Speeches by Munt.

“Should DBS checks not have a start date and a finish date, so that people who are not particularly worldly are clear about the beginning and the end, and understand that when the end date comes, a new check will be needed?”

“rose—”

“I have two very specific questions, and then two slightly more general ones. The NAO said that the Sentencing Bill might actually increase electronic monitoring caseloads by between 8,000 and 14,000. What is HMPSS’s estimate of the number of additional offenders who need a tag? We heard from the previous Lord Chancello…”

“I am Tessa Munt; I am the Member for Wells and Mendip Hills in Somerset. All my interests are declared on the register, but I also want to point out that I am a vice-chair and director of WhistleblowersUK, which is a non-profitmaking organisation, and I am a Vice-Chair of Pam’s APPG on Penal Affairs, among other things…”

“I served on the Bill Committee for the Public Office (Accountability) Bill—better known as the Hillsborough law—and was very grateful to the Minister for agreeing to meet my hon. Friend the Member for Cheadle (Mr Morrison) and me to discuss 11 amendments, two new clauses and general points that came up in the line-by-l…”

“Can you give me a hint as to what the bad thing about it might be?”

“Can I just test you on IPP sentencing? Would you like to say something about those? They were abolished in 2012, were they not? We have looked at this a little, have we not?”

“Go on, then—there is the Serco thing, the 8,000 to 14,000 and HMPPS. The other thing that I wanted to ask you about on this particular matter was tagging offenders at source, in the pilot taking place in six prisons. Is that going to work, and can it be rolled out in all prisons? Is that a good thing—to save that gap b…”

“I have all sorts of questions that I would like to ask, but I might write to you instead. May I ask just two general questions now? Could you give us an overview of your view on what should happen where prisoners proclaim their innocence over an extended period of time? We are all aware of a number of cases in which pe…”

“Can you remind me: from what to what?”

“Thank you. I want to ask you about more offenders being managed within the community and what steps are being taken to increase the availability of support services. Back to the electronic monitoring thing, the Committee heard last week about accommodation for those who are released. The National Audit Office said that…”

“It has some way to go?”

“Do we have a sense that our end of things—our procurement and writing of contracts—is up to scratch? Do we think that?”

“I cannot really see a good reason for not doing it like that, but then I am me and you are you.”

“My constituent Ben has a friend who is in HMP Stocken, and he tells me that family and friends have been banned from sending books into the prison for several months. Can the Leader of the House ask his colleagues in the Ministry of Justice about the guidelines? I understand that they say that friends and families can …”

“Everything that I was going to ask has probably been covered by other people while I was out of the room, I suspect, so I will allow you to move on, Chair.”

“Hello. I am Tessa Munt. I am the Member of Parliament for Wells and Mendip Hills, in Somerset. I should point out that everything is written up in my declaration of interests, but I am also the vice-chair and a director of WhistleblowersUK, a non-profit-making organisation. I am the vice-chair of the APPG on penal affa…”

“Okay. I noticed that you, Andrew, were nodding a little more vigorously.”

“That is fine; don’t worry.”

“Indeed; I was going to ask you about that next.”