Results 1-20 of 11,880 for speaker:Chris Grayling

Oral Answers to Questions — Justice: Offending by Probationers (21 May 2013)

Chris Grayling: On 9 May, I announced “Transforming Rehabilitation: A Strategy for Reform”, which sets out how we will transform the way in which we rehabilitate offenders to make progress in driving down reoffending rates. Under our proposals, for the first time in recent history, every offender sentenced to less than 12 months in prison will receive statutory supervision and rehabilitation in...

Oral Answers to Questions — Justice: Offending by Probationers (21 May 2013)

Chris Grayling: Good work is being done in many parts of our probation service, but overall, rehabilitation is not delivering what we expected it to, and reoffending rates are rising. However, I expect the teams that are delivering excellent work on the ground in our probation service to play an important part in the future that we have unveiled. In many areas, we will see those probation officers forming...

Oral Answers to Questions — Justice: Offending by Probationers (21 May 2013)

Chris Grayling: I am afraid that the hon. Gentleman is simply not right. The Select Committee found recently that only 25% of the time probation staff spent at work was spent working with offenders—the Committee’s Chairman is here today and he will recall this—yet the biggest block of offenders who are likely to reoffend get no support at all. That is why change is necessary.

Oral Answers to Questions — Justice: Offending by Probationers (21 May 2013)

Chris Grayling: It is a pleasure to see the hon. Lady in her place today. I have begun to forget what the shadow Secretary of State looks like. His team regularly attends these events, but there are some faces missing. The whole point of what we are trying to do is to address the glaring gap in the system that is leading to reoffending rates that are simply unacceptable. The mechanisms that we are putting in...

Oral Answers to Questions — Justice: Offending by Probationers (21 May 2013)

Chris Grayling: I very much welcome the discussions that are taking place. Support is being provided by the Cabinet Office, including financial support, for those members of our probation teams who want to set up their own spin-offs, and I would positively encourage them to do so.

Oral Answers to Questions — Justice: Legal Aid (21 May 2013)

Chris Grayling: We are consulting on proposed reforms of the legal aid system, as set out in our consultation document, “Transforming Legal Aid”, which was published on 9 April. We are seeking views on proposals to ensure that the criminal legal aid system in this country operates more efficiently, that we live within our means, and that we have a system in which the public can have confidence.

Oral Answers to Questions — Justice: Legal Aid (21 May 2013)

Chris Grayling: That information is already available to a degree. It is available to hon. Members and has been published under the Freedom of Information Act. It is very important that at the same time as ensuring we have a proper legal aid system that provides access to justice to all, we ensure that the payments we make are payments we can afford.

Oral Answers to Questions — Justice: Legal Aid (21 May 2013)

Chris Grayling: That is a very important point. First, I have absolutely no intention of ending up with a legal aid market dominated by a small number of very large firms. A central part of the tendering process will involve a quality threshold that ensures that we have the quality of advocacy and litigation support in this country that we need and expect.

Oral Answers to Questions — Justice: Legal Aid (21 May 2013)

Chris Grayling: We must ensure that every defendant, innocent or guilty, has access to a proper defence. We also need a system that is affordable at a time of great financial stringency. Our proposals are designed to find the right balance between those two things.

Oral Answers to Questions — Justice: Legal Aid (21 May 2013)

Chris Grayling: I can absolutely give my hon. Friend that assurance. I have been very clear in saying to both barristers and solicitors—to the whole legal profession—that this is a consultation. I have challenges to meet financially, but I am very open to means of improving the current system in a way that makes it affordable while maintaining the quality and effectiveness of provision.

Oral Answers to Questions — Justice: Legal Aid (21 May 2013)

Chris Grayling: No, it is not. I have no intention whatsoever of awarding contracts on the basis of price alone.

Oral Answers to Questions — Justice: Legal Aid (21 May 2013)

Chris Grayling: Under the new systems we have put in place, the Legal Aid Agency has discretionary funding to deal with the very unexpected cases. However, I do not think that it is unreasonable to say that if someone is going to come to this country and access public support, they should have been here for a period of time and paid taxes before they do so.

Oral Answers to Questions — Justice: Legal Aid (21 May 2013)

Chris Grayling: I still do not think that the Opposition understand the nature of the financial mess they left behind and what we have to do to balance the books. I also think that the public would expect me to do what I can to maintain a strong prison system and a strong court system at the same time as having a legal aid system that provides justice while being affordable. That is what we are doing.

Oral Answers to Questions — Justice: Reoffending (21 May 2013)

Chris Grayling: We have heard a lot this afternoon about our plans for transforming rehabilitation. It is worth restating to the House what I believe is a crucial part of those reforms: the alignment of the prison service geographically to areas into which people are going to be released, through the creation of a network of resettlement prisons. I think that will make as big a difference to the process as...

Oral Answers to Questions — Justice: Reoffending (21 May 2013)

Chris Grayling: We are doing two things. First, through the Cabinet Office, which has responsibility for liaison with the voluntary sector, we are putting in place widespread support to help the voluntary sector prepare for this process. We have also put in place a justice data lab, which is designed to allow smaller voluntary sector organisations that have a track record in working with offenders to...

Oral Answers to Questions — Justice: Reoffending (21 May 2013)

Chris Grayling: I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for the work he did as Justice Minister on improving the availability of work in prisons. It is to his credit that we saw an increase of 800,000 in the number of hours worked in our prisons last year. My hon. Friend the Prisons Minister is building on that work and it is my hope and expectation that we will see that increase continue.

Oral Answers to Questions — Justice: Reoffending (21 May 2013)

Chris Grayling: There are of course a smaller number of women’s prisons, but it is our intention to have the same geographic links between detention and release for women as well.

Oral Answers to Questions — Justice: Legal Aid (21 May 2013)

Chris Grayling: My ministerial team and I have met with a number of stakeholders since the launch of our consultation on legal aid reform. Among others, I have met the chair of the Bar Council, the president of the Law Society, members of the senior judiciary, the circuit leaders and a number of solicitors representing Law Society members.

Oral Answers to Questions — Justice: Legal Aid (21 May 2013)

Chris Grayling: We have taken care with these proposals to put together a package based on our statistical analysis which we think will protect incomes at the lower end of the Bar particularly. It is my intention that where we have to impose changes on the profession, they come through either the reorganisation of businesses or income changes at the top end of the income scale.

Oral Answers to Questions — Justice: Legal Aid (21 May 2013)

Chris Grayling: As the hon. Gentleman will know, the principle of price competitive tendering was first proposed in a report commissioned by the last Government eight years ago. We have looked carefully at the best way in which we can deliver better value in our legal aid system, which we have to do to meet financial targets. We will do so in a way that protects the interests of the justice system, but no...