Riots Communities and Victims Panel
Oral Answers to Questions — Justice
2:30 pm

Simon Hughes (Bermondsey and Old Southwark, Liberal Democrat)

What steps his Department is taking to implement the recommendations of the final report of the riots communities and victims panel.

Nick Herbert (Minister of State, Justice; Arundel and South Downs, Conservative)

The Government welcome the final report from the independent riots communities and victims panel and will publish a formal response in due course.

Simon Hughes (Bermondsey and Old Southwark, Liberal Democrat)

This very good report made some very good recommendations to the Ministry of Justice, including for more effective community sentencing—specifically, that communities should choose the projects and that the results, including reoffending rates, should be published. Will Ministers be positive about those recommendations? I am sure it would be appreciated.

Nick Herbert (Minister of State, Justice; Arundel and South Downs, Conservative)

I think we will be positive about exactly that kind of proposal—we have already published formal consultation proposals to strengthen community sentences, which was one of the recommendations in the report. That is important, because the report itself drew attention to the fact that those who were brought before the courts in relation to the riots had 11 previous convictions, which showed that the justice system had not been effective in dealing with such problem offending.