Results 1-20 of 305 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:Baroness Corston

Crime: Domestic Violence — Question (11 Nov 2009)

Baroness Corston: My Lords, is my noble friend aware that one woman a week in the United Kingdom is murdered as a result of domestic violence? Will he accept that in my work as the chair of the Fawcett Commission on Women and the Criminal Justice System it has been evident that the Government's initiative on domestic violence courts, independent domestic violence advisers and sexual assault referral centres...

Policing and Crime Bill: Second Reading (3 Jun 2009)

Baroness Corston: My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness for giving way. Perhaps I may draw her attention to a debate in the other place on 19 May and a very moving speech by the right honourable John Gummer MP, speaking of the experience in his Ipswich constituency of the murder of five women sex workers and referring to the fact that the exploitation of human beings is at the heart of evil. He said...

Prisons: Drugs (19 Nov 2008)

Baroness Corston: My Lords—

Prisons: Drugs (19 Nov 2008)

Baroness Corston: My Lords, would the Minister be surprised to know that during the course of my review of women in prisons I came across almost universal appreciation of the fact that drug detoxification treatment in women's prisons has improved so dramatically under this Government from what was previously a pretty poor programme? Indeed, this treatment allows some women coming out of prison to remain...

Energy Bill (5 Nov 2008)

Baroness Corston: My Lords, I support noble Lords who have spoken in favour of feed-in tariffs. About five years ago, in my previous residence, my husband and I had solar panels for hot water and photovoltaic panels for generating electricity. I cannot say how excited I was, watching my electricity meter going backwards in the summer when I had the fridge, the freezer and the kettle on. I have to admit that my...

Prisons: Titans (29 Oct 2008)

Baroness Corston: My Lords—

Prisons: Titans (29 Oct 2008)

Baroness Corston: My Lords, will the Minister confirm that Government do not plan to provide any Titan prisons for women? He will know that the Government accepted 41 of the 43 recommendations that I made in my report two years ago, where I said that women should be held be in small custodial units close to home. Will he confirm that that is still government policy in relation to women prisoners?

Prisons: Deaths in Custody (15 Oct 2008)

Baroness Corston: My Lords, will the Minister revisit one of the recommendations that I made in my report on women with particular vulnerabilities in the criminal justice system? Arising from that review and from my previous work as the chair of the Joint Committee on Human Rights, I met the families of people who had died in prison, and I was shocked to discover that they were even having to consider selling...

Prisons: Population (21 Jul 2008)

Baroness Corston: My Lords, does the Minister agree with my finding that the majority of women in prison are not dangerous, serious or violent offenders but are a danger only to themselves? Does he accept my main recommendation that these women should not be imprisoned, but should be dealt with more appropriately in the community and that the prison population would reduce if my report were implemented in full?

Crime: Restorative Justice (15 Jul 2008)

Baroness Corston: My Lords, would it surprise my noble friend to hear that, during a visit to New York last week as a member of the Howard League for Penal Reform's Commission on English Prisons Today, I learnt that the local prison population there has plummeted, crime has gone down dramatically and people feel safer? Can he see to it that we examine the factors that were put into place in New York to bring...

Criminal Justice: Women (7 Feb 2008)

Baroness Corston: My Lords, earlier this week, a former colleague from another place asked me how I was getting on here, and he said, "The truth is that you have better debates than us". Today exemplifies that statement. I am very grateful to all noble Lords who have taken part. I opened my remarks by saying that it was impossible for me to summarise everything that was in my report. It was wonderful to note...

Criminal Justice: Women (7 Feb 2008)

Baroness Corston: rose to call attention to the report by Baroness Corston entitled Review of Women with Particular Vulnerabilities in the Criminal Justice System, and the Government's response (Cm 7261); and to move for Papers. My Lords, it is a great pleasure to have the opportunity today to discuss my report on women with particular vulnerabilities in the criminal justice system. The background to my report...

Debate on the Address (6 Nov 2007)

Baroness Corston: My Lords, I beg to move that an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty as follows: "Most Gracious Sovereign—We, Your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled, beg leave to thank Your Majesty for the most gracious Speech which Your Majesty has addressed to both Houses of Parliament". I thank my noble friends the Leader of the...

Mental Health Bill [HL] (28 Nov 2006)

Baroness Corston: My Lords, the Bill has had a spectacularly long gestation; it has been on the horizon for nine years, which indicates the degree to which it is difficult to legislate in this area. It is important for us to remember what the objectives of the Bill are. The first is to make the Mental Health Act 1983 compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights, which was incorporated into our law by...

Royal Commissions (14 Mar 2006)

Baroness Corston: My Lords, may I invite my noble and learned friend the Lord Chancellor to consider that Harold Wilson had the answer to the question when he said that royal commissions took minutes but wasted years?

Faith Schools (8 Feb 2006)

Baroness Corston: My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Taverne, on securing this debate. If I was starting from scratch, I would not set up faith schools either. This view was reinforced when as a member of the British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body I took part in an inquiry into non-denominational education. In two particular parts of the United Kingdom—to a lesser extent the west of Scotland,...

Identity Cards Bill (16 Nov 2005)

Baroness Corston: I wish to emphasise how right I think the Government are to leave in this provision. When I was a Member of Parliament I made regular visits to organisations in my Bristol constituency. In one meeting with the United Bristol Healthcare Trust I was appalled to discover that, in the process of taking back into the trust the contracted-out cleaning services, the trust discovered that the bank...

Identity Cards Bill (16 Nov 2005)

Baroness Corston: While my noble friend is finding the appropriate place, perhaps I may comment on something she said earlier. I have been very dismayed at the degree to which noble Lords have referred to a particular report as the "LSE report". It was actually written by a Mr Simon Davies, who works for Privacy International, which is an international organisation that is violently opposed to identity card...

Identity Cards Bill (16 Nov 2005)

Baroness Corston: With respect, the noble Baroness may have misunderstood what I said. I do not think that I said anything of the sort.

Identity Cards Bill (16 Nov 2005)

Baroness Corston: I thank the noble Lord for his courtesy in giving way. Is he aware that many women from our ethnic minority communities in this country, particularly Asian women, see an identity card as a badge of freedom because they are not allowed to have a bank account, a building society account, a library card or any of the things that many Members of this Committee take for granted? They have said to...