Speeches by Davies-Jones.

“Yes, it has indeed looked at this and I have had quite a lot of engagement with the Law Commission, with the sector and with Professor Katrin Hohl, who was your previous witness on this specifically on the bad character evidence. I have also had quite a lot of representation from parliamentarians on this issue. We are …”

“He will know that this is a contract we inherited from the previous Government and it would not be appropriate for me to comment on contract arrangements with a private contractor. However, I can reassure him that his comments will be passed on to the Prisons Minister and the new Lord Chancellor, who is now in place, t…”

“As I have already outlined, we have no plans to expand the scope of eligibility nor plans to reduce eligibility for it at the present. We want to make sure that we get how it is currently operating right and effective for victims and for the whole criminal justice process. We want to get it right and we want to get it …”

“Can I just add there that, as Alex has outlined, we were fortunate to benefit from the fact that section 28 had not been rolled out everywhere, to have that control and test subject to be able to do that comparison. Now that section 28 has been rolled out to all 28 Crown Courts, we no longer have that difference to be …”

“You would have to ask them directly.”

“I think that victims want a criminal justice system that they can believe in. Ultimately, that means ensuring that there is always a prison place available for a perpetrator of violence. If we do not look at a different way of looking at sentencing, that is just not sustainable. As I have said, we also need to build mo…”

“I welcome that question, Sir Ashley. There was a victims’ representative on the sentencing review panel looking at this specifically. I personally met with many victims and survivors directly to discuss the sentencing Bill and the review in detail. I meet regularly with the Victims’ Commissioner for England and Wales, …”

“Transparency in sentencing is something that came out of the sentencing review quite loudly and it is something that I have heard from victims and survivors. I have had the privilege—privilege or deep sadness—to meet with far too many victims and survivors in this role. They have told me directly that they believe that…”

“I would say that the worst thing of all that we could do for victims and survivors would be running out of prison places. It would be having a criminal justice system that is not sustainable and fit for purpose. The Committee will know that this Government inherited an entire criminal justice system in crisis, prisons …”

“It is important to recognise the work of the end-to-end Rape Review from the previous Government. It is brilliant work in terms of recognising the issue of rape cases. Operation Soteria, as was outlined by the previous witness in their session, did some great things in bringing to the forefront the police response in h…”

“It is. The Minister for Safeguarding and I met with the previous Economic Secretary to the Treasury on this, looking at how we look at cohabitation rights reform as well, which the Member will know was in our manifesto, looking at how we can boost cohabitation rights looking forward. That is something that we are consi…”

“Yes, the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls in the Home Office and I have been having many trilateral meetings across government with every single Government Department involved in this. I can assure the Honourable Member that the majority of Government Departments are involved—we are even t…”

“That is the goal, absolutely, in terms of reducing the levels of crime overall, reducing the numbers of victims and to boost confidence across the criminal justice system. As I have said, one of the biggest aims is that we make better citizens and not better criminals. It is about how we break that cycle of offending t…”

“He will know that this is a contract we inherited from the previous Government and it would not be appropriate for me to comment on contract arrangements with a private contractor. However, I can reassure him that his comments will be passed on to the Prisons Minister and the new Lord Chancellor, who is now in place, t…”

“Hopefully the Committee will be aware that we have increased probation funding by up to £700 million as a result of the sentencing review and the spending review, to recognise the fact that we will need more probation officers, better equipment, better training, better guidance on exactly how we can keep the public saf…”

“Or depending on how you were using that flag, that marker, it could just be through guidance to probation officers or to the prison service in terms of how they apply that. So it will vary, but it is not a primary legislative thing, in our view.”

“No, it does not need primary legislation to do that.”

“Yes, so a DAPO or a non-molestation order, for example, if there is a breach of that protective order, a short custodial sentence can still be imposed.”

“The Bill does have a presumption to suspend short sentences. However, it is important to note here that in his review of the sentencing review it was outlined that presumption against short sentences does not necessarily mean for all cases. There will be judicial discretion here. In cases of domestic abuse or stalking,…”

“I have immense respect for Professor Thomas. She has done lots of brilliant work for us across the criminal justice system looking at this. However, the reviews and both evaluations are not comparable. They were done quite differently with different methodology. Looking at the actual facts here, it is probably best I b…”