Speeches by Cox.

“I welcome this statement and the White Paper. What steps is the Secretary of State taking to ensure that programmes such as turnaround are felt in constituencies such as mine in Colchester and beyond?”

“As this parliamentary Session draws to a close, it seems like a good moment to reflect on the legislation passed since the general election—not all of it, of course. Many of us have walked through the Lobby to pass 60 Bills that have touched almost every aspect of British life, from the care of cats, dogs and ferrets t…”

“Good afternoon. I am Pam Cox, MP for Colchester. My interests are as declared.”

“That is reassuring. It is such a powerful symbol when you have a release in error, as I am sure you will agree: it undermines public confidence in the system in an extremely visceral way.”

“It is very concerning, because we are sending potentially thousands of people to spend long amounts of time in unsafe buildings.”

“Dame Lynne Owens recently published her independent review into releases in error, in which she made 33 recommendations. The MOJ has said that it accepts her recommendations that are covered by this spending review period. Are you able to tell us which specific recommendations they are?”

“I am going to take us to PFIs now—another cheery subject. Many justice-related PFIs are expiring soon; at least six PFI prison contracts will end in the next two years. Can you talk us through how you will manage those competitions?”

“Thank you. I am sure that the Committee will come back to that as time goes on. One way to reduce the prison population is to reduce the reoffending linked to drug-related crime, say. The Committee published a report on the drug crisis in our prisons, and you responded to it. We interviewed and heard from a lot of very…”

“Given that there is a drugs crisis in prisons, do you think we might revisit those partially accepted conclusions?”

“I defer to the Chair, but that is certainly something that I would welcome. In the meantime, Chris Whitty has produced this weighty tome, “The health of people in prison, on probation and in the secure NHS estate in England”. There is quite an overlap between the sentiments of our two reports, and who tops Chris Whitty…”

“I have a connected question about procurement. I remember being very surprised to hear, as a new MP last year, that the MOJ was handling more than 1,000 contracts of various types. Can you talk us through how the Government’s changes to procurement practice are impacting your procurement practice, in terms of getting b…”

“Let’s stay with prisons but move on to demand for prison places. The annual statement on prison capacity for 2025 suggests that the reforms in the Sentencing Act 2026 will reduce the prison population by about 7,500 by February 2028. It also notes that those projections are uncertain and liable to change. Are you confi…”

“Could that also include any variance with Parole Board definitions?”

“Thank you. I am going to move to the question of remand now. Around 44% of children, I think, in the secure estate are on remand. Waiting times for them are at their highest for many years. I think the average time from offence to completion reached a record of 230 days recently. How do these delays affect children and…”

“Good afternoon. I am Pam Cox, the Member of Parliament for Colchester. My interests are as declared on the register. I would just add that I am the chair of the Penal Affairs APPG.”

“Thank you. That raises the question of where girls are best placed. At the moment, the MOJ’s position is that the secure children’s homes are the favoured institution. We know that girls make up around 3% of the overall total in the secure estate but are much more deeply affected by issues around self-harm, trauma, and…”

“Is it possible, though, to deliver the service that Rachel has described in that smaller unit setting within that larger setting?”

“You think it is?”

“Black and mixed-race children are more likely to be remanded. Could you say something around the concentration of children from those groupings in your establishments?”

“Would you say that children’s social care services needs to do better on this?”