Speeches by Juss.

“An effective Probation Service is crucial for the rehabilitation and resettlement of prisoners to reduce reoffending. Although I welcome the number of new probation officers to be recruited, Napo reports that probation workloads are unmanageable, staff turnover and sickness are high, and probation officers are often ma…”

“Does the Chief Secretary agree that this Government have had the courage to make the difficult but necessary decisions in an effort to ensure sound public finances and improve the economy, while the Opposition have hid behind their mistakes and have no credible economic plan of their own?”

“Last week at a council meeting, when medical dispensation was being sought for Labour councillor Carol Hyatt in the Merry Hill ward of my constituency so that she could undergo cancer treatment, a Reform UK councillor said that was not fair on taxpayers. Will the Leader of the House first please join me in wishing Coun…”

“On my hon. Friend’s point, what is happening in the west bank has legally been defined as a war crime by the International Criminal Court. As a supporter of the rule of law, should the UK not therefore condemn these actions as horrific war crimes committed by the Israeli Government, and encourage the wider internationa…”

“Does the Minister agree that the UK Government recognising a sovereign state of Palestine now would add more weight to the pressure we are trying to exert on Israel?”

“One of the things given quite a lot of profile is the severe mental health concerns of IPP prisoners, and the high incidence of self-harm and suicide. I hope that the answer to this is yes: do you take that risk of psychological harm into account when you look at IPP sentences?”

“Did you have extra resources in place to be able to deal with that?”

“As of 1 February, I think 600 were immediately eligible for licence termination.”

“I am Warinder Juss, MP for Wolverhampton West. I am a solicitor, although not practising. I am a member of the GMB union’s executive council and a member of various APPGs.”

“Do you have any figures on the percentage of prisoner appeals that succeed, where the prisoner does not agree with a parole decision not to release?”

“Yes, please do.”

“With IPP prisoners, at what point do they come into contact with the Parole Board, and what decisions and recommendations are you required to make?”

“You mentioned the Justice Committee’s recommendation, which was that there be a resentencing exercise, but that was rejected by the Government. Now the Lord Chief Justice has proposed an alternative way whereby the Parole Board sets a date within a two-year period when the prisoner will be released. What is your opinio…”

“Lots and lots of IPP prisoners have gone over tariff, which is obviously quite concerning. As of March 2025, I think 1,004 IPP prisoners were over tariff—509 were 10 years over tariff and 188 were 15 years over tariff. I can understand why you would want to see IPP prisoners multiple times to make sure you make the cor…”

“May I ask one final question? What impact has that had on your work as the Parole Board and on progressing IPP prisoners into open conditions?”

“I have a final question on the move to open conditions. The previous Government wanted to tighten the move to open conditions. How many recommendations have been accepted in the last 12 months for moving IPP prisoners to open conditions, which would hopefully help them to be readier for release?”

“Do you think you have the resources to make the adaptations?”

“I was going to ask about licence terminations a bit later, but as you have mentioned that, how many licence termination reviews has the Parole Board carried out since 1 February this year? What proportion of those prisoners have had their licences terminated as a result? What is the timeframe for completing those revie…”

“Prisoners often leave the prison system with just one week’s worth of medication, and they then have difficulty getting back into the healthcare system. Does the hon. Member agree that we need a holistic approach to the Probation Service that co-ordinates the health and social care system to act as a bridge between the…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Butler. First, I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Alloa and Grangemouth (Brian Leishman) for securing this important debate. I speak today as a member of the Citizenship Network, which was launched by Citizens UK last year. It is a cross-party group that brings toge…”