Speeches by Rigby.

“One of my priorities as Solicitor General and the priority of the Director for Public Prosecutions, whom I met earlier this week, is tackling the intolerable backlog in our courts and transforming the way in which we support victims of crime. The Prime Minister has set out our plan for change, which will restore confid…”

“The hon. Member is right to raise this important and pressing issue. We know that those who commit such crimes, including crimes in our rural communities, are some of the most manipulative criminals in society. The Crown Prosecution Service supplies early investigative advice to law enforcement agencies to build strong…”

“I can give that assurance. The hon. Gentleman calls this kind of crime low level. I know from experiences in my constituency that these issues can affect daily life and really blight communities, so yes he has my assurance.”

“The Government are committed to tackling criminality of all types. We have set out our plan for change, which includes putting 13,000 more police officers and PCSOs on the beat, and bringing back neighbourhood policing. Next year, the Crown Prosecution Service will receive an additional £49 million of funding to help r…”

“Fly-tipping is a scourge both in urban and rural areas, which is why we are clamping down on it by forcing environmental vandals to clean up the mess they create. We are taking a cross-Government approach, aligned with our safer streets mission. I am sure my hon. Friend will be reassured to know that, working with mini…”

“We are committed to implementing the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Act, which aims to prevent the theft and re-sale of high-value equipment, particularly for use in an agricultural setting, as my hon. Friend describes. He will know that the Minister for Policing, Fire and Crime Prevention takes this matter very seriousl…”

“Reliable and effective local policing is the foundation for keeping all our constituents safe, whether they live in a city, a town or a rural area. That is why the Government are putting more police officers and PCSOs on the beat. Our plan for change will ensure every neighbourhood has a named contactable police office…”

“I am grateful to the hon. Member for his question. He will appreciate that I do not have those statistics to hand, but I am more than happy to write to him.”

“The hon. Gentleman is right to highlight these issues in this House. Key to prevention and early intervention is our programme of young futures hubs and prevention partnerships. Our young futures hubs will bring together services to improve the ways that young people can access the support they need, and our prevention…”

“The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right that knife crime is still too high—more than 50,000 instances in the year to June 2024. He is also right to highlight that this Government are taking strong action to combat knife crime. We know that effective local policing is vital to tackling knife crime, which is why we are pu…”

“I am very sorry to hear about that shocking incident in my hon. Friend’s constituency, and she is right to raise it in this House. These kinds of weapons have absolutely no place on our streets. That is why this Government took quick action to ensure it was illegal to possess machetes. I hope and expect that there will…”

“ Understood, and the Chair may yet bring out some things—”

“ I wanted to pick up on the phone lines that Dame Harriett mentioned earlier. Sir Jim, you announced last year that you were going to close them and you then reversed that decision. I think you told the Committee last time you were here that you were talking to Ministers about that. Can you update us on the status…”

“ Can you tell us a bit about the metrics you are using for the purpose of assessing those phone calls?”

“ A fair number of people are digitally excluded at the moment, and a number of people, I am sure, would feel slightly uneasy about the push towards digital because they much prefer doing things in a non-digital way. Would your message to them be, “Don't worry, because there will always be an option to do things ov…”

“ That is a very helpful segue to what I want to ask about next: the digital transformation road map. You are preparing for that at the moment. Is that right?”

“ Sir Jim, I want to pick up on the point that Dame Harriett was making about the loophole when it comes to platforms and foreign sellers masquerading as domestic sellers. You clearly do not think the amount of tax lost is as big as the NAO does, but do you have a ballpark figure? Or might you be able to let u…”

“ Would it be fair to say that you are actively on the lookout for new use cases?”

“ I wanted to follow up on that in relation to AI. You mentioned other jurisdictions that use AI—I cannot recall whether you meant gen AI in that context. First, are there any jurisdictions that you think are particularly good on that at the moment, which we might be able to emulate in certain ways? Secon…”

“ In relation to the extra money going in, is it right to say that on those metrics things are looking better and improving? Is that fair?”