Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Ministry of Justice

Oral Answers to Questions

Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick Excerpts
Tuesday 23rd June 2015

(8 years, 10 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Mike Penning Portrait Mike Penning
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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.

Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick Portrait Ms Margaret Ritchie (South Down) (SDLP)
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Does the Minister agree that we need to retain the Human Rights Act as part of a programme established to deal with reoffending, in order to ensure that proper standards of human rights are adhered to in prisons?

Mike Penning Portrait Mike Penning
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This country has led on human rights for centuries, and it will be no different when we introduce the legislation to ensure that this Parliament decides exactly what goes on, rather than a foreign court.