Alex Davies-Jones MP: speeches 2024

Speeches

• 10 Dec 2024 · Support for Victims of Ecocide · Hansard source

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  I will ensure that the hon. Member’s comments are passed to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Minister responsible for water quality. I can confirm that we are committed to delivering for nature, taking action to meet our targets in the Environment Act 2021, and that we work in partnership with civil society, communities and businesses to restore and protect our natural world.

• 10 Dec 2024 · Court Cases: Backlog · Hansard source

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  Bearing down on the outstanding caseload in the Crown court and bringing down waiting times is a priority for the Government. We want to ensure that every victim has the swift access to justice that they deserve. We know rape victims are waiting a disproportionately long time for their trials, and that is why we have committed to working with the judiciary to fast-track those cases through the courts.

• 10 Dec 2024 · Court Cases: Backlog · Hansard source

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  Absolutely. The Minister with responsibility for courts, my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Finchley and Golders Green (Sarah Sackman), has already outlined the steps that the Government are taking to increase sentencing in our courts. We will of course consider what other action we can take. We know that the budgetary position that the Government face is incredibly tight, because of the inheritance that we received. However, it is vital that we make fiscally responsible decisions.

• 10 Dec 2024 · Court Cases: Backlog · Hansard source

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  As the hon. Lady knows, rape is an abhorrent crime and cases are usually complex. That means despite judges prioritising cases involving vulnerable complainants and witnesses, rape victims can wait disproportionately longer than victims of other cases for their trial to come to court. I remind her that the Government have increased the number of court sitting dates by 500 days this year, and the Lord Chancellor agreed to increase capacity in the magistrates courts so that we can get through cases more quickly. We are also introducing independent legal advocates in the new year to advise rape victims from report to trial, which will ensure they stay in the system longer, feel supported and get to trial.

• 10 Dec 2024 · Epilepsy: Sudden Unexpected Death · Hansard source

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  I recently met the chief coroner. We did not discuss the specifics of this issue, but coroners have a statutory duty to investigate deaths that are not reported to them if they suspect that the cause is unknown, violent or unnatural, or that the death occurred in custody or other state detention.

• 10 Dec 2024 · Epilepsy: Sudden Unexpected Death · Hansard source

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  The Government recognise the impact of delays and the other issues facing coroners at the moment, and the impact that that is having on bereaved families and the wider systems. We welcome the recent Justice Committee report on the coroner service, and I look forward to working closely with the chief coroner, local authorities and key partners to devise and deliver a wider strategy for those services.

• 10 Dec 2024 · Violence against Women and Girls · Hansard source

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  This Government share the concern that more needs to be done to protect women from this appalling form of abuse. That is why we made a clear commitment in our manifesto to criminalise the creation of sexually explicit deepfake images of adults, and I look forward to setting out our position on this in more detail soon.

• 10 Dec 2024 · Violence against Women and Girls · Hansard source

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  I wholeheartedly echo my hon. Friend’s words about the vital work of organisations such as Women’s Aid, who do such brilliant work in empowering women and children to rebuild their lives after experiencing domestic abuse. This Government are committed to halving violence against women and girls within a decade. That is why I have decided to protect violence against women and girls victims spending in the Ministry of Justice by maintaining the current funding levels for sexual violence and domestic abuse support for the next financial year.

• 10 Dec 2024 · Violence against Women and Girls · Hansard source

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  I would be delighted to meet the hon. Gentleman and his constituents to discuss the case.

• 10 Dec 2024 · Violence against Women and Girls · Hansard source

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  I am aware of the appalling case that the right hon. Lady mentions. It is horrific and all my thoughts are with the victims of those crimes. If she wants to write to me with more details, I will happily look at the case. As she knows, sentencing is a matter for the independent judiciary, but I will look at the case and meet her to discuss it further.

• 10 Dec 2024 · Violence against Women and Girls · Hansard source

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  Last week, this Government introduced domestic abuse protection orders in selected areas. This will improve protection for victims of domestic abuse, including non-physical abuse and coercive and controlling behaviour. We have also committed to fast-tracking rape cases through the courts in order to deliver swift justice for victims of this abhorrent offence.

• 4 Dec 2024 · Children of Prisoners · Hansard source

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  I wholly concur with the right hon. Member’s comments. It is important that we talk about the issue more and try to remove some of the stigma, draw back the curtain and show it to the public. It is welcome that we are having this debate to do just that. In July, the Ministry of Justice produced the first official statistics on the children of prisoners. The Department estimates that over the course of a year, around 193,000 children in England and Wales may be affected by a parent’s being in or going to prison. Identifying and supporting children with a parent in prison is a complex area, and it is crucial that we take a sensitive approach that puts the child’s needs at the centre. The Under-Secretary of State for Education, my hon. Friend the Member for Lewisham East (Janet Daby), has responsibility for children and families, and our officials are working together closely to deliver this commitment as soon as possible. We are taking a wide approach, with a focus on providing whole-family support that will improve the overall life chances of children and families. Where appropriate and in the best interests of the child, that will include supporting the parent in prison to maintain, build and improve their relationship with their children, which has been shown to smooth reintegration into family and community on release from prison, in turn reducing the risk that the individual will reoffend and improving outcomes for the whole family. However, when contact with the parent in prison is not in the best interests of the child, we have robust safeguarding measures in place to prevent that; the safety of the children will always be the paramount consideration. Our aims are threefold: first, to reach a higher proportion of these children and build our understanding of their specific needs and circumstances; secondly, to put in place high-quality support to improve outcomes for children of prisoners and their families; and thirdly, to help maintain and improve relationships between children and parents in prison, where that is appropriate and in the interests of the child. I will take each of those in turn. First, we are exploring new ways of reaching affected children and families to ensure that they are offered the right support. His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service already has robust safeguarding processes to identify and protect these children where necessary. The Government will also remove parental rights from those who pose a danger to children, to ensure that children are protected from harm. These processes are crucial and we will seek to strengthen them further. A more bespoke approach is needed to reach a larger number of children and families. There are those who may benefit from support even if there are no safeguarding concerns—especially, as we heard from the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon), vulnerable adults with parents in prison. We are exploring a range of options, including for how HMPPS can help to encourage more prisoners to voluntarily disclose their parental responsibility, and for how we can better share data between Departments and organisations across criminal justice and family services. There are many great examples of local best practice. The right hon. Member for Basildon and Billericay outlined Operation Paramount in the Thames Valley violence reduction unit. We are continuing to learn from that to determine the best way forward to achieve our aims. As I said, children who have experienced parental imprisonment are at increased risk of mental illness, poor educational outcomes and unemployment. We want those children and their families to receive the support they need to thrive. Support for children of prisoners will be properly integrated with existing support as part of our ambition to rebalance children’s social care towards earlier intervention while we reform the care system. We want to create an end-to-end system for support—from universal services, including family hubs, through to care—that is more responsive to different needs and how they might change over time. From April next year, £500 million will be available to local authorities to roll out family help and child protection as a first step towards transforming the system, nearly doubling direct investment in preventive services in 2025-26. Families will have access to family help, which will co-ordinate multi-agency support and with which they can build a trusted relationship and develop a plan based on the child’s individual needs. However, we need to better understand the impact of parental imprisonment on children’s outcomes and general opportunities. The Department for Education is undertaking rapid research—the right hon. Member will appreciate that—and has already brought together dozens of organisations to discuss this. It is identifying what support is already in place, where the gaps lie, and what extra support children of prisoners may need. Supporting the parent in prison to build and improve their relationship with their children, when appropriate, can help to reduce some of the negative effects of this adverse experience. Family support interventions improve relationships, wellbeing and communication, benefiting the whole family. HMPPS has commissioned rehabilitative services to further this work and provide support on release. That helps strengthen family relationships and supports the transition from prison back into the community. Prisons across England and Wales already offer a range of services to maintain family relationships, including social visits, family days and collaborations with organisations, and I have been pleased to see some of that at first hand—as an example, I highlight the award-winning charity-led initiative Storybook Mums and Dads, which enables parents in prison to record bedtime stories for their children. We have also invested £10 million to fund partnerships with third sector specialist family support providers who are working in custody. Those partnerships allow establishments to deliver a range of services to maintain and nurture family ties. I am delighted that, with my colleagues at the Department for Education, we are pressing ahead with work to address this important issue. We are fortunate to be able to draw on a significant amount of knowledge and experience on the issue among our own frontline staff and partners within the voluntary, charity and social enterprise sector, as well as among our renowned academics. Their expertise will be invaluable in ensuring that we get this right. Officials from the Ministry of Justice and the Department for Education have already met with many of those partners, and I am keen to involve them actively in the development of our work. My colleague, Lord Timpson, has met with the Children’s Commissioner for England to discuss the issue and together with the Under-Secretary of State for Education, they will host a roundtable in the new year to further capture the views of experts. The Government recognise the significant impact of imprisonment on women with dependent children. With only 12 women’s prisons scattered across the country—and none in Wales—mothers are often held far from their homes and families. Pregnancy, mother and baby liaison officers work in women’s prisons to identify and signpost support for women who are pregnant and/or have been separated from young children. We are also testing new roles to help women to maintain family ties, including prison-based social workers and resettlement family engagement workers. We are establishing a women’s justice board to provide strategic vision and direction on reforming women’s justice, with the ultimate goal of reducing the number of women in custody. Among other areas of work, the board will focus on issues specific to pregnant women and mothers in the system with young children. More fundamentally, the wider measures aimed at driving down the imprisonment rate that we inherited from the last Government, such as our review of sentencing and focus on reducing reoffending, will help reduce the numbers being affected by the issue, and hopefully keep families together. The Government want every child to flourish, which means ensuring that those affected by parental imprisonment are properly supported and afforded the same opportunities as their peers. I thank again the right hon. Member for Basildon and Billericay for giving me the opportunity to speak on the matter. I hope that I have assured the House of the importance that we place on the issue and that I have laid out the work that we are undertaking to address it head on. Question put and agreed to.

• 4 Dec 2024 · Children of Prisoners · Hansard source

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  I welcome that intervention. As I will explain, it is difficult for any child when a parent is taken away and is unable to be with them. As a parent, I find it really difficult to have to be away from my child for four days a week. I am sure that the hon. Member understands that the impact is in some regard immeasurable. We do not know the impact on those children but, as a Government or as a parent, we try to give them as much support as we can. When one parent is in prison, that is not always possible. This is about what we can do to provide them with that support. Growing up with a parent in prison is incredibly tough for many children. As the right hon. Member for Basildon and Billericay outlined, it is widely recognised as an adverse childhood experience that affects not just a child’s day-to-day life, but their longer-term opportunities and outcomes. We owe it to every child with a parent in prison to ensure that that disadvantage does not become ingrained from generation to generation. I am grateful to the organisations that have brought this important issue to the Government’s attention, including the Prison Advice and Care Trust, North Eastern Prison After Care Society and Children Heard and Seen. I also thank my hon. Friends the Members for Bristol East (Kerry McCarthy) and for Brentford and Isleworth (Ruth Cadbury), and the noble Lord Farmer. These children may have parents in prison, but they too are locked in an invisible cell—one of separation, loss and disruption. The situation is particularly acute for children whose mothers go to jail: around three quarters leave the family home while their mam is locked up, losing not only their parent, but their school and home all at once. Many of the children are passed between family members, but some end up in care. More broadly, research shows a range of immediate and longer-term effects on children who have parents in prison, including on their physical and mental health, and engagement at school. They are also at risk of following the same path into the criminal justice system. We have to ensure that we reach such families and get them the support they need, and in our manifesto we committed to doing just that.

• 4 Dec 2024 · Children of Prisoners · Hansard source

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  I thank my friend, the right hon. Member for Basildon and Billericay (Mr Holden), for securing this important debate. He eloquently outlined why we cannot overestimate the impact of parental imprisonment on children and their families. He reeled off a lot of stats and figures, but then powerfully backed them up with the children’s stories. Behind every one of those numbers is a child.

• 29 Nov 2024 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

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  This Second Reading debate on the Bill sponsored by my hon. Friend the Member for Spen Valley (Kim Leadbeater) provides the House and the country with an opportunity to discuss this complex and sensitive issue. I make it clear that I stand at the Dispatch Box today not as the MP for Pontypridd representing the views of my constituents, although I thank each and every one of them who took the time to contact me with their considered opinions. I stand here today as the Government Minister responsible for the criminal law on this issue in England and Wales, contained in the Suicide Act 1961. As the Government remain neutral on this topic of conscience, and out of respect for my ministerial colleagues who are not able to outline their views in today’s debate, I will not be sharing my personal opinions on this matter. I will, however, be taking part in the vote. With all that in mind, I will keep my response brief and not take any interventions. The Government are of the view that any change to the law in this area is an issue of conscience for individual parliamentarians. It is rightly, in our view, a matter for Parliament rather than the Government to decide. Accordingly, the Government Benches will have a free vote should the views of the House be tested today. If the will of Parliament is that the law in this area should change, the Government will of course respect their duty to the statute book and ensure that any Bill is effective and its provisions can be enforced. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Spen Valley for bringing this important national conversation to the fore and for conducting her campaign with respect and integrity. I pay tribute to the campaigners on both sides of the debate, including Dame Esther Rantzen, Liz Carr, Nathaniel Dye and Baroness Grey-Thompson. They have all used their voices to advocate for what they believe and have contributed significantly to the important national conversation around death. Regardless of views, the one thing we have in common is that we will all experience death at some point. Death is a topic that we do not tend to talk about very much, but these discussions have undoubtedly enabled families up and down the country to talk openly about their wishes and how they feel about their own death. That powerful honesty is a tribute to how Members of this House and campaigners have conducted themselves throughout, and I thank them for informing today’s debate.

• 12 Nov 2024 · Tackling Image-based Abuse · Hansard source

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  I was about to come on to therapy, support services and other things that the Ministry of Justice funds to support victims and survivors. My hon. Friend the Member for Bolton North East mentioned redress, and compensation can be made available from the perpetrators directly through the civil courts. That has been pursued previously, and it is available to victims and survivors to get the redress that they need by claiming that compensation. On victim support, the Ministry of Justice funds many other services to help victims cope and recover from the impact of crime. For example, we have the rape and sexual abuse support fund, which supports more than 60 specialist support organisations. As others have mentioned, we also have Refuge, which the Government fund to deliver a specific tech abuse function. It has been at the forefront of the response to tech abuse. We also provide police and crime commissioners with annual grant funding to commission local, practical, emotional and therapeutic support services for victims of all crime types, not just intimate image abuse. The Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 will aim to improve support to victims of sexual abuse, including intimate image abuse, by placing a duty on local commissioners to collaborate when commissioning support services so that victims and survivors get the support that they actually need. That brings me back to the key point: collaboration, with everyone pulling together and playing their part. That is what we need if we are going to truly see a shift. Again, I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Bolton North East for securing the debate and I thank everyone for coming and showing support. It really is important that we have good representation in Parliament. We are absolutely committed to tackling violence against women and girls, as are this Government, and we are just at the start of it. Question put and agreed to.

• 12 Nov 2024 · Tackling Image-based Abuse · Hansard source

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  I could not agree more. This is about all of us playing our part and saying that we will not stand for it—we will not be passive bystanders and we will challenge these views to tackle it. It will not happen overnight. It will take time, but I believe we can do it. Women deserve to feel safe, whether that is online or out in the physical world. Men who abuse, harass and discriminate should have nowhere to hide.

• 12 Nov 2024 · Tackling Image-based Abuse · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Bolton North East (Kirith Entwistle) for securing a debate on this very important subject. I look forward to discussing it with her and other members of the Women and Equalities Committee later this month. This Government are absolutely committed to tackling violence against women and girls, and to restoring trust so that victims know that the justice system sees them, hears them and takes them seriously. In our election manifesto, we promised to make tackling violence against women and girls a political priority—finally, after years of neglect—with a pledge to halve violence against women and girls over the next decade. It is an ambitious target, but I believe we can do it. Tackling online abuse is crucial. As outlined so eloquently by my hon. Friend the Member for Bolton North East, the statistics are clear, but behind them are real people—real victims. Many of us will have experienced it ourselves, or know friends or family who have. Women have the right to feel safe in every space, online and offline. The rise in intimate image abuse is utterly devastating for victims, but it also spreads misogyny on social media, which can develop into potentially dangerous relationships offline. It is truly an abhorrent crime, which is why the Government are determined to act. It will not be easy and we are just at the start, but we will use all the tools available to us to tackle it. Let me set out some of the work we are doing right now. First, it is vital that our criminal law is equipped to deal effectively with this behaviour. A range of criminal offences tackle intimate image abuse, whether online or offline. That includes offences of voyeurism and sharing or threatening to share intimate images without consent. However, the current law has developed in piecemeal fashion, with new offences introduced over many years to address different forms of offending. The result is a patchwork of offences with known gaps in protection for victims. For example, while it is currently an offence to share a deepfake of an intimate image without consent, it is not an offence to make one. That is why the Government’s manifesto included a commitment to ban the creation of degrading and harmful sexually explicit deepfakes. This is not porn; this is abuse. We are looking at options to swiftly deliver that commitment in this Session of Parliament. We will consider what further legislative measures may be needed to strengthen the law in this area. While intimate image abuse rightly has serious criminal consequences, we also need to tackle the prevalence of such content online. That is why, on 12 September, we laid before the House a statutory instrument to add the new criminal offences of sharing or threatening to share intimate images to the list of priority offences under the Online Safety Act. This strengthens the duties on providers to prioritise tackling intimate image abuse under the Act by holding them responsible for stopping the spread.

• 12 Nov 2024 · Tackling Image-based Abuse · Hansard source

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  I am well aware of the horrific case in my hon. Friend’s constituency. I am pleased that we have been able to go further on intent versus consent with some of these crimes. The right to banter should not trump the right to feel safe; I have said that before in this place and I will say it again. Women have the right to feel safe everywhere and we are looking at all offences in that regard, but it will take a whole system effort. My colleagues and I across Government know that, and that is why we are working together to get to the root causes of violence and misogyny to create the lasting change that we all want and need to see. Finally, we need to ensure that when someone has been the victim of intimate image abuse, they get the support that they need and know that they as victims and survivors have done nothing wrong. A key part of that is the invaluable work of victim support organisations such as the intimate image abuse helpline, which is funded by Government and was set up by the hon. Member for Gosport (Dame Caroline Dinenage). Not only do these services provide high quality support and advice to victims of intimate image abuse, but they work with law enforcement and others to improve the response to these awful crimes. Representatives from the helpline recently gave evidence to the Women and Equalities Committee on this very issue, and I am grateful to them for all that they do to support victims. Their work is more valuable and more needed than ever.

• 12 Nov 2024 · Tackling Image-based Abuse · Hansard source

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  The hon. Lady makes a very good point; she has pre-empted my next sentence. As I have said, this is a start. Ofcom’s codes of practice are being developed and will give it the tools to go after the platforms, but there is nothing stopping the platforms taking decisive action now. They do not need to wait for Ofcom to have the powers available to make them act. They could remove this imagery now; there is nothing making them wait. Other things could be done to take that further by building safety into design, which I know the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology is looking at very carefully. Ofcom is working on the illegal harms codes of practice, which will take effect next year, and already working with the tech companies to ensure that the Online Safety Act is implemented quickly and effectively. Firms will also need to start risk assessing for that illegal content by the end of this year. Ofcom will have robust enforcement powers available to use against the companies that fail to fulfil their duties. It will be able to issue enforcement decisions that may include fines of up to £18 million or 10% of qualifying global revenue in the relevant year—whichever is higher. The Online Safety Act also means that when users report illegal intimate image abuse content to the platforms, they will be required to have systems and processes in place to remove the content. It is important that the police respond robustly to such crimes. We have heard the importance of that today. In our manifesto, we committed to strengthening police training on violence against women and girls. We must ensure that all victims of VAWG have a positive experience when dealing with the police. That is essential to increased reporting of these crimes and delivery of better outcomes for victims. We will work closely with the College of Policing and the National Police Chiefs’ Council to improve and strengthen training for officers. This is a start, but I am clear that it is not the be-all and end-all of tackling intimate image abuse. We can and must do more. If we want to see true and lasting change, we need a culture shift. I have said this before and I will keep saying it: we need everyone, especially men, to play their part in slowly but surely, bit by bit, wearing away outdated views and misogyny to ensure women are safe, wherever they are.

• 5 Nov 2024 · Code of Practice for Victims of Crime · Hansard source

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  We will implement the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024, which lays a good foundation for ensuring that victims know the rights they should receive under the code and that agencies are held accountable for delivering them. We will consult on the revised victims code early next year, and we will go further by increasing the Victims’ Commissioner’s powers so that there is more accountability for delivering the code.

• 5 Nov 2024 · Code of Practice for Victims of Crime · Hansard source

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  What Dr Marie Gerval experienced is totally abhorrent, but sadly she is not alone in experiencing these crimes. The Government are committed to treating stalking with the seriousness it deserves by enhancing stalking protection orders, implementing automatic suspensions for officers under investigation for domestic abuse and sexual offences, and introducing mandatory professional standards for individual officers. The Home Office is also looking at the police response to stalking as a part of our work to better protect victims of violence against women and girls. I encourage my hon. Friend to reach out to the Home Office Minister responsible for safeguarding, my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Yardley (Jess Phillips), but I will happily meet her.

• 5 Nov 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Gentleman for that very important question. He is right: all parts of this country—all our nations—are experiencing an epidemic of violence against women and girls. We have already spoken about the 16 days of action, which will highlight what we can all do to stand against this abhorrent crime. I am working with my counterparts across all the devolved nations on how we tackle violence against women and girls. I will bring forward more information in due course.

• 5 Nov 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  The hon. Lady is right: sadly, family courts are far too often used to re-traumatise victims of domestic abuse. The Government are alive to that fact, and we are rolling out our pathfinder pilot to focus on a more child-centred approach. I am meeting Surviving Economic Abuse this afternoon—we have a great relationship with that organisation—to see how best we can do more and support victims.

• 5 Nov 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for highlighting the brilliant work of Savana. The charity does tremendous work in supporting victims and survivors of these abhorrent crimes. This financial year, the Government are providing £41 million of ringfenced funding for ISVAs and independent domestic violence advisers. Now that the departmental budgets for 2025-26 have been announced, the internal departmental allocations process is taking place. I have written to police and crime commissioners to assure them that they will be told of the settlement by the beginning of December, and I would love to visit Savana in Stoke-on-Trent.