The Bishop of Gloucester received the following written answer on 19th December 2024:
The Lord Bishop of Gloucester asked His Majesty’s Government what steps they will take to ensure that electronic monitoring tags are available in all sizes and that no one will be required to remain in prison solely because there is no electronic tag that will fit them.
Continue reading “Bishop of Gloucester asks about use of electronic tagging”The Bishop of Gloucester received the following written answers on 16th December 2024:
The Lord Bishop of Gloucester asked His Majesty’s Government what plans they have to publish the number of UK citizens in prison abroad as a matter of routine
Continue reading “Bishop of Gloucester asks about status of prisoners in the UK and overseas”
The Bishop of Gloucester spoke in a debate on the autumn budget on 11th November 2024, with a focus on reform of the criminal justice system:
The Lord Bishop of Gloucester: My Lords, I will focus on the Budget in the context of criminal justice, and declare my interest as the Anglican Bishop for HM Prisons in England and Wales.
I was encouraged to hear from the Chancellor that the Government intend to
“begin to repair the justice system”,
and I welcome the extra investment in the Ministry of Justice—although how that will be spent is vital. We need to ensure that the aim is not to finance our way out of a prison capacity crisis. Let us first address the purpose of prison and then put the resources in the right place, with a long-term vision of enabling strong and healthy families and communities. As a Christian, I hold fast to hope and transformation. Reoffending continues a pattern of broken relationships and is costly, not only to the fabric of society but in financial terms: it costs approximately £18 billion per year. Let us not increase funds simply to do more of the same, because all the evidence is that it is not working.
Continue reading “Autumn Budget: Bishop of Gloucester highlights need for reform in the criminal justice system”The Bishop of Sheffield spoke in a debate on prison capacity on 12th September 2024, highlighting the important role made by prison chaplains and the need for prison staff to be properly resourced and supported:
The Lord Bishop of Sheffield: My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Burt, for enabling this debate and for the opportunity to speak in it. My right reverend friend the Bishop of Gloucester, lead Bishop for prisons, is unable to be here today. I know she wishes that she had been able to contribute. I share her interest in the welfare of prisoners and of those called to work in prisons, not least in the four prisons in my diocese in and around Doncaster.
Ministers have made plain their deep concern at the capacity problem in our prisons and have set out their plans to address it in both the short and longer term. I urge the Government to think deeply about the factors that have led us to this crisis and to respond creatively and boldly when considering the purpose of prison and the alternatives to custody. At their best, prisons are places of transformation. Every person supported to turn away from offending makes our country safer for everyone. But truly effective rehabilitation almost always takes place in a context of care and trust. It surely goes without saying that overcrowding in prisons is not conducive to a transformative culture.
Continue reading “Bishop of Sheffield highlights importance of prison staff and chaplains during debate on UK prison capacity”On 12th September 2024, the Bishop of St Albans tabled a question on the government’s assessment of the NFU Mutual’s recent rural crime report:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of NFU Mutual’s Rural Crime Report 2024, published on 1 August.
Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab, Home Office): I begin by thanking the National Farmers’ Union Mutual for its report. Rural crime can have a devastating effect on, and consequences for, countryside communities and the agricultural sector. That is why the Government are committed to reducing crime in rural areas. Under our proposed reforms, rural communities will be safeguarded, with tougher measures to clamp down on anti-social behaviour and strengthen neighbourhood policing, as well as stronger measures to prevent farm theft and fly-tipping.
Continue reading “Bishop of St Albans asks about rural crime”The Bishop of Southwark asked a question on the recent unrest and riots in the UK on 3rd September 2024, enquiring whether the government would set up an enquiry or similar mechanism to address the underlying economic and social issues in UK communities affected by the events:
The Lord Bishop of Southwark: My Lords, I express appreciation to the Minister and his right honourable friend the Home Secretary for the Government’s Statement. I extend heartfelt sympathy to the families of the victims of recent violent disorder. I support the Government’s strong and determined response, including the swift apprehension of perpetrators and bringing them to justice. I also applaud the strong and positive signal that this sends: protest cannot extend to violence and abuse. I am grateful that Members of the House have spoken so powerfully on the evil of anti-Semitic, Islamophobic and racist incidents, which the Minister rightly addressed as criminality. In addition to the measures announced, are His Majesty’s Government seeking to address, perhaps through an inquiry, some of the underlying economic and social issues that can render people vulnerable to exploitation and incitement, to their own cost and to the detriment of the wider community?
Continue reading “Bishop of Southwark asks about possibility of inquiry to address causes of recent social unrest”
The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 2nd September 2024:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bellamy on 21 March (HL3214) what assessment has been made of the drop in prosecutions for poaching in England, from 107 in 2019 to 34 in 2023.
Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab, DEFRA): The Government recognises the problems and distress which poaching can cause for local communities. Tackling it is one of the UK’s national wildlife crime priorities.
Continue reading “Bishop of St Albans asks about drop in poaching prosecutions”On 26th July 2024, the Bishop of Newcastle spoke in a debate on a report from the Justice and Home Affairs Committee, ‘Cutting crime: better community sentences (1st Report, Session 2023–24, HL Paper 27)’, on the topic of community sentences and the opportunity for reform of the justice system towards a more rehabilitative model:
The Lord Bishop of Newcastle: My Lords, I am glad to take part in this debate and I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, for enabling the report on community sentencing to be discussed in this House. It is an honour to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Prashar, and I commend her point about changing the public narrative.
I also welcome the Minister to his new role and commend his excellent maiden speech, delivered on Wednesday, for which I was pleased to be present, and the wisdom and expertise that he brings to his new role. I wish him very well indeed. I also commend him on the way he dealt with repeating a Statement from the other place and taking questions before he had delivered that maiden speech. If I may use a word borrowed from my primary field of expertise, this was a baptism-by-fire experience.
Continue reading “Bishop of Newcastle raises potential of community sentences for reform and rehabilitation in the justice system”The Bishop of Manchester spoke on the topic of criminal justice during the King’s speech debate on 24th July 2024, welcoming the government’s focus on community policing and policies to introduce a duty of candour for public officials:
The Lord Bishop of Manchester: My Lords, it is always a pleasure to follow my former boss.
As a trustee of the Clink Charity, where we help prisoners build skills for employment in the catering industry, I too welcome the noble Lord, Lord Timpson, and congratulate him on a powerful and hopeful speech. He might wish to know that the Clink restaurant at Styal prison won the Cheshire Life restaurant of the year award earlier this week. If his team can draw my remarks to his attention, I hope he will accept an invitation to dine with me there later this year, so he can see for himself. However, as my right reverend friend the Bishop of Gloucester has spoken eloquently about prisons already, I will focus elsewhere.
Continue reading “King’s Speech Debate: Bishop of Manchester welcomes focus on communities and accountability”The Bishop of Gloucester asked a question following a government statement on prison capacity on 24th July 2024, welcoming Lord Timpson to his role as Prisons Minister and querying how the government planned to change the public perception of prisons to encourage change:
The Lord Bishop of Gloucester: My Lords, I too welcome the noble Lord, Lord Timpson—someone so brilliantly equipped for the task. I welcome this Statement and all the good sense contained in it as we lift this immediate crisis. I am all for new prison places, as long as they are not in addition to all the crumbling prison places. It was wonderful to hear him offer assurance that increased prison capacity will not become the main aim but rather, if I heard correctly, that we will have the courage to look at a whole-systems approach in a solution-focused way.
Continue reading “Bishop of Gloucester responds to government statement on prison capacity”
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