Speeches by Munt.

“I just want to understand whether you know what you don’t know, if you see what I mean. I have an example: the gentleman who had been harassing one of my constituents was released from prison and should have been GPS-tagged but was not. He therefore breached the location bit and was reportedly twice in a place he shoul…”

“I thank the Minister for his statement. He has confirmed the roll-out of new training for police officers and staff to increase their understanding of state threats. Will that training be mandatory for officers in all police forces and all police roles, including police community support officers and special constables…”

“Incredibly, it is now over two years since the Patient Safety Commissioner published her report on mesh, yet the Government appear to have made no meaningful progress in implementing its recommendations. The absence of action is unacceptable. This issue continues to affect many of my constituents—women like Natasha, an…”

“Looking to the future, the troubles Bill makes no explicit link between legacy processes and long-term reconciliation initiatives, such as integrated education, sustained community dialogue and cross-community projects. Will the Secretary of State commit to developing a comprehensive reconciliation strategy that connec…”

“Every shift.”

“I referred to the fact that the Prison Service is pretty high risk. The data we have shows that a third of band 3 to 5 prison officers have less than three years’ experience, which I would say—I do not know—exposes one to greater risk. I think that presents quite a challenging environment. It looks as though the number…”

“I have no doubt. I would not be asking you about it if it was going super smoothly. If I were a retired prison officer, or if I had resigned from being a prison officer at some point, and I were coming back, would I be put through the Enable programme, or would you think, “She knows something about it—she can go in”?”

“Can I ask you to write to the Chair of the Committee to let me know how many retired prison officers, or those who have resigned, have come back into the service over each of the last three years?”

“The annual statement said that, last September, staffing levels stood at 95% of the national target. Is that still accurate? This is focusing on band 3 to 5 prison officers again.”

“If you have a gap of 7% or 8%, how are you going to fill that gap without using inexperienced staff? This is a compounding problem. In a moment, I will ask you about sickness absence, which will rise as people are under greater pressure.”

“I am Tessa Munt. I am the Member of Parliament for Wells and Mendip Hills. Everything is as per the register, but I point out that I am a director and the vice-chair of WhistleblowersUK, which is a not-for-profit organisation. I am also the vice-chair of the penal affairs all-party parliamentary group.”

“James, my questions relate to prisons. When you came before us last time, you were the chief operating officer of the MOJ. Now you are the chief executive of HMPPS. Amy Rees and Phil Copple, both of whom had leadership roles, have moved away from the MOJ. Do you feel that your team has the necessary skills and experien…”

“Thank you. Can you explain how the additional places will be allocated? Will the new residents come out of the places that are most crowded, which we would recognise as Leeds, Durham and others?”

“I think my questions are to you, Jo, but you might want to refer to Adrian as well. I would like to talk about the supply of prison places. The National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority has rated three of the Department’s six prison construction programmes “red”, after ISG became insolvent. Are you c…”

“I can offer an example. Decades ago, I worked with Childline. In every four-hour shift I did, dealing with young people, the last half an hour was downloading time. That was absolutely critical. I do not remember a thing that I spoke to anybody about, and I didn’t the next day, literally, or even that evening on the wa…”

“I think I heard you say that you have planning permission for the sites in Leicestershire, Lancashire and Buckinghamshire. What you are saying, James, is that once you have planning permission, whoosh—up they go.”

“Thank you. Lastly, there is quite alarming sickness absence. Again, from my experience—not in the Prison Service but in other areas of life—sickness absence is something that one needs to watch like a hawk because it is an indicator of all sorts of other things. Very often, it is a precursor to departure. What are you …”

“Which one? Is that the Leicestershire one?”

“I am not sure which one of you I asked, but there was certainly a commitment from the current Government that new land should be found for new prisons. How is that going?”

“You’re still searching? So you have not got any land yet.”