Introducing new Justice Secretary David Lidington
12th June 2017
Fourth Justice Secretary in two years
It was yesterday tea-time (11 June 2017) before we learnt that, after
less than 11 months as Justice Secretary Liz Truss had been moved to be
Secretary to the Treasury (generally regarded as a demotion) and been
replaced by David Lidington.
Biography
These biographical details are taken from Mr Lidington’s
website:
Before elected to the House of Commons, David took a
degree in history and then a doctorate in Elizabethan history at Sidney
Sussex College, Cambridge. He then worked for a time industry for BP
and for Rio Tinto.
While an MP, David has held a number of different responsibilities.
He served on the education select committee during his first
parliamentary term. During the Labour governments of 1997-2010, he
worked as parliamentary private secretary to William Hague, the then
Leader of the Opposition, and then was Opposition Spokesman successively
on home affairs, treasury matters, environment and agriculture,
Northern Ireland and the Middle East.
Under David Cameron’s Government he was Minister for Europe at the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office with responsibility for British policy
towards the entire continent of Europe from Russia and Turkey to Iceland
and Greenland. David has represented the United Kingdom at the United
Nations Security Council, the European Union, the Council of Europe,
NATO and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe
(OSCE). His ministerial work took him to 45 countries on behalf of the
British Government.
David has lived in Princes Risborough for more than 25 years. He is
married to Helen, a local primary school teacher, and they have four
grown up sons, all born in Stoke Mandeville hospital.
While an MP, David successfully piloted through parliament the
Chiropractors Act 1994 which placed chiropractic on a professional,
self-regulated basis for the first time.
While at university, David captained the Sidney Sussex College,
Cambridge University Challenge team which won the championship in 1979.
In 2002, to mark the 40th anniversary of the show, previous winning
teams were invited back for a Champion of Champions tournament which the
Sidney Sussex team again won. So David has the rare claim of having
captained a championship University Challenge team twice.
Oddly he does not mention that he was appointed by Theresa May to be
Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons in July
2016. He deputised for Theresa May at Prime Minister’s Questions on one
occasion.
Justice Interests
Mr Lidington was an adviser to Douglas Hurd when he was Home
Secretary in the late 1980s (when prisons came under the Home Office)
and served as shadow Home Affairs Spokesperson in the 1990s. He was
also Parliamentary Private Secretary to the then Home Secretary, the Rt
Hon Michael Howard QC MP, 1994 to 1997 before becoming Parliamentary
Private Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition, Rt Hon William Hague
MP, June 1997.
He seems to have much less recent interest or experience in criminal
justice matters with the exception of HM YOI Aylesbury which is in his
constituency where he has a majority of 14,696 after last week’s vote,
with Labour in second place.
His main campaigning activity appears to be against the highspeed rail link HS2.
Conclusion
I have no pretensions to being a political commentator but it seems
clear that Mr Lidington is an experienced junior minister who is
regarded as competent and a safe pair of hands. This is his most senior
appointment in his 25 years as the MP for Aylesbury. https://blogs.fco.gov.uk/davidlidington/2015/12/10/justice-and-the-rule-of-law/ .
Everyone get writing to David Lidington regarding the IPP prisoners injustice.
David Lidington
Parliamentary
House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
Tel: 020 7219 3432
Fax: 020 7219 2564
Email: david.lidington.mp@parliament.uk
David Lidington
Constituency office
100 Walton Street, Aylesbury, HP21 7QP
Tel: 01296 482102
Fax: 01296 398481
Email: office@aylesburyconservatives.com
Temporary licence release key to getting prisoners jobs
9 June 2017
Release more prisoners on temporary licence to get them into work
There should be a “step change” in the availability of
release on temporary licence (ROTL) out of prisons to give more
businesses the opportunity to employ prisoners in the community as part
of preparation for their release.
That’s the main conclusion of a new
report published last week (2 June 2017) by the Prison Reform Trust.
The report, which details the findings of a two-year action learning
project “Out for Good” based in HMP Brixton in south London, says there
is “huge potential” to get more prisoners into jobs and training. It
found a substantial number of employers both open to employing
ex-offenders and willing to work with prisons to achieve this.
Prisons, not employers main obstacle
Against expectations, the report found it was not the attitudes of
employers but national prison policy and practice which was the main
barrier preventing opportunities for work and training from being
seized. Problems identified include poor coordination between different
agencies; a lack of data on employment outcomes for prisoners; poorly
defined targets for getting prisoners into sustainable employment; the
impact of overcrowding on effective preparation for release; and a lack
of opportunities for prisoners to work or volunteer in the community on
ROTL. Many of these policies and practices are set at a national level
and so are beyond the power of individual establishments to solve.
Current situation
Currently, just one in four people have a job to go to on release
from prison. This means around 56,000 people are released from prison
each year without a job to go to. Research shows the benefits of work
for both prisoners and employers. 39% of people with a job to go on
release reoffend compared to 59% of people who are unemployed. A survey
of employers by the Chartered Institute for Professional Development
found that former offenders were more loyal than other employees. With
sectors including construction, transport, hospitality
and catering facing long-term recruitment challenges, released prisoners
represent a largely untapped resource who have significant skills and
experience to bring to the workplace.
Commenting, Claire Coombs, Development and Community Engagement
Manager at Keltbray Group, a UK leading specialist business working in
engineering and construction, said:
Ex-offenders already make a valuable contribution to our
workforce and there is potential for even more to do so. We are keen to
work with prisons to ensure a smooth transition for prisoners into
employment.
ROTL
A lack of access to opportunities for temporary release was
identified as a major barrier to getting more prisoners into work on
release. The use of ROTL has fallen markedly in recent years, following
changes to the policy introduced by the former Justice Secretary Chris
Grayling. Between Oct-Dec 2013 and Oct-Dec 2016, incidences of ROTL out
of prisons in England and Wales fell by one third. Since Jan-March 2016,
incidences of temporary release have increased slightly and in the
period Oct-Dec 2016 stood at 88,602 releases. ROTL has a remarkable
success rate with only 73 out of every 100,000 releases resulting in
failure.
Increase ROTL, increase prisoner employment
The report found that changes to the availability of ROTL out of HMP
Brixton have had a significant impact on the ability of employers to
provide work and training opportunities. Alandale Plant and Scaffolding
Ltd is an employer who has sponsored the Bounce Back scaffolding
training centre in HMP Brixton, and also employs people when they have
completed their training. When, in December 2016, a decision was taken
to end the temporary release of prisoners out of the establishment, it
meant the course had to be revised as people could not do the final
qualification until they were released.
Commenting, Matthew Warner, Managing Director of Alandale Plant and Scaffolding Ltd, said:
Prisoners on temporary release were able to get
qualifications early, gain additional experience while still in prison
and then come out to be employed by us on release. They made a valuable
contribution to the success of our business. The decision to stop ROTL
placements out of HMP Brixton limits what was a seamless process from
prison into work. We find it hard to understand why something that was
working so well would be stopped. Especially as it inhibits the ability
for employers like us to provide opportunities for people prior to
release and give them the skills they need to lead a law-abiding life.
Recommendations
Drawing on the learning from the project, the report recommends a
step change in the use of release on temporary licence (ROTL); a radical
simplification of the commissioning and provision of employment and
rehabilitation services; increased resources and support for governors
to co-ordinate provision and build relationships with local employers;
improved targets for sustainable employment for prisoners applying
equally to prisons and community rehabilitation companies; improved
national systems for data collection; and a concerted effort to reduce
prison overcrowding.
You can find my resource pack of key agencies who help offenders find work
here.
All prison posts are kindly sponsored by Prison Consultants Limited who offer
a complete service from arrest to release for anyone facing prison and
their family. Prison Consultants have no editorial influence on the
contents of this site.
Tracey McMahon’s story: Supporting habilitation
10th June 2017
This is the sixth in the
turnaround series of
guest posts written by ex-offenders who have turned their lives around
and now work, in one way or another, in the criminal justice sector.
Today Tracey McMahon tells how she channeled the anger and
frustration she felt at her treatment by the criminal justice system
into developing a new accommodation service for offenders.
Sentencing
In 2013, my sentence was handed down to me. I was first sentenced in
2011 to 18-weeks in prison suspended for a year and I walked out of
court and within a week, I committed a second crime.
My case was an unusual case. My second crime was suddenly scooped up
at the same time when the changes came in for what is now called Transforming Rehabilitation. M’Learned
friends were on strike. LASPO became influential in changes to Legal
Aid, however for me, I watched and researched how LASPO began to eat
away at our Justice System.
On the back of my second sentence, when I was homeless, the Crown
Court Judge stated it was pointless sending me to prison. The value of a
robust and thorough pre-sentence report is not to be understated here.
It is imperative also that a suspended sentence is not to be under
estimated. A suspended sentence is not a slap on the wrist, this poorly reported sentencing option carries just as much weight as a custodial sentence.
Unusually, my second sentence came without an attachment of a
supervision order. My pre-sentence report identified that Probation
could do nothing for me. Therefore, the conditions of the suspended
sentence licence were unconditional. The completion date for the
suspended sentence was June 11 2014. On June 12 2013, I walked out of
court, a homeless woman with my belongings in a bin bag.
The Barriers to Accommodation
However, the biggest and most important journey, is the one I have
undertaken as a woman and a mother since my experiences in the CJS. As a
woman, and a mother, I have watched how the CJS descended into an abyss
of mystery since the Transforming Rehabilitation reforms ate their way
through the Probation Service. The introduction of Through the Gate is still in 2017, bedding itself in and remains a controversial area. This area however, requires a separate debate.
Despite my homeless status, I was able to have a sofa at my mother’s
home. From a second-hand sofa, I re-engaged with former clients to build
up enough money for a deposit for a home of my own. As a homeless
person, I was told to present at the Local Authority Housing Needs
Department. After completing endless forms, I was informed I did not
qualify for a homeless duty as I had made myself intentionally homeless.
I was also informed I did not have a local connection as I was out of
area.
This set the precedent for researching homeless strategies of Local
Authorities and their remit of people leaving prison. This led me to the
Localism Act of 2011 and the lessening of Local Authority duty of care
for prison leavers. From here, I began to develop what was to become
The SHE (Support & Housing East) Project for women affected by the Criminal Justice System.
Released women prisoners stripped of motherhood
Living in my childhood town three decades later, as a homeless woman
and a mother, I began to research how women in prison were facing
monumental barriers to accommodation on leaving prison. Furthermore, I
began to research how Mothers leaving prison faced a particular set of
barriers if their children were in the care of family or the care of the
Local Authority. The further I researched, the murkier the situation
became. But one area stood out, that a Mother on seeking accommodation
leaving prison would be treated as a single person without dependents.
She was to therefore face little hope of being able to care for her
child/children as accessing stable, affordable and suitable
accommodation was at best slim. My situation became null and void as I
did not have dependent children. They were both living with their father
in the South. That did not stop me being a Mother. Mothers in the
Criminal Justice System are a minority, yet the impact on their children
reaches far and wide. I realised this was an area that was vastly
under-reported and from there, I began to develop a service. It was
then, I started to understand the barriers I faced as a woman with
convictions. Furthermore, I was a woman with dishonesty convictions.
Yet, I overcame this barrier through tenacity.
I began to network and source funding. During my sentence, I was
refused endless meetings due to me having convictions of fraud. Set back
after set back, I stumbled through, blogged and researched further
while working as a copywriter and a translator. I saw very little on
accommodation on leaving prison for any person, but I knew it was a
problem for not only women, but men despite there being historical
research that stable accommodation was effective in reducing
re-offending numbers. In October 2013, I was able to move into my own
home. I spent the next nine months forming what is now SHE Project’s
back office infrastructure still not knowing how this would be pulled
off.
In July 2014, following the completion of my sentence – I sourced a
small office in Burnley – an empty room with two filing cabinets. Three
friends worked with me in forming what would become our base and on
September 1 2014, SHE Project opened her doors. A local construction
company offered a three-bedroomed property and this was full within one
week of three women leaving prison.
Since that day, SHE Project has branched out into helping families of
prisoners in our local community. Notwithstanding the struggles as a
small organisation, SHE Project has experienced, there is a robust team
around her now. SHE Project remains small but has helped and
accommodated 39 women in three years leaving prison and has been
instrumental in helping Mothers reunite with their children leaving
prison.
SHE introduces a new way of talking about desistance:
Rehabilitation is not a word we use here. We take the
view that you do not need to be rehabilitated. You have not reached a
point of no return. So we like to call the support we give,
Habilitation.
The Future
SHE Project has explored other areas of the barriers women and men
face – while Mental Health features highly on The Prison Reform agenda,
SHE Project focuses on overall General Health and Wellbeing. The team
demonstrate that areas such as oral care, eye care and Primary Health
Services in prisons are vastly overlooked. Cervical screening for women
in prison is an area we are currently researching. Women in Prison are
the demographic group most at risk from cervical cancer due to
lifestyles the tabloids pour scorn on.
In September 2015, I was awarded a bursary from
The Griffins Society to
research the barriers women and girls in prison face in accessing
accommodation. This small research study of women whom had experienced
barriers is due to be published soon.
Despite well-intentioned reforms from the Government with
Transforming Rehabilitation and Through The Gate services, the biggest
barriers prison leavers face is that of secure, stable, affordable and
long-term accommodation. It is one area that needs a strategic reform
with Prisons and Local Authorities.You can find out more about Tracey & the SHE project
here
Callum R.