Nicholas Dakin MP: speeches

Speeches

• 15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source

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  Anybody subject to a fixed-term recall will be recalled for 28 days, and if their risk is assessed as greater, they will be transferred to a standard recall. The reality is that anybody affected by this has already served their time in prison; they are on licence, being properly monitored and effectively managed by the Probation Service.

• 15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is right to remind the House of the chaos and turmoil that the Conservatives applied to our very important Probation Service when they were in government. We are putting probation back together. We have already brought 1,000 new probation officers on board, and we are committed to a further 1,300 in the coming year.

• 15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source

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  I certainly hope that all those things will be looked at by the independent sentencing review. The mandating of the 14-day fixed-term release was a measure taken by the previous Government. We are extending that to 28 days for sentences of up to four years because of the situation that we face, to ensure that we do not run out of prison places in the interim.

• 15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is exactly right to point to that planning application going forward. It is excellent news, and shows that we are cracking on with the job.

• 15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman will be aware that the Victims and Courts Bill is about to go through Parliament, and that is the sort of issue that we will look at during the Bill’s passage.

• 15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source

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  We speak to the Victims’ Commissioner regularly; the Under-Secretary of State for Justice, my hon. Friend the Member for Pontypridd (Alex Davies-Jones), is speaking to them later today.

• 15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend points out the actions that we must take to address the challenges that we face in the system, and to make the system work better for victims and protect the public.

• 15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is right: the recall population has doubled in just seven years and we need to address that. The independent sentencing review will report shortly, and I hope that there will be recommendations to which we can respond in that report.

• 15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source

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  It is clear that tagging technology has huge potential. A recent study has shown a 20% reduction in reoffending by offenders wearing curfew tags, but my hon. Friend is right to draw attention to concerns about the contract. Serco’s performance is improving, but it is still not acceptable. The reporting in the “Dispatches” programme was from last year, when we knew that there were serious issues, and we issued financial penalties to Serco, which was given the contract by the previous Government. If Serco’s performance drops again, all options will remain on the table.

• 15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source

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  The hon. Member will know that his colleague, the hon. Member for Chichester (Jess Brown-Fuller), is working closely with the Under-Secretary of State for Justice, my hon. Friend the Member for Pontypridd (Alex Davies-Jones), on getting things right for victims. That is something we take very seriously, and it needs to be done properly, with victims, in order to get it right. I hope that the independent sentencing review report will contain things that give us confidence about moving forward and about the way we work with victims.

• 15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source

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  We are always alert to the need to assess how policies apply to the wider public and victims. That is important.

• 15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source

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  Victims absolutely need to be kept informed, and we continue to work with victims’ groups and the Victims’ Commissioner to ensure that they are.

• 15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source

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  I have carefully gone through the exclusions from this measure, and emphasised the importance of good professional bodies continuing to apply proper risk assessments. When risk assessments say that a standard recall is more appropriate than a fixed-term recall, that will happen.

• 15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source

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  I say gently that we have deported more foreign nationals in the first year on our watch than the previous Government did in the years on their watch. He is right that we have to roll up our sleeves and continue to get on with the job.

• 15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source

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  I am very sorry to hear about the cases mentioned by my hon. Friend. I am happy to meet him to take the matter further.

• 15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source

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  We have great respect for the Victims’ Commissioner. What would be letting down victims is if we allowed the prison system to get to a place where we cannot lock prisoners up—that would be unconscionable. That is why it is important that we have taken these steps. I remind the hon. Member that we are excluding those prisoners who pose the most risk and are managed under MAPPA—multi-agency public protection arrangements—levels 2 and 3. That means various agencies working together. The exclusion also includes all those convicted of terrorist and national security crimes. Proper action can be taken where agencies identify risk to move from a fixed-term recall to a standard recall.

• 15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend makes a good point, and the House will have heard it.

• 15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source

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  The commissioner has been spoken to by the team. To be clear, the impact assessment will be published when we come to consider the statutory instrument.

• 15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source

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  This is not about releasing people from prison earlier.

• 15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source

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  I hear the right hon. Gentleman’s question, and I will write to him.

• 15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source

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  We have deported more foreign national offenders in 12 months than the last Government did in the previous 12 months, and we are continuing to work hard with the Home Office to deport foreign national offenders. We will never be able to do that on the scale necessary to address the challenges that we face in our prisons at this time.

• 15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is quite right. We faced a real emergency when we came into office. It is unconscionable that any Government would do that to an incoming Government. The previous Labour Government added 28,000 prison places in 13 years. In their 14 years, the Conservative Government managed to add 500. In 10 months we have already delivered 2,400 prison places.

• 12 May 2025 · Protection of Prison Staff · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend raises a question about prison maintenance; that is always under review. Contracts were in place when this Government came into office that needed to be taken forward to ensure that our prisons were kept as safe as possible. Those who are assessed as posing a raised risk of violence are supported through a case management approach that is centred around the individual and addresses the underlying causes of their violence, including specific risk factors and needs, to help them manage and move away from violent behaviours.

• 12 May 2025 · Protection of Prison Staff · Hansard source

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  I am happy to meet those unions and the right hon. Member on the charter. Obviously, until we see the charter, it is difficult to know where things are going on that, but I am sure that HMPPS will be proactive in working with all the associations on getting the charter right.

• 12 May 2025 · Protection of Prison Staff · Hansard source

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  I agree wholeheartedly that the safety and security of our prison staff must always come first and foremost. To address the other part of the hon. Member’s question, I have already indicated that a review is going on. That needs to be done properly and effectively, and we will come back and inform the House in due course.