Topical Questions

Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Justice – in the House of Commons at 2:30 pm on 17 March 2009.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of David Hanson David Hanson The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice 2:30, 17 March 2009

I thank my hon. Friend for those comments. I shall certainly look at the debate that took place several weeks ago in Westminster Hall. As it happens, we have also been well engaged with the Prison Reform Trust on this issue. I attended the launch of the "No One Knows" programme last November with the director general of the National Offender Management Service to look at a range of issues to do with how we can support people with learning difficulties. As my hon. Friend will know, a number of individuals have found themselves in prison whose learning difficulties are contributing to their having a much more difficult time there than would otherwise be the case. It is important that we look at the recommendations. As we said at the conference in November, we welcome the recommendations and will look at how we can address them in a serious and practical way.