Prison Reform

Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Justice – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 6 December 2016.

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Photo of Barry Sheerman Barry Sheerman Labour/Co-operative, Huddersfield 12:00, 6 December 2016

Government Front Benchers seem to be doing a bit of sleepwalking this morning. I know that it is nearly Christmas, but can I ask them to wake up to the dangers of empowering governors too much? When the former Select Committee that I chaired looked at prison education all those years ago, we found that one real danger was that a very good system of education and training in a prison could suddenly be wiped out by a new governor who wanted nothing to do with it. We need common standards across all prisons. Is that not right?