Speeches by Munt.

“How often does the Parole Board review its own decisions, whether they have been right or not, depending on what happened in the future? Does that happen? Do you regularly look at what has happened in the way of recommendations over the last three or six months?”

“I wondered about the slightly lower level, as reoffending is such a serious problem, as I understand it. I understand why you have a process in place for looking at serious further offending, but there is the slightly less serious, but still serious, issue of further offending and people coming back into the system so …”

“Increasing transparency has been a significant focus for your board since 2018. What does transparency mean in the context of the board’s work, and what do you currently do to promote it?”

“Yes, I was going to ask you about that. Is that the Rook Topolski review?”

“What did that review reveal?”

“Do you feel that victims in particular have an understanding of your decision-making process? You have referred, perhaps obliquely, to the fact that they might be a group who do not.”

“The rules were changed in 2022 so that the chair could determine that a hearing could be held in public, but I think I am right in saying that only nine hearings have been granted, whereas 39 have been refused. Are those figures correct?”

“That would be interesting. If you could write to the Chair, that would be good. Can I just take you back a bit? You had six that were heard, and another two—what happened to them?”

“So 39 have been refused—that is quite a weight on one side, is it not? It does not seem as if the new rules have kicked in hugely, or am I being very unfair?”

“What is stopping that?”

“Can you not see a future—because clearly Topolski did—that is very different from nine and 39? Well, maybe we should say six minus two plus one and 39. There must be a way. We manage it in court.”

“I could not agree more; that might help us to understand the interaction between behaviour and authority.”

“I beg to move, That this House has considered the impact of ADHD on rehabilitation and reoffending in the prison system. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd. I think we all accept that our prison system faces significant challenges, including poor rehabilitation, high reoffending rates, overcrowd…”

“Briefly, the Liberal Democrats welcome the draft instrument, which brings the sheep carcase regulations in line with the existing beef and pig regulations. We want to ensure that sheep meat producers receive a fair price for their products, and to increase transparency and fairness for the sector, thus benefiting farme…”

“I could not agree with my hon. Friend more. His point is similar to the one made by my hon. Friend the Member for Yeovil (Adam Dance): the earlier we screen, the better we will be able to understand how people learn. In the long run, if life is not education, I do not know what it is—I am sure the Minister will have so…”

“Indeed, there is no consistent data collection. That is a problem not only in Northern Ireland, but in England and Wales, which the debate is primarily about. If someone is identified and diagnosed, it can be hard for them to access the right care and support due to fragmented care pathways. That is compounded by limit…”

“Indeed, I do agree. Our interaction with the NHS needs to be far better. I will come to that later. In December 2020, the then Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice took the important step of commissioning an independent review into neurodiversity in the criminal justice system. The review was led by the c…”

“I agree with the hon. Gentleman and will come to that in a moment. The impact of ADHD on rehabilitation and reoffending sits at the junction of many different interests. It seems likely that supporting people with ADHD could be a critical part of delivering the Government’s aim of rebuilding confidence in the criminal …”

“Will the tool be used for every entrant to the prison estate or is it for those who might be suspected of having some sort of neurodiversity?”

“On that point, we are clear that the money that goes into the probation system may not be enough to deal with the scale of the added pressures on the probation system. I think the Chair of the Justice Committee, the hon. Member for Hammersmith and Chiswick (Andy Slaughter), talked about contract management. The example…”