Speeches by Mahmood.

“The hon. Member is right. It is already expected that defendants will attend sentencing hearings, but we know that some take the opportunity not to face the families of their victims, which causes huge trauma to some of the families. We will clarify and put on a statutory footing the expectation of attendance at senten…”

“The Government have inherited a situation where 10% of offenders account for 50% of all offences. We have also inherited an epidemic of shoplifting, the kind of antisocial crime that blights communities. I have commissioned David Gauke to review how sentences could be reformed to address prolific offending, reduce reof…”

“The right hon. Member raises an important point about an issue that blights communities across the country. I agree that we need a specific strategy for dealing with prolific offenders. Of course, different organisations use different definitions of what counts as a prolific offender or hyper-prolific offender, and tha…”

“As you will see from the decisions I have been making, in the range of measures I have already implemented, and in particular the two main reviews that I have announced, I inherited a system, every bit of which is broken or about to fully and finally break. Prisons are on the verge of collapse. The probation service is…”

“There is quite a lot in that; I will just draw back a little bit. On the 10-year capacity strategy and the annual statement, the annual statement is the first of its kind and sets out properly for the first time supply and demand. You are right, of course, that we have a supply side to deliver in order to try to make s…”

“Yes.Q3 Chair: You expect, which gives us an idea about where the sentencing review is going, that that will contribute to demand. It also looks like that is not enough. What other steps is the MOJ considering to bridge the capacity gap? The projection is showing a shortfall of 12,400 places by the end of 2027. Doesn’t …”

“I think the 12,400 number is from the NAO report rather than from the MOJ’s projections, which are contained in the statement and in the 10-year strategy. I believe that is because, when the NAO did their report, at that point SDS40 and the other operational measures on home detention curfew and risk assessment on re-r…”

“The sentencing review has a much broader remit, and it is looking at sentencing policy in the round. That is quite clear from the terms of reference. The three principles that underpin the sentencing review are, first and foremost, that we cannot run out of prison places, and we have to have a prison place available fo…”

“I have asked them to look at sentencing overall. What I welcome is them looking at my terms of reference and providing us with some solutions within those terms of reference. They are aware of, and I have discussed with the panel chair, the necessity of being able to live within our means on prison capacity. That is wh…”

“I would just challenge the beginning of your question. For 2024-25 the allocation that I effectively inherited and which we have retained was £220 million. For 2025-26, which is phase 1 of our review process as a new Government, it is £300 million. I am determined to keep making progress. Maintenance and new supply are…”

“My priorities for progress on maintenance is on fire safety where we are working closely with the fire safety inspectorate. There is a plan over the next two to three years to get the whole of the estate right up to spec on fire safety. Obviously, I want to maintain a safe estate, not just for prisoners but for the pri…”

“I announced that we would put a capacity strategy before the House before the end of the year. It is based on current policy. I think it is right to talk about the supply that will be needed. Supply is required as a necessary way of squaring the circle, to make sure that we have the prison places that we need. Supply a…”

“I thought about the timings for the review very carefully. I guess there would have been an argument possibly to push for an even faster timeline. I wanted to give the review enough time to consider the issues properly, while also working at pace. It is why I asked for David Gauke to lead the review. He is a former Lor…”

“Yes. I think about remand very carefully. I didn’t place everything in the scope of the review, partly because it has a very tight timetable and I wanted to make sure that they could do the work we had asked them to do specifically around sentencing and the profile of sentencing. On remand specifically, there are a num…”

“I believe that there is a statutory requirement for a consultation with the Sentencing Council. I expect the relevant legislation next year. I can write back to the Committee on exact timings. I don’t believe it is immediately in the new year, but soon thereafter. I think there is a requirement for a consultation with …”

“It is absolutely a priority to make as much progress as possible on deportations of foreign national offenders, and to make sure that the early removal scheme works as intended. Obviously, we have to work very closely with the Home Office because the deportations and removals fall within their remit. This year we are o…”

“What I have committed to is reviewing within 18 months of its implementation. It was implemented in September this year and 18 months hence is my timeline for that review. I wouldn’t want to get ahead of what that future review is going to look at. I am sure it will consider many of the factors that you indicated. I ha…”

“They all had a very busy summer, and we owe them a debt of gratitude.”

“Forgive me. The scheme has been designed based on the levers available to me from a legislation perspective; that is, what measures I could implement to prevent us running out of prison places. It is in the nature of the change that it is legislative so I thought the best thing to do was to look at it again in 18 month…”

“As you and I have discussed on a number of occasions in the House during orals, it is the case that, by law, you can only exclude offence types rather than cohorts of offenders. I do not have a legislative lever at my disposal to prevent the release of a particular cohort of offenders. Much as I would like to have had …”