Speeches by Juss.

“The Victims and Courts Act extended the timeframe for requesting a sentence to be reviewed from 28 days to six months, from May of this year. I can understand the reason why that change has taken place. Do you consider any particular impact that such a change will have on the scheme?”

“Would it be fair to say that you would refer a case to the Court of Appeal if you considered the sentence in all the circumstances to be unreasonable? Would that be another way of describing the particular situation?”

“Good afternoon. I am Warinder Juss, the Member of Parliament for Wolverhampton West. I am a solicitor, but not practising. I am a member of the GMB trade union executive council and of various APPGs, and my other interests are on the register.”

“In my constituency, fly-tipping remains a significant problem for local communities. Waste is dumped, and the council acts properly to remove the waste but it comes back again. As has been mentioned, the problem is even more challenging when waste is dumped on private land, and the landowners have to endure the cost bu…”

“Attorney General, you will be aware that for many constituents, including mine in Wolverhampton West and those of other MPs, what is happening in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and the increasing settlement expansions are of much concern. It is something about which we are regularly contacted. Do you feel that th…”

“Moving on to the need to protect judicial independence, the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 says Ministers should respond to public criticism of sentences handed out by judges in high-profile cases. There have been increasing levels of criticism of judicial decisions and sentencing. How do you think we can protect the i…”

“Earlier today, we had a discussion about judges being approved on merit. We have a situation where only 1% of the judiciary is black, so we need to increase recruitment there. In relation to protecting the judiciary, making it an attractive occupation for recruitment and educating the public, do you think that there ar…”

“Last week I visited St Regis Church of England academy in my constituency of Wolverhampton West, and I was impressed to see its outdoor learning space and nature reserve. This week I met a young constituent in Parliament who is participating in an environmental leadership programme. I see young people with a growing pa…”

“I am grateful to my hon. Friend for securing the debate. As a long-time trade unionist, I am proud of the work this Government have done to secure employment rights in our country, but last year the International Trade Union Confederation global rights index found that more than 80% of countries restricted the right to…”

“My hon. Friend will know that there has been quite a bit of opposition to having judge-only trials. Given that only 1% of the judiciary are black, does he agree that it is now even more urgent to look at how the judiciary are appointed? Something appears to be seriously wrong with the selection procedure.”

“Are those conversations taking place?”

“We know that prison employment leads have been very successful, but sometimes progress is hindered because of transition being managed in the community. We understand that there are community-based employment leads being trialled at the moment. Could you give an account of how those trials are taking place and what suc…”

“You spoke about purposeful activities. We have seen prison workshops in prisons and how well they work, but there are not enough of them. Is any work being done to improve the availability of prison workshops?”

“It is clear from what you said that you are committed to improving employment support in the community. Is there any plan to roll out those community-based employment leads nationally? If that is the plan, have you any timescale as to when that might be done?”

“Hello, good afternoon. I am Warinder Juss, the Member of Parliament for Wolverhampton West. I am a member of the GMB trade union central executive council. I am a solicitor, but not practising at the moment, and I am a member of various APPGs.”

“Before I ask you about employment and reducing reoffending, I want to touch on what Pam Cox talked about in terms of health and wellbeing, and also the questions you raised about substance misuse. Two weeks ago, I went to Wormwood Scrubs to play chess with the prisoners at their chess club. It was a very positive exper…”

“We know that there is a very positive co‑relationship between improving employment prospects and reducing reoffending, and that if employment prospects are there reoffending is significantly reduced. Are you doing anything in particular to improve employment prospects for prison leavers and for those being supervised i…”

“Ms Berry, I think I agree with you when you say that having a target might not be the correct way forward, because that would mean that you end up appointing somebody just because you have to reach that target, even though the merit may not be there. But there is obviously a problem. As you will be leading the way to i…”

“You have already acknowledged, in answer to previous questions, that in selecting judges we need to look at merit, good character and diversity. The Lady Chief Justice has said that the JAC should examine its criteria and culture and whether the JAC’s culture and processes need to be looked at. Do you feel that the cur…”

“On that issue, yes, obviously, we need to look at merit and good character, but you will be aware that over the past decade only 1% of judges have been Black, which is a dismal statistic. What might you do differently in order to change that?”