Speeches by Farnsworth.

“Still on the topic of relationships, can we talk about the alienation of a child, and perhaps I can bring Jacky in on this as well. Where there are allegations of one parent alienating a child from the other parent, in both your experiences is the court able to assess those allegations fully and respond to that behavio…”

“I do not envy you and your colleagues for having that task. It is an incredibly complex situation, particularly with what we have discussed about the domestic abuse relationship setting as well. When I ask this next question, I am conscious that Dame Nicole mentioned the pressure CAFCASS is under generally and resource…”

“Hopefully we will shortly come on to that in a little more detail, but it is good to hear the progress that is being made. Your recent Family Court Review and Reporting Mechanism pilot recently found that the structural barriers identified by the Harm Panel remain. I have heard you talk about some of the barriers this …”

“I am the Member of Parliament for Amber Valley. Before being a Member of Parliament, I was a Crown prosecutor for 21 years. My interests are declared in the Register.”

“Still on the topic of relationships, can we talk about the alienation of a child, and perhaps I can bring Jacky in on this as well. Where there are allegations of one parent alienating a child from the other parent, in both your experiences is the court able to assess those allegations fully and respond to that behavio…”

“I am the Member of Parliament for Amber Valley. Before being a Member of Parliament, I was a Crown prosecutor for 21 years. My interests are declared in the Register.”

“I mentioned I was a former Crown prosecutor, so it probably will not surprise you that I really want to delve into domestic abuse situations and the interplay of those situations with the family courts. My first question is for Dame Nicole, if I may ask you about coercive control. I am aware of concerns that perpetrato…”

“That is really worrying to hear, but from my experience in my past life in the Crown court it is not surprising. It has been five years since the Harm Panel report, and you have mentioned the Pathfinder Courts. I am just wondering what other progress the family court has made since the Harm Panel report came out to cha…”

“I do not envy you and your colleagues for having that task. It is an incredibly complex situation, particularly with what we have discussed about the domestic abuse relationship setting as well. When I ask this next question, I am conscious that Dame Nicole mentioned the pressure CAFCASS is under generally and resource…”

“Hopefully we will shortly come on to that in a little more detail, but it is good to hear the progress that is being made. Your recent Family Court Review and Reporting Mechanism pilot recently found that the structural barriers identified by the Harm Panel remain. I have heard you talk about some of the barriers this …”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Lewell. I thank the hon. Member for Keighley and Ilkley (Robbie Moore) for opening this important debate. The strength of feeling behind this petition is clear, with over 1,000 signatures in my constituency alone. It was raised by my constituent, Natalie Elliott, a for…”

“On that point, is the Minister also concerned about local authorities such as Derbyshire county council, whose leader is parroting the sentiments of the hon. Member for Clacton (Nigel Farage) about “overdiagnosis” of SEND? All the families in my constituency that face SEND issues are at their wits’ end trying to get th…”

“My hon. Friend is making a powerful case that I wholeheartedly support. She is outlining not only the real problems that gambling addiction causes but the trauma that often leads to it, which shows how important rehabilitation is. We have heard much from Opposition Members today about how everybody should be punished a…”

“In my constituency of Amber Valley the David Nieper academy teaches employability skills in conjunction with local industry, and it has had zero NEETs—those not in education, employment or training—at age 18 for the past two academic years. Will the Secretary of State join me in congratulating its students and its staf…”

“18. What steps her Department is taking to ensure that it meets its target of two thirds of young people participating in higher-level learning.”

“I am grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way, and I agree entirely with what she says about the importance of meaningful work or purposeful activity in prisons. On that basis, does she share my concern that the court backlog means that there are thousands of prisoners on remand who are not required to do purposeful a…”

“As part of the Justice Committee’s inquiry on rehabilitation and resettlement, we received evidence showing that ROTL use has declined, particularly since covid; it has not really recovered from that. It is great to hear the good work the Minister is outlining on this, but I urge him to continue to push for greater use…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Efford. Intervention to fix the Crown court backlog is needed now. Without radical reform, things will only get worse; but in my submission this situation presents an opportunity to present the positive case for modernising our system. The changing nature of crime i…”

“As a former Crown prosecutor of 21 years, like my hon. Friend the Member for Forest of Dean (Matt Bishop) and my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Tony Vaughan), I have seen close up the impact of our broken criminal justice system on victims, on communities and on our country as a whole. Bec…”

“Does the hon. Member agree that requiring an offender to look at the root causes of their offending is far from the easy option? Facing up to those life difficulties is very hard, but it is a really effective way of stopping the cycle of offending.”