Nicholas Dakin MP: speeches

297 published records · newest first.

Speeches

15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source
More
No, it is not. This is about people who have already served their sentence in prison; they are out in the community. If they breach a condition of their licence, they are returned to prison. The hon. Gentleman might as well ask why the Government he supported did not take any of the measures that he mentions. Our Government inherited the mess that his Government left us, and we are taking decisions to address the unconscionable threat of having a prison system that is not able to lock up dangerous people.
15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source
More
I have made clear the exceptions that apply to this tight, fixed-term recall alteration. The management of people in the community will be risk-assessed, as always. If the view is that a different approach needs to be taken, it will be taken.
15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source
More
Since taking office, we have deported over 1,800 foreign national offenders in custody, securing their early removal from our prisons—15% higher than in the previous 12 months. We have just announced 110,000 court sitting days, which is the highest level for a very long time. To answer the right hon. Gentleman’s specific questions, we will exclude anyone serving more than four years in prison; all those convicted of a terrorist or national security crime; and those who are subject to higher levels of risk management by multiple agencies where the police and the Prison and Probation Service work together, which includes certain sexual and violent offenders, including many domestic abusers. If there are ongoing concerns about the risk posed by an offender who is due to be released after the 28-day period, frontline workers can apply additional licence conditions to manage that. If further information related to an offender’s risk is received after they have been recalled, meaning that they are no longer considered suitable for fixed-term recall, they may be detained for longer on a standard recall, if that is assessed as necessary by the HMPPS public protection team. We know how important it is that victims are kept informed. All those eligible for the victim contact scheme will be notified about an offender’s release and will have the opportunity to make representations about victim-related licence conditions. Although there are certain exclusions for serious offenders, changing recalls for fixed-term offenders is necessary. It would be even worse to run out of space, which at this stage would mean the managed breakdown of the criminal justice system. The Lord Chancellor said rightly that that would be unconscionable. No Government should leave that challenge as a legacy to their successors, as the right hon. Gentleman’s Government did.
15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source
More
We are committed to getting this right. The early release scheme that the previous Government put in place did not have the same exceptions as our early release scheme did for the sort of offenders that the hon. Gentleman draws attention to, but these matters are very difficult. The most important thing is ensuring that we have a criminal justice system that works. We need to be able to lock up dangerous people, and those who do really bad things. When we came into government, the situation was that we might not be able to maintain that ability. We have had to take actions that we would far rather not take in order to keep the system going.
15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source
More
We are improving the prison estate and investing in probation, and there will also be actions coming forward from the independent sentencing review. I agree with everything my hon. Friend said.
15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source
More
Anybody subject to a fixed-term recall will be recalled for 28 days, and if their risk is assessed as greater, they will be transferred to a standard recall. The reality is that anybody affected by this has already served their time in prison; they are on licence, being properly monitored and effectively managed by the Probation Service.
15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source
More
My hon. Friend is right to remind the House of the chaos and turmoil that the Conservatives applied to our very important Probation Service when they were in government. We are putting probation back together. We have already brought 1,000 new probation officers on board, and we are committed to a further 1,300 in the coming year.
15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source
More
I certainly hope that all those things will be looked at by the independent sentencing review. The mandating of the 14-day fixed-term release was a measure taken by the previous Government. We are extending that to 28 days for sentences of up to four years because of the situation that we face, to ensure that we do not run out of prison places in the interim.
15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source
More
My hon. Friend is exactly right to point to that planning application going forward. It is excellent news, and shows that we are cracking on with the job.
15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source
More
The hon. Gentleman will be aware that the Victims and Courts Bill is about to go through Parliament, and that is the sort of issue that we will look at during the Bill’s passage.
15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source
More
We speak to the Victims’ Commissioner regularly; the Under-Secretary of State for Justice, my hon. Friend the Member for Pontypridd (Alex Davies-Jones), is speaking to them later today.
15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source
More
My hon. Friend points out the actions that we must take to address the challenges that we face in the system, and to make the system work better for victims and protect the public.
15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source
More
My hon. Friend is right: the recall population has doubled in just seven years and we need to address that. The independent sentencing review will report shortly, and I hope that there will be recommendations to which we can respond in that report.
15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source
More
It is clear that tagging technology has huge potential. A recent study has shown a 20% reduction in reoffending by offenders wearing curfew tags, but my hon. Friend is right to draw attention to concerns about the contract. Serco’s performance is improving, but it is still not acceptable. The reporting in the “Dispatches” programme was from last year, when we knew that there were serious issues, and we issued financial penalties to Serco, which was given the contract by the previous Government. If Serco’s performance drops again, all options will remain on the table.
15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source
More
The hon. Member will know that his colleague, the hon. Member for Chichester (Jess Brown-Fuller), is working closely with the Under-Secretary of State for Justice, my hon. Friend the Member for Pontypridd (Alex Davies-Jones), on getting things right for victims. That is something we take very seriously, and it needs to be done properly, with victims, in order to get it right. I hope that the independent sentencing review report will contain things that give us confidence about moving forward and about the way we work with victims.
15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source
More
We are always alert to the need to assess how policies apply to the wider public and victims. That is important.
15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source
More
Victims absolutely need to be kept informed, and we continue to work with victims’ groups and the Victims’ Commissioner to ensure that they are.
15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source
More
I have carefully gone through the exclusions from this measure, and emphasised the importance of good professional bodies continuing to apply proper risk assessments. When risk assessments say that a standard recall is more appropriate than a fixed-term recall, that will happen.
15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source
More
I say gently that we have deported more foreign nationals in the first year on our watch than the previous Government did in the years on their watch. He is right that we have to roll up our sleeves and continue to get on with the job.
15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source
More
I am very sorry to hear about the cases mentioned by my hon. Friend. I am happy to meet him to take the matter further.
15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source
More
We have great respect for the Victims’ Commissioner. What would be letting down victims is if we allowed the prison system to get to a place where we cannot lock prisoners up—that would be unconscionable. That is why it is important that we have taken these steps. I remind the hon. Member that we are excluding those prisoners who pose the most risk and are managed under MAPPA—multi-agency public protection arrangements—levels 2 and 3. That means various agencies working together. The exclusion also includes all those convicted of terrorist and national security crimes. Proper action can be taken where agencies identify risk to move from a fixed-term recall to a standard recall.
15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source
More
My hon. Friend makes a good point, and the House will have heard it.
15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source
More
The commissioner has been spoken to by the team. To be clear, the impact assessment will be published when we come to consider the statutory instrument.
15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source
More
This is not about releasing people from prison earlier.
15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source
More
I hear the right hon. Gentleman’s question, and I will write to him.

Published records only — not a full account of an MP’s work. How we work →