HC Deb 30 November 1998 vol 321 cc528-30
7. Mr. Jim Cunningham (Coventry, South)

What plans he has to make community sentences more (a) rigorous and (b) effective. [61096]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. George Howarth)

It is important that community penalties are seen as credible and effective by the public and the courts. The probation services are currently working to implement a detailed programme of action to reduce reoffending. We will shortly issue further guidance to promote more rigorous enforcement of community sentences.

Mr. Cunningham

Does my hon. Friend agree that the introduction of a witness protection scheme would be a vigorous and effective way to make community sentences more effective? When would he like to introduce such a scheme? Will he take the opportunity to acknowledge the work done in magistrates courts in Coventry, and "Reclaiming Our Communities"—an initiative of Coventry city council?

Mr. Howarth

As my hon. Friend knows, there are proposals in the Queen's Speech to extend witness protection, particularly into the magistrates courts. I hope that these proposals will meet my hon. Friend's concerns, which I know are shared by many in the community, especially when they feel in any way intimidated.

Mr. David Heath (Somerton and Frome)

Will the hon. Gentleman acknowledge that one of the key factors in making community service work is the quality of the probation service? Will he therefore give me an assurance that disparate probation services will be amalgamated not simply to make them coterminous with police authority areas, but only to make them more effective and efficient?

Mr. Howarth

As the hon. Gentleman probably knows, a Prison Service probation review is under way. I would not want to gainsay what might come out of that. Clearly there has been a commitment in the past to try to make the probation services coterminous with police boundaries, which I think makes sense. I think also that a growing number of people in the probation service are coming to understand that that will make sense.

The hon. Gentleman should be aware that an extra £127 million has gone into the probation service as a result of the comprehensive spending review. I hope that that will enable the service to carry out the work that is expected of it, unreformed or otherwise, by society and by the House.

Mr. James Clappison (Hertsmere)

Does the Minister agree that, if community sentences such as electronic tagging are to command the confidence of the public, they must be respected as being effective sentences? Does the hon. Gentleman not think that the public's confidence in community sentences such as tagging will inevitably be undermined when they discover that tagging is used to release prisoners early from their sentences, so that a sentence of six months in prison will mean only six weeks inside in practice? Will not the public think, as has been said, that the criminals are getting away with it? Does the Minister not agree that, if the Government are really to be tough on crime, as opposed to boasting about being tough on crime, community sentences and sentences of imprisonment should mean what they say?

Mr. Howarth

The hon. Gentleman has missed the point. The purpose of the curfew orders to which he refers is not to let prisoners out early to do what they want but to have a properly managed and supervised period between the completion of a sentence and the time when they are completely free of any penalty. If the hon. Gentleman thinks that that is not sensible, I suggest to him that he examine some of the projects where such a transition has been effectively run. That process does not necessarily involve tagging, but the process that tagging enables to happen is an important one.

The hon. Gentleman is bandying statistics that may in some instances apply, but in others will not. In so doing, he misses the point entirely. I think that most people accept that there must be some connection between the end of a prison sentence and prisoners going on to lead a respectable, law-abiding life. If the hon. Gentleman cannot understand that, I suggest that he has a long, hard think about law and order. He clearly does not understand what is going on in this country.