Oral Answers to Questions

Derek Thomas Excerpts

Tuesday 6th September 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Contributions to topical questions must be brief, whether from the Back Benches or the Front. There is a lot to get through and not much time in which to do so.

[Derek Thomas (St Ives) (Con)]

T3. I would never excuse criminal behaviour but some prisoners and former prisoners I have met have been denied opportunities in life that many of us take for granted. What are the Department and other Departments doing to ensure the life chances agenda extends to prisoners?

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

I thank my hon. Friend for that question. Some of the problems in society are magnified in our prisons. As the Prime Minister said, if we are going to have a country that works for everyone, prison reform is very much a part of that, including on literacy, training, work in prisons and employment opportunities when people are released.