Speeches by Cox.

“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?”

“So you are using KPIs to measure effectiveness. If we home in on drug treatments and the effectiveness of your work in that sphere, how would you comment on that?”

“Thank you very much. Dr Green, could you give us an overview of how Practice Plus Group delivers as a healthcare provider in prisons?”

“Is that engagement good, bad or indifferent?”

“Do you set your own KPIs for service level agreements or are they set externally?”

“Thank you, and good afternoon. Could you explain to us how prison healthcare is commissioned?”

“How much of the commissioning process is in the public realm, and how much of it is deemed commercially sensitive and therefore unable to be in the public realm?”

“So some of it is commercially sensitive and not in the public realm?”