Speeches by Munt.

“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…”

“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.”

“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”?”

“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 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 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…”

“Which one? Is that the Leicestershire one?”

“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?”

“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?”

“Okay, thank you. It does not sound as though getting new land for building prisons is going to be very easy in future if you are going to have to have a punch-up with the Treasury.”

“Can I move to one of my favourite subjects, which is Dartmoor? I am completely foxed by Dartmoor. As I understand it, we have a £16.8 million impairment, as they call it, against the accounts, and we have a commitment for another £13 million or so to pay before we get to 2031. Does that £16.8 million mean that Dartmoor…”

“Okay. It is a very expensive nothing—no places—isn’t it? I accept that probably none of you were involved in the commitment to being locked into a lease—I do not know, but I assume not. The HSE started their investigation some while ago, did they not? Was it not in 2024?”

“Yes, but it could do with a bit of nudging, couldn’t it?”

“It is frustrating. I have visited people in Dartmoor, and I had in my constituency Shepton Mallet prison, which the Ministry of Justice closed in 2013. They were probably not particularly dissimilar in structural terms. They are different prisons, and hard to get out of in either case, but they are not very comfortable…”

“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 …”

“The Prime Minister may be aware that in December, for the first time in over three decades, Defence Ministers met the families of those killed in the 1994 RAF Chinook crash on the Mull of Kintyre. The Ministry of Defence promised “ongoing dialogue” with them. Is he also aware that, despite receiving pages of new eviden…”

“The residents of Cheddar suffer the weekend misery of thoughtless, antisocial drivers who come from across the country to meet in Cheddar Gorge. Not all the drivers are careless, but I have been contacted by well over 100 residents, many of whom fear for their lives as a result of often dangerous driving when drivers l…”

“I am trying so hard to avoid more references to Paddington, but you are quite right.”