Oral Answers to Questions

Stephen Metcalfe Excerpts

Tuesday 6th December 2016 Commons Chamber

[David Warburton (Somerton and Frome) (Con)]

7. What further plans the Government have to provide prisoners with (a) drug rehabilitation and (b) education and skills training to improve their prospects for finding work on release from prison.

[Stephen Metcalfe (South Basildon and East Thurrock) (Con)]

10. What further plans the Government have to provide prisoners with (a) drug rehabilitation and (b) education and skills training to improve their prospects for finding work on release from prison.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Mr Sam Gyimah)]

As part of our reforms, we are going to set clear standards on the outcomes we expect each prison governor to achieve on drug rehabilitation, education and other drivers of rehabilitation.

[Mr Gyimah]

My hon. Friend makes an important point: education is one of the key ways in which we can help to break the cycle of reoffending—when the offender, obviously, is willing. One of the things we have done to speed up this process is to transfer the education budget from the Department for Education to the Ministry of Justice. That budget will be delegated to governors so that they can organise education that suits individual prisoners’ needs.

[Stephen Metcalfe]

I am pleased to hear about the steps that have been taken to improve drug rehabilitation and education. Could I suggest that prisoners close to release are also given careers advice and experience mock interviews to aid their search for work on release?

[Mr Gyimah]

Again, that is an important point. If someone has spent quite a lot of time inside, it is highly likely that they will be unused to the world of work and certainly to interviews. One of the things we are doing is having Department for Work and Pensions work coaches work with prison governors as part of the regime. Their job is to help to prepare prisoners, alongside rehabilitation companies, for life after release.

--- Later in debate ---

[Elizabeth Truss]

We have already announced a review of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012—we will shortly be announcing the timetable—but we need a system that is both open and affordable, which is exactly what the Government are delivering.

[Stephen Metcalfe (South Basildon and East Thurrock) (Con)]

T2. I am sure that my right hon. Friend will agree that an independent judiciary and a free press are two pillars of a free society, and that, while we might not always like how each acts, we should be proud of, and protect, those freedoms.

[Elizabeth Truss]

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. We can be incredibly proud of our independent judiciary, which is the cornerstone of the rule of law and supports our commerce and trade, and we also have a robust free press, which is vital to ensuring a free society.

Oral Answers to Questions

Stephen Metcalfe Excerpts

Tuesday 26th April 2016 Commons Chamber

[David Warburton (Somerton and Frome) (Con)]

3. What plans he has to reform education in prisons.

[Stephen Metcalfe (South Basildon and East Thurrock) (Con)]

11. What plans he has to reform education in prisons.

[Oliver Colvile (Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport) (Con)]

17. What plans he has to reform education in prisons.

--- Later in debate ---

[Michael Gove]

I entirely agree with my hon. Friend. Colleagues may know that as well as being a distinguished Member of Parliament, he has also written for Inside Time, the prisoners newspaper, about the need to improve prison education. His own experience both in music and in education equips him superbly to make the point that education should be about not simply the utilitarian gathering of skills, but opening minds to art, culture and the possibility of new horizons.

[Stephen Metcalfe]

As we have heard, we know that better education slows the revolving door between crime and incarceration. Will my right hon. Friend therefore update the House on the announcement made by the Prime Minister about a Teach First-style scheme in prisons?

[Michael Gove]

Absolutely. One of my former colleagues, David Laws, is leading work, along with a formidable social entrepreneur called Natasha Porter, who herself previously worked with Teach First, to establish a new charity. More details will be announced about both the Government funding and how we propose to recruit a generation of talented graduates to work in our prisons.

Oral Answers to Questions

Stephen Metcalfe Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd November 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Vara]

I am sure that other Members, along with you, are keen to hear it, Mr Speaker.

The article quoted the hon. Gentleman as saying:

“‘We’re not going to get in a Tardis and go back to before,’ he said. ‘We are in a world where resources are tight and it would not be right to pretend otherwise.’”

[Stephen Metcalfe (South Basildon and East Thurrock) (Con)]

7. What plans he has to improve the prison estate; and if he will make a statement.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Andrew Selous)]

Our current prison estate is overcrowded and out of date. We will close ageing and ineffective Victorian prisons and replace them with buildings fit for today’s demands. We will invest the money raised in a high-quality, modern prison estate, with facilities for training and rehabilitation, and where the dark corners that facilitate bullying, drug taking and violence can increasingly be designed out.

[Stephen Metcalfe]

I am sure my hon. Friend agrees that the prison estate sometimes acts as a barrier to delivering rehabilitation services, such as education and work, and I know he will work tirelessly to improve the situation.

[Andrew Selous]

I am grateful for my hon. Friend’s support. The prison we are building in north Wales, for example, has a large industrial workshop complex that will enable us to create the positive rehabilitative environment we all want.