Speeches by Cox.

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

“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…”

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

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

“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?”

“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…”

“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?”

“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.”

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

“Chair, may I ask one question?”

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

“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…”

“I am coming on to girls.”

“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 …”

“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…”

“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?”