Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lucy Frazer and Philip Hollobone

Thursday 20th May 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Solicitor General (Lucy Frazer)]

I understand my hon. Friend’s concern about this issue, which he has already brought to my attention. The CPS makes its charging decisions independently, with every case judged on its own merit, based on the tests set out in the code. In this particular case, my understanding is that the CPS reviewed it and determined that there was insufficient evidence to continue with the proceedings. That was because there was no evidence that the suspect was responsible for the excess numbers present outside the church.

[Mr Hollobone]

There is widespread dismay and outrage in Kettering that the organiser of that huge Irish Traveller funeral, held during the covid lockdown, has in effect got away with it. Clearly, however, the Crown Prosecution Service cannot successfully prosecute on any criminal case unless it is provided by the police with sufficient formal evidence against the accused. Given that the court hearing was held five months after the funeral took place, will the Solicitor General confirm when the CPS received the case file from the police?

[The Solicitor General]

I understand the concern of my hon. Friend’s constituents, as of many around the country who are abiding by the rules, which is what has managed to get our infection rates down. To answer his specific question, the first hearing was at the Northampton magistrates court on 19 April. The police had not previously sent the file through to the CPS due to a technical error on the part of the police. The file was received at 11.30 am on the morning of the hearing.

Justice

Debate between Lucy Frazer and Philip Hollobone

Tuesday 17th March 2020 Ministerial Corrections

[Mr Hollobone]

Foreign national offenders convicted in this country should serve their terms of imprisonment at the expense of their own Governments in their own countries. We may have 110 prisoner transfer agreements, but only about three are compulsory. Now that we have rediscovered our mojo for tough international renegotiation, can we please have more compulsory prisoner transfer agreements with high-volume crime countries with lots of nationals in our prisons, such as Pakistan, Nigeria and Albania?

[Lucy Frazer]

My hon. Friend is right to highlight the importance of removing foreign offenders to serve sentences in their own countries, and we have removed 51,000 such offenders from our prisons since 2010. He is right to highlight that we have a number of nationalities within our prisons, including a high number of Albanian, Polish and Romanian prisoners. We are considering all these matters in some detail.

[Official Report, 25 February 2020, Vol. 672, c. 170.]

Letter of correction from the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice, the hon. and learned Member for South East Cambridgeshire (Lucy Frazer).

An error has been identified in the response I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Kettering (Mr Hollobone).

The correct response should have been:

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lucy Frazer and Philip Hollobone

Tuesday 25th February 2020 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Frazer]

The hon. Member is absolutely right to say that IPP prisoners need an opportunity for hope. They need the Prison Service to provide opportunities for reform and to help those prisoners to reform, so that at the end of the process, the Parole Board can consider them appropriately for release. She is right to identify the fact that there used to be a waiting list for certain accredited offender behaviour courses, but that is no longer the case apart from in relation to one. We are doing our best to ensure that all prisoners get the rehabilitation that they need while they are with us in the Prison Service.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

10. How many non-UK citizens are serving custodial sentences; and if he will negotiate compulsory prisoner transfer agreements with other countries.

[The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lucy Frazer)]

I understand my hon. Friend’s concern about foreign nationals in our prisons. As he is aware, we have 110 prisoner transfer agreements with countries and territories around the world, and we continue to work closely with other Governments to try to increase that number.

[Mr Hollobone]

Foreign national offenders convicted in this country should serve their terms of imprisonment at the expense of their own Governments in their own countries. We may have 110 prisoner transfer agreements, but only about three are compulsory. Now that we have rediscovered our mojo for tough international renegotiation, can we please have more compulsory prisoner transfer agreements with high-volume crime countries with lots of nationals in our prisons, such as Pakistan, Nigeria and Albania?

[Lucy Frazer]

My hon. Friend is right to highlight the importance of removing foreign offenders to serve sentences in their own countries, and we have removed 51,000 such offenders from our prisons since 2010. He is right to highlight that we have a number of nationalities within our prisons, including a high number of Albanian, Polish and Romanian prisoners. We are considering all these matters in some detail.[Official Report, 17 March 2020, Vol. 673, c. 7MC.]

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lucy Frazer and Philip Hollobone

Tuesday 8th October 2019 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Frazer]

As I mentioned, we are increasing the opportunity for people to do work on release on temporary licence, which will increase their ability to earn money while they are in prison, so we are looking at the point that the hon. Lady raises. In relation to universal credit, my predecessor, now the Lord Chancellor, had a number of meetings with his counterpart in the Department for Work and Pensions and offenders are now able to access a DWP work coach prior to release, so they can make an appointment early and then, even on the day of release, complete their claim, because universal credit is critical.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

Whatever advice and guidance prisoners get while in prison, it is of little use if they are released at the weekend when support they need is often not available. How many prisoners as a proportion are released at the weekend and what are we doing to reduce that?

[Lucy Frazer]

My hon. Friend makes an important point about releases on Fridays. It is something that I have been looking at, but whether a prisoner is released on Friday, Thursday, Wednesday, Tuesday or Monday, it is important that they have accommodation and support.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lucy Frazer and Philip Hollobone

Thursday 4th July 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Solicitor General]

I point out to the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) that 73% of the cases that were referred by the Attorney General’s office resulted in an increase in convictions. The reason for the disparity between the number of cases that are referred to my office and the number that go to the Court of Appeal is that a large number of them do not fall within the scheme in the first place, either because they are out of time or because the offences do not fall within the scheme. We must always remember that the judge has heard the trial, heard the evidence and read the pre-sentence report. Judges up and down the country are doing an outstanding job to ensure that, when crimes have been committed, perpetrators get the sentences that they deserve and victims get the justice that they deserve.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

3. What recent progress the CPS has made in prosecuting drugs gangs in (a) Northamptonshire and (b) England.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lucy Frazer and Philip Hollobone

Tuesday 23rd April 2019 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Frazer]

There are a number of developments relating to the use of technology to ensure that people do not have to attend court or fill in lengthy, unwieldy documentation. People can now apply for divorce and for probate online, and users can be updated about social security claims through their mobile phone. We piloted online tax tribunal hearings, which were extremely effective, and we are now piloting further video hearings in the civil courts.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

Of the 9,000 foreign national prisoners in our jails, 760 are from Albania. What are we doing to negotiate a compulsory prisoner transfer agreement with Albania?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lucy Frazer and Philip Hollobone

Tuesday 12th March 2019 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Frazer]

I have had a number of meetings with my counterpart in the DWP, and my officials discuss this issue with the DWP regularly. I and my counterpart in the DWP will undertake a joint meeting at an assessment centre to further consider these important issues and ensure that we get decisions right first time.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

There are 9,090 foreign national offenders in our prisons, including 760 from Albania. Why are those people not serving their sentence in prison in their own countries?

Legislation against Female Genital Mutilation

Debate between Lucy Frazer and Philip Hollobone

Monday 11th February 2019 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Frazer]

I am happy to repeat that the Government take this matter seriously. The Chief Whip has identified this subject as a matter of importance, and it will be given Government time shortly.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

Female genital mutilation is an abhorrent crime and must be dealt with severely. The Minister keeps saying that this is an important issue and that it is horrific, but let us look at the reality. This crime was made illegal in 1985—34 years ago—but there has been just one prosecution. The Government need to make a little change to the Children’s Act 1989 to include the FGM amendments, but they have relied on a private Member’s Bill, introduced in the other place two years ago, to get the changes through. Until just the other week, the Government had not committed to allocating days for the consideration of private Members’ Bills, so it is completely inappropriate for Her Majesty’s Government to rely on a private Member’s Bill to make these important changes. The Government now say that they will allocate Government time to get the legislation through, and it is about time, too. They should have done that in the first place.

[Lucy Frazer]

I am grateful for the opportunity to respond to those points. Under this Prime Minister, the Government have taken a number of actions over several years to ensure that the offence of FGM is properly identified and prosecuted, that funding is allocated to addressing it and that girls are protected. The Government have introduced both a new offence of failing to protect a girl from FGM and civil protection orders, which have been well used since their introduction last September, and have made it a mandatory duty to report known cases involving under-18s. While the matter is important and the Government will bring forward new legislation, I reiterate that these changes would enable a judge to make a care order in the same proceedings. The protections that have existed since 2015 remain in place and will continue to protect individuals.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lucy Frazer and Philip Hollobone

Tuesday 5th February 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

Over the past eight years, the number of trials listed at Northampton Crown court without a firm date—categorised as floating trials—has increased from 10% to 23%. Why is this, and what can be done about it?

[Lucy Frazer]

This is a really important point because it is important that justice is not only done but done speedily. I should emphasise that listing is a judicial function, but it is important that Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service works closely with the judiciary on it. For that reason, I held a roundtable only a few weeks ago—with the judiciary, listing officers, the Bar Council, the Criminal Bar Association and the Law Society—to solve this issue.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lucy Frazer and Philip Hollobone

Tuesday 18th December 2018 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Frazer]

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.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

At any one time, there are about 5,000 EU nationals in our prisons, yet in the last six years, under the ineffective EU compulsory prisoner transfer agreement, only 217 have been sent back to prison in their own country. Will the Minister ensure that we can deport more EU nationals from our prisons once we leave the European Union?

[Lucy Frazer]

My hon. Friend makes an important point about prisoner transfer. Since 2010, we have removed more than 44,000 foreign national offenders from our prisons, our immigration removal centres and the community. Of course, the EU prisoner transfer provisions facilitate those arrangements, but we have other measures in place with over 100 other countries to ensure that we can continue prisoner transfers.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

With which specific countries are the Government negotiating new compulsory prisoner transfer agreements?

[Lucy Frazer]

The Government already have agreements with around 100 countries in relation to prisoner transfers.

Upskirting

Debate between Lucy Frazer and Philip Hollobone

Monday 18th June 2018 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Frazer]

I should point out that, while the legislation will largely protect women, it is not solely about women. It is about photographing up people’s clothes, and it will apply to men as well as women. It will also protect children.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

Residents of Kettering back the legislation, and I will gladly support it. Does the Minister agree that legislation is improved when it is given parliamentary time, and that the advantage of the Government’s introducing the Bill is that a full debate on the issue will be guaranteed on Second Reading?

[Lucy Frazer]

I think that there is a role for private Members’ Bills and for the procedure, but I am pleased that the House will have an opportunity to scrutinise this legislation fully.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lucy Frazer and Philip Hollobone

Tuesday 24th April 2018 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Frazer]

The hon. Gentleman makes a number of points that I would like to refute, but I will mainly concentrate on two. It is important that where successful people in business put themselves forward for public service, we should welcome them and not put off experienced people from taking up important posts. Mr Parker has been successful in the businesses that he operated and has operated them appropriately, and we welcome him to his post. The hon. Gentleman also talks about cuts to our system. I would like to make it clear that the Ministry of Justice is proposing an extensive reform programme, which will put £1 billion into our courts service.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

Benefit applicants in Kettering tell me that they are now having to wait a completely unacceptable 45 weeks for tribunal appeal hearings due to a lack of a suitable location. Will the Minister look into that as a matter of urgency and get that problem fixed?

[Lucy Frazer]

It is very important that when cases are started, they are heard expediently, so that people are not prejudiced and do not have to wait for justice. I am happy to meet my hon. Friend to talk about those issues.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lucy Frazer and Philip Hollobone

Tuesday 23rd January 2018 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Frazer]

I would be very happy to meet the hon. Gentleman to discuss that issue.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

Pakistani nationals make up one of the largest national groups in our prisons, but the prisoner transfer agreement with Pakistan has been suspended for the last eight years. As a matter of urgency, can we get it up and running again?