Speeches by Farnsworth.

“I want to come in here in relation to the drive for early guilty pleas. I am very familiar with it, as you can imagine. With the current situation on the backlog, we know the effect on victims and witnesses of crime in terms of the likelihood of them attending court if a case is listed very far into the future. What ar…”

“I want to focus on the Crown court, as you can imagine, and in particular Crown court efficiency. I was looking at the figures. In 2023, in the halcyon days, we had 111,996 sitting days and disposed of 21,026 cases.”

“For 2023, the figures that I was given—”

“I will move on to looking at the remand side of things. You mentioned the challenges of prisoners being brought to court. Are there any other impacts that custody cases are having? We heard at Snaresbrook about bail cases for very serious offences being put back for trial in 2027. They often get bumped back because of …”

“It is a great privilege to be called to make my maiden speech in this most important debate, and it is an honour to represent the people of Amber Valley in this House. I am proud to be part of a Government with five missions, but my sixth mission is to put Amber Valley firmly on the map. Any Members who have had the mi…”

“Thank you, Chair. I have a very quick question. You mentioned the phones in prison and organised crime groups essentially continuing with their business model from within prison. You have said that you work with other agencies as well. If you receive intelligence to suggest that there is an operation going on in one of…”

“What about other options for supporting bail? Electronic tagging was mentioned, which has been around for a long time. I was really excited to hear a debate in the House about tags that monitor alcohol use and things like that. That is really exciting for an old prosecutor like me. Could you tell me a little bit more a…”

“That is right. I would like to explore adult custodial remand with you a little if possible. The sentencing review is just that: it is about sentencing. My understanding is that it does not cover remand in custody. Are you seeking to reduce the number of people who are remanded into custody. If so, what steps are you t…”

“There have been problems with construction, though, as well, have there not? ISG was a construction company that collapsed, essentially. Has that affected specific projects that you have been working on? Do you have alternative contractors in mind ready to take over going forward?”

“How will you decide where those prisons should be?”

“Just briefly if it is okay. It is probably timely. You have just mentioned again new prisons. We will come back to prison maintenance shortly. On the point of new prisons, it is great to hear that Millsike is opening in April, and I think you mentioned a new block opening elsewhere as well. It is clear from what the Mi…”

“I am a former Crown prosecutor. I am a member of the APPG on access to justice and of a number of trade unions, including the FDA, as declared.”

“I intend to speak only briefly on the clause. I welcome the data protection assurances given by the Minister. This is an important clause because it allows the SIA to receive and share information by way of disclosures to facilitate the exercising of its functions. This morning the Minister spoke about our security age…”

“Q It is clear that the approach in Manchester has been very collaborative with businesses, local authorities and the community. Do you have any thoughts on the guidance that could be given to local authorities about this Bill going forward? Andy Burnham: That is a really important question. The guidance that I want to …”

“indicated assent. Andy Burnham: You are nodding, which suggests that other places see that. It cannot be in the interest of public safety to have taxis licensed 100 miles away. I would say to local authorities that we need to start calling for change on public safety on nights out. That would include arrangements at th…”

“5. What assessment she has made of the impact of recent disorder on the criminal justice system.”

“As a Crown prosecutor for 21 years, I know only too well that the court backlog has been worsened by repair issues forcing courts to close. What is the Secretary of State doing to address the repairs needed to the court estate, so that victims in my constituency of Amber Valley and across the country can get access to …”