Conservative, Centre-right): It is clear that we have an issue with experienced prison officers leaving the service. Can my right hon. Friend reassure the House that, in line with best human resources practices, exit interviews are being conducted with staff before they leave so that we can address the issues that are causing them to leave the service?
Prison Officers: Retention — House of Commons, 2018-12-18
Topic: Law and Crime
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is right to say that that is best practice, and it does happen within the prison service. We are looking at the evidence of the effectiveness of that to ensure that we make best use of it. It is important that we learn from the experiences of prison officers and get their feedback, so that when prison officers do leave, we understand the reasons why.
Prison Officers: Retention — House of Commons, 2018-12-18
Topic: Law and Crime
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): I am glad that the hon. Lady acknowledges that progress is being made at Birmingham, and it was right that we stepped in in August last year to turn that prison around. I reiterate that we have increased prison officer numbers very significantly, by 4,364, when our target was to recruit an additional 2,500 prison officers. We achieved that well ahead of schedule, and we have got the numbers increasing. We are seeing some signs of improvements in our prisons—not just at HMP Birmingham—but we need to build on that. It is still the early stages, but we are making progress.
Prison Officers: Retention — House of Commons, 2018-12-18
Topic: Law and Crime
Maria Colette Caulfield (Conservative, Centre-right): Prison officers in HMP Lewes tell me that the scourge of mobile phones in the prison, which are used to co-ordinate violence and drugs, makes their job much more difficult. Does the Secretary of State therefore welcome the news that the Prisons (Interference with Wireless Telegraphy) Bill, which will block mobile phone signals in prisons, is likely to get Royal Assent this week?
Prison Officers: Retention — House of Commons, 2018-12-18
Topic: Technology
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): I am delighted to do that and to pay tribute to my hon. Friend for the work that she put in on that Bill. It is an important step forward. She is right to highlight the problems with mobile phones. As a Government, we are determined to take action to address that, and her work helps us.
Offenders: Access to Education and Employment — House of Commons, 2018-12-18
Topic: Labor
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): In May, we published the education and employment strategy to create a system where each prisoner is set on a path to employment, with prison education work geared from the outset towards employment on release. We have launched the New Futures Network and appointed a CEO to drive its roll-out. The NFN identifies where skill gaps exist and works with employers to fill them. We are also empowering governors to commission education provision that leads to work. Activity to appoint the new education suppliers who will deliver the curricula that governors have designed is almost complete.
Offenders: Access to Education and Employment — House of Commons, 2018-12-18
Topic: Labor
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): The New Futures Network brokers partnerships between prisons and employers in England and Wales, which help businesses to fill skills gaps and prisoners to find employment on release. The NFN has a central team based in London that works with large national employers. We are also placing employment brokers across England and Wales to work with small and medium-sized enterprises and regional businesses. I am pleased to say that since the publication of the strategy in May, more than 100 new organisations have registered an interest in working with offenders.
Offenders: Access to Education and Employment — House of Commons, 2018-12-18
Topic: Law and Crime
Mark Julian Francis Pawsey (Conservative, Centre-right): I have been working with a constituent who has recently completed a nine-and-a-half-year prison sentence. He has reminded me that in that time, a great deal has moved online—the Under-Secretary of State for Justice, the hon. and learned Member for South East Cambridgeshire (Lucy Frazer), referred to initiating legal proceedings online. My constituent says that that places him at a disadvantage when it comes to accessing services and applying for jobs, so what steps are the Department taking to ensure that offenders gain digital skills and retain them?
Offenders: Access to Education and Employment — House of Commons, 2018-12-18
Topic: Education
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend makes a good point. Digital skills are already taught in many prisons. We are empowering governors to have more control over the curriculum, but we are also determined to ensure that there is some consistency, so from next April our core common curriculum will include ICT, which must be taught in every prison.
Offenders: Access to Education and Employment — House of Commons, 2018-12-18
Topic: Labor
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): We want to ensure that the path to employment is set out for every prisoner, that all prisoners have that opportunity to receive the education that they need, and that there is a focus on work. That is a priority for our Department, and I am confident that we can deliver on it.
Offenders: Access to Education and Employment — House of Commons, 2018-12-18
Topic: Labor
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): That is an excellent point. Workplace release on temporary licence has a key role to play in giving prisoners employment opportunities and easing the transition from prison life to post-prison existence. I am keen to ensure that we do what we can with workplace ROTL, and I should like it to be used more.
Offenders: Access to Education and Employment — House of Commons, 2018-12-18
Topic: Law and Crime
Fiona Claire Bruce (Conservative, Centre-right): What further action can be taken to encourage more employers to offer such opportunities during the final period of a sentence? That is being done very effectively at Thorn Cross prison in Appleton Thorn, near Warrington.
Offenders: Access to Education and Employment — House of Commons, 2018-12-18
Topic: Labor
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): Encouraging employers is very much what the New Futures Network is about. I sense a change of attitude among employers: more and more of them want to do this, because they recognise that there are benefits for them as well as for society as a whole. As I have said, more than 100 employers have signed up to the network, and I encourage those who are following our proceedings closely to do as much as possible on this front.
Offenders: Access to Education and Employment — House of Commons, 2018-12-18
Topic: Law and Crime
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): We are keen to develop specialist education plans when people come into prisons, because that is when we need to identify issues such as those that the hon. Lady has mentioned. However, the really important point that she has raised is the need for us to work across Government. It is not just about what happens in the Prison Service or the Ministry of Justice; we need to co-ordinate with, for instance, the national health service, the Department for Work and Pensions and local authorities. If we are to turn people’s lives around, we need a cross-Government approach. I am pleased that the Reducing Reoffending Board has been established, and that there is a real willingness across Government to make progress.
Prisons: Drones — House of Commons, 2018-12-18
Topic: Law and Crime
Roderick James Nugent Stewart (Conservative, Centre-right): Preventing drones from going into prisons is, of course, a huge priority. First, that means working to identify and catch the criminal gangs who are flying them in; secondly, it means electronic measures to interrupt the drones and make it possible to interrogate those people; and, thirdly and most fundamentally, it means protective security. For example, Mr Speaker, if there is a good grille on the window, you cannot stick your hand out of the window and take the drugs from the drone.
Prisons: Drones — House of Commons, 2018-12-18
Topic: Law and Crime
Victoria Grace Ford (Conservative, Centre-right): Drug use in prisons frequently fuels serious violence, but those who fly the drones or throw the drugs over the walls often receive little more than a ticking off. What more can be done to dissuade people—especially young people— from such behaviour?
Prisons: Drones — House of Commons, 2018-12-18
Topic: Law and Crime
Roderick James Nugent Stewart (Conservative, Centre-right): I know that my hon. Friend does wonderful work with the prison in her constituency. As she says, we need to take action, and we are taking action. There have been 40 convictions of people using drones, and we have imposed 140 years’-worth of prison sentences. No one should be in any doubt that importing drugs into prisons with a drone is a very serious crime, and I am pleased to say that, thanks to the Department’s work since 2015, we are getting on top of the problem.
Prisons: Drones — House of Commons, 2018-12-18
Topic: Law and Crime
Roderick James Nugent Stewart (Conservative, Centre-right): First, that is classified information, but, secondly, the answer is not that many prisons. It is very expensive equipment to use, but we are looking at an electronic fencing technique which has been deployed in Guernsey. We can learn a lot from Guernsey prison: if that electronic fence in Guernsey works, it is a good cheap solution. We would need to check its technical specifications and then we could look at rolling it out.
Prisons: Prevention of Violence — House of Commons, 2018-12-18
Topic: Law and Crime
Roderick James Nugent Stewart (Conservative, Centre-right): Violence in prisons is fundamentally driven by three things: drugs, the conditions in the prison, and relationships between prison officers and prisoners. We are addressing all three. To cut down on drugs, we are putting much more perimeter security in place to make it more difficult to get drugs in. Secondly, we are investing a great deal in decency and cleanliness in prisons. But the most important thing is the training and support for our hard-working prison officers so they can develop the right relationships with prisoners—ones that are strict but also humane—in order to bring proper behaviour management into place.
Prisons: Prevention of Violence — House of Commons, 2018-12-18
Topic: Law and Crime
Roderick James Nugent Stewart (Conservative, Centre-right): We repeatedly survey this; we have a specialist team looking at it. We have a long study under the violence reduction strategy, and the real conclusion is that it is about training. It is about what happens at the cell door—about how we develop respectful relationships in the same way that a good teacher would. There are high expectations on prison officers and on prisoners, so that we can have a safe, humane relationship that also has boundaries in place to control behaviour.
Prisons: Prevention of Violence — House of Commons, 2018-12-18
Topic: Law and Crime
Questions: The Minister has made much of the 10 pilot areas, and I am glad that Bristol is one of them. However, what comfort does he have for the prison officers and prisoners of the other 110?
Roderick James Nugent Stewart (Conservative, Centre-right): This challenge is absolutely right; we are focusing initially on 10 prisons, as it is difficult to achieve cultural change in 120 prisons simultaneously. The idea is to develop in those 10 prisons the right standard model on drugs, violence and decency, and if we are successful, as I believe we will be by August, to then roll that out across the rest of the estate.
Prisons: Prevention of Violence — House of Commons, 2018-12-18
Topic: Law and Crime
Questions: The Minister has made much of the 10 pilot areas, and I am glad that Bristol is one of them. However, what comfort does he have for the prison officers and prisoners of the other 110?
Roderick James Nugent Stewart (Conservative, Centre-right): As I have said on a number of occasions, this is not fundamentally about private and public: there are good private prisons and good public prisons, and there are bad private prisons and bad public prisons. But I will give this assurance: unless G4S can demonstrate that it can take back that prison and run it both well and sustainably, we will not be returning the prison to G4S.
Legal Advice Deserts — House of Commons, 2018-12-18
Topic: Law and Crime
Lucy Claire Leigh (Frazer) (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to the hon. Lady, who chairs the all-party group on legal aid and has done a lot of work in this area. We recognise that in some sparsely populated areas it is more difficult to find service providers, but the Legal Aid Agency regularly reviews market capacity to make sure there is adequate provision across the country and moves quickly to fill any gaps that it identifies. At the latest civil legal aid tender, the number of offices providing access to advice increased by 39% for immigration and asylum, by 188% for welfare benefits and by 7% for debt and housing.
Legal Advice Deserts — House of Commons, 2018-12-18
Topic: Law and Crime
Lucy Claire Leigh (Frazer) (Conservative, Centre-right): Cornwall is a sparsely populated area and there are difficulties there, but there is always access to the telephone service. It is right that we should look not only at face-to-face advice but at where technology can help to deliver legal advice to people.
Legal Advice Deserts — House of Commons, 2018-12-18
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: The United Nations special rapporteur’s recent findings were shameful and damning. They highlighted the fact that the “dramatic reductions” in the availability of legal aid since 2012 have“overwhelmingly affected the poor and people with disabilities, many of whom cannot otherwise afford to challenge benefit denials or reductions and are thus effectively deprived of their human right to a remedy.” When will the Government accept responsibility for the most vulnerable in our community, and will the Minister commit to ensuring that the overdue review of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 will reinstate legal aid for early legal advice?
Lucy Claire Leigh (Frazer) (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady makes an important point about ensuring that we have support for those who are most vulnerable, but I would like to make two points on welfare benefits, which she has highlighted. First, the most important outcome for benefit claimants is that the decisions on their claims should be right first time. This avoids the need to go to court at all, and my Department is working closely with the Department for Work and Pensions to ensure efficient decision making. I have met the Minister twice to ensure that we get those decisions right first time. Secondly, while decisions on welfare claims significantly impact the lives of often vulnerable people, the claims are often not complicated. We are making changes to the tribunal system to ensure that those cases are handled simply, effectively and more quickly.
Legal Advice Deserts — House of Commons, 2018-12-18
Topic: Law and Crime
Questions: The United Nations special rapporteur’s recent findings were shameful and damning. They highlighted the fact that the “dramatic reductions” in the availability of legal aid since 2012 have“overwhelmingly affected the poor and people with disabilities, many of whom cannot otherwise afford to challenge benefit denials or reductions and are thus effectively deprived of their human right to a remedy.” When will the Government accept responsibility for the most vulnerable in our community, and will the Minister commit to ensuring that the overdue review of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 will reinstate legal aid for early legal advice?; My constitu- ency has been rated by the Law Society as a legal aid desert. In all of Somerset, there is only one firm that is authorised to provide legal aid on housing. What specific advice can the Minister give to my constituents on that?
Lucy Claire Leigh (Frazer) (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman will have heard that we are doing a review of legal aid, which will be published early in the new year. I was interested to read the recent Scottish Government report on legal aid, which implements a number of the things that we are already doing, including using technology to help our court processes.