Speeches by Cox.

“Let me take us back to the independence of the role, as we have touched on various aspects of that. Would you be prepared to represent the interests of victims, even when those interests might not be priorities for the Government of the day? For example, if victims were calling for a public inquiry, but that was not su…”

“Last month, I was pleased to host a true heritage champion, Dame Mary Beard, in Colchester. She came to visit an incredible sporting heritage site: Britain’s only known Roman chariot racing track, the Colchester Roman Circus. She, like me, thinks that we should make much more of the site and that we are missing a natio…”

“1. What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the Spending Review 2025 on the heritage sector.”

“All right. Perhaps we will follow up with you on that afterwards. Thank you.”

“Good afternoon. I am Pam Cox, the MP for Colchester. My interests are declared on the register, and I will just add that I am the new chair of the APPG on penal affairs.”

“I will stick with process for a second before moving on to questions about independence. What proportion of the Parole Board’s workflow is digitised?”

“The Committee has been pursuing that theme across the justice system. You sound like an exemplar institution. Turning to the independence of the Parole Board. Historically, the Parole Board advised the Home Secretary, and the Home Secretary made release decisions. That changed in 1996 when the Parole Board became an ar…”

“In what instances does the Secretary of State become involved in individual parole decisions, given the importance of the independence you just described?”

“To continue in that vein, the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 permits the Secretary of State to refer decisions to the High Court if a release may “undermine public confidence”. Do you feel that such a measure is necessary?”

“Finally, Alexandra, the framework agreement between the Parole Board and the MoJ was last updated in 2012, which is a long time ago. Is there a case for reviewing and updating it? Is that on your to-do list?”

“I rise to speak as the Member of Parliament for Colchester and as a member of the Justice Committee. I also declare an interest as the recently elected chair of the all-party group on penal affairs. The estimate for the Ministry of Justice proposes a 6.5% increase in day-to-day spending and a 20.8% increase in capital …”

“In Colchester, we have been celebrating the 20th anniversary of the discovery by local archaeologists of Britain’s only known Roman chariot racing track: the Colchester Roman circus. Dame Mary Beard, no less, recently visited the site with me and declared it to be absolutely amazing. Will the Leader of the House join m…”

“I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Dudley (Sonia Kumar) for bringing this debate—I cannot quite believe it is the first time that the House has debated this issue. I also fully endorse her suggested recommendations to improve bladder and bowel care, and I hope that the Minister will also endorse them. As we have hea…”

“Thinking about the impact of this on victims, how do you think this model should be communicated to victims and the public, to reassure them that justice is still being served?”

“Do you feel that prisoners who are suffering from mental health issues or challenges would be equally able to benefit from this reform?”

“One of the areas in which a prisoner could demonstrate earned progression would be through positive engagement with prison programmes. We have heard many times on this Committee how limited access is to those programmes and the limitations on access to purposeful activity is very serious. Do you think that is going to …”

“Do you think that this is going to change the nature of the relationship between prison staff and inmates, if prison staff are being asked to determine if someone has met the criteria or not for earned progression?”

“Thank you very much, Mr Gauke, and to your team also for that review. I would like to talk about the earned progression model. Many of us feel that it is one of the most important aspects of the review. Could you briefly outline what the earned progression model is and outline the evidence that your team drew on to det…”

“Afternoon. I am Pam Cox, MP for Colchester. My interests are declared on the register.”

“The final one for me, and we will pick this up later as well, is about the impacts on the Probation Service of, in effect, early release. How do you think probation will need to alter to cope?”