Speeches by Cox.

“Would you be good enough to send us your outcome metrics, whatever they may be—reoffending rates, better ability to self-regulate? Whatever outcome metrics you use, please send us a copy.”

“A point of clarification. We have talked about neurodiversity and mental ill health; am I right to assume that given the nature of the children under your care some of them may be exhibiting signs of things like early onset schizophrenia and early onset personality disorder, so severe mental ill health. Just because th…”

“While we are on the more general setting-up of the discussion here, I would quite like to explore the extent to which the children in your care have themselves been victims of crime beforehand. The victim/offender overlap is very high, particularly among younger people. Could you give me a broad idea about that?”

“Would you say the majority have experienced harm of some kind at the hands of an adult, an intimate adult, or another child?”

“I want to turn now to the question of girls in custody. Following the 2025 Hancock review, the MOJ accepted the recommendation that the placement of girls in YOIs should end. I would like to ask Mark what lessons were learned at Wetherby regarding the safety of girls and the unsuitability of YOIs for them.”

“The final one from me is around a new funding formula that the Government are introducing to reward local areas that reduce custodial remands. Do you expect that new incentive model to have an impact on your daily populations? If not, what would be the single most effective alternative to remand that you would like to …”

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

“I am coming on to girls.”

“Would those secure placements include privately run children’s homes, which can be problematic?”

“Thank you. You have set out the vast experience that you have of engaging with public bodies. Have you ever led an organisation that is subject to public criticism and political scrutiny in quite this way?”

“You may have touched on some of this in your earlier answers, but in 2023 the Justice Committee called for a review of the LSB following criticisms made by the Bar Council, and the Government have recently launched a review on that basis. How will that affect the way the LSB approaches its work?”

“Good morning. I am Pam Cox, the MP for Colchester. My interests are as declared in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests.”

“The Victims and Courts Bill is part of the Government’s wider reforms of our justice system that will, in the round, better protect victims and improve their access to justice, as well as that of defendants. I really welcome its measures to improve communications with victims, to reform non-disclosure agreements, to en…”

“I completely agree with everything the hon. Member says about the need for robust mental and physical health support for veterans, and I bow to his personal experience on the matter. Does he agree that, through Operation Courage, we are providing specialist NHS-based mental health support to veterans, and, through Oper…”

“I cannot help noting that the poor performance of SEN services in Essex is largely down to Conservative-run Essex county council, whose arrangement the right hon. Member and I share.”

“Would the hon. Gentleman agree that due regard is a long-established legal concept that lots of public bodies already understand? It is already routinely applied in practice, and to change the definition for the purposes of the Bill would be to go down an erroneous path.”

“I very much welcome the focus on family housing, and it was wonderful to see the renovated housing last week. Single living accommodation is also very important. Can you very quickly talk us through how the Bill, or how the Defence Housing Service, will improve single living accommodation, and in what timescale?”

“I think it was the question of rank that we raised.”

“I was putting it on the record that we had a discussion about the courts martial, but it was not in a formal setting, so I just wanted it to be captured. That was all.”

“I want to put a couple of things on the record from our visit last week. Forgive me if they were covered in previous sessions. A number of us were interested in the court martial process and the way in which eligibility to serve on a court martial panel or board was determined. I think the Committee might like to retur…”