House of Commons
Parliament

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Shadow home office minister Afzal Khan raises the case of Willow Sims, an eligible Windrush victim who was wrongly denied help by the Home Office.

Mr Khan says Ms Sims case shows that the Windrush scheme "is not working as intended".

He adds that reports of deportation flights are "concerning".

He asks if the Home Office will commit to widening the remit of the Windrush taskforce and asks why it was defined so narrowly, adding: "Can you confirm none of those refused were eligible?"

Home Secretary Sajid Javid says the government is looking into the case, and that the deportation flight has not yet happened.

Mr Javid adds that he wishes to clarify that "anyone on it will be on there according to the law charged with serious offences".

"Not a single person being deported is British," he adds, "ultimately this is about public safety".

House of Commons
Parliament

Home Secretary Sajid Javid says Mr Lammy does himself "a huge disservice" to suggest there is "even an ounce of racism in this House".

He adds that the deportation flight which Mr Lammy refers to contained foreign national offenders only and was "a legal requirement".

Mr Javid says Mr Lammy is right to raise the issue of the compensation scheme, which is why the government has appointed an independent individual to work on a proposal.

He says the deadline for the set up of the compensation scheme has been delayed so that it is "comprehensive and helps everyone", and that emergency payments are available.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Labour MP David Lammy says 164 Windrush citizens were wrongly removed, detained or stopped at the border by the government, and 11 of those have died.

All of these cases are "a shocking indictment" of the government's "pandering to a far right racism", he adds.

The home secretary promised to do whatever he could to make the situation right, Mr Lammy says, and yet 10 months on "not a penny has been paid out to victims".

He questions why people are being deported on flights to Jamaica, and why it is acceptable that the families of people who have been "killed by the government's incompetence" are being treated this way.

"Why is it still in this country that black lives matter less?" he concludes.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Home Secretary Sajid Javid says righting the wrongs done to the Windrush generation has been at "the forefront of my role as home secretary".

In all, 2,450 individuals had been given documentation confirming their status by the end of last year, and at least 3,400 have been granted UK citizenship under the Windrush Scheme launched in May last year, he adds.

Mr Javid says the government is determined to make it easy for those who have the right to be in the UK to stay, and that a compensation scheme is being developed.

"My commitment to this remains resolute," he adds.

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Labour MP David Lammy is now introducing his urgent question on the operation of the Windrush scheme.

The scheme, which came into force in May 2018 following the Windrush scandal, allows citizens arriving in the UK between 1948 and 1971 from Caribbean countries to have their British citizenship applications processed faster and free of charge.

Those applying for citizenship under the scheme still need to meet the good character requirements in place for all British citizenship applications but do not need to take the knowledge of language and life in the UK test or attend a citizenship ceremony.

The scheme was however met with criticism over a lack of the right for applicants to appeal decisions if they are rejected under the scheme.

There have been reports that delays in the scheme process is causing applicants mental health strains, and a lawyer overseeing a compensation scheme for victims has asked for "urgent clarification" after a woman was wrongly refused Home Office help.

You can read more about this here.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Shadow justice minister Imran Hussain asks for confirmation that HMP Birmingham will not be being handed back to G4S, and whether the justice secretary accepts that privatisation "has seen the failure of our prisons system".

Mr Gauke says G4S will not be given back control of HMP Birmingham if the situation is not improved, but that the private sector has shown they can be effective managers of prisons.

Labour MP Mohammad Yasin asks what steps the government is taking to reduce prison overcrowding.

Justice Secretary David Gauke says the government is making good progress to ensure prisons are less overcrowded in 2021 and 2022.

The prison population "decreased by around 2,000 last year", he says, noting that the government is looking at providing better community sentences for lower level offenders.

He adds that population increases has caused the overcrowding levels, but that releasing a prisoner "has to be assessed on a case-by-case basis".

Select Committee
Parliament

Police Sergeant Tola Munro, President of National Black Police Association, tells the committee that a proposal by Leicestershire Police to plant a tree in the name of Stephen Lawrence as a memorial at police HQ was met with negative feedback from white officers and, following the planting of the tree, it was "damaged".

He says this is one incident that has led him to believe that Leicestershire Police "is institutionally racist".

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House of Commons
Parliament

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Labour MP Helen Hayes asks what the government has made of the effect of the recent changes in court staffing and court closures on access to justice.

Justice Minister Lucy Frazer says any decision to close a court is taken very carefully, but due to the fact that 41% of courts in 2016/2017 were operating at half their available capacity "it is right the justice department considers how best to allocate their resources".

Ms Hayes says there are severe delays of six to eight months for constituents to access the justice system.

Ms Frazer says 225 judges will be recruited to tribunals over the next year.

Shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon says the government "has taken an axe to our justice system", and "after the recent chaos" calls for further court closures to be delayed until MPs have been able to scrutinise proposals.

Ms Frazer says the government does not take decisions to close courts lightly.

Select Committee
Parliament

Inspector Mustafa Mohammed, President of the National Association of Muslim Police, says police forces have a "defensive" attitude to allegations of racism.

He says that the first instinct is to "safeguard the reputation of the organisation" which results in "a lot of out of court settlements".

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House of Commons
Parliament

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Shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon says David Gauke has been in post as justice secretary for just over a year, and in every month since, violence figures in prisons have been out of control "reaching record highs".

He asks the justice secretary if he will admit the government has lost control, and questions when the government will "get a grip".

Justice Secretary David Gauke says in April the figures for the last quarter of 2018 will be available to assess continued levels of prison violence.

Select Committee
Parliament

All police forces in England and Wales now publish data about their ethnic diversity and gender balance, external, compared to the areas they police. The data for the Metropolitan Police shows that 85% of police officers are white compared to 60% of London's population as a whole.

The data shows all the minority groups tracked by the statistics are underrepresented in the force compared to London's population.

The data also shows falling diversity further up the Met's ranks. While 15% of police constables are black and minority ethnic, the number falls to 4.4% in the most senior ranks.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Conservative MP Robert Goodwin asks what steps the government has taken to tackle criminal activity and drug abuse in the prisons in the 10 prisons project.

Prisons Minister Rory Stewart says dog teams, airport scanners and full high security will be in place in these 10 prisons in the project for the first time, and the government are investing more in training for prison officers.

Labour MP Stephen Hepburn says violence in prisons has reached record levels with assaults on prison officers up 30%. He calls on the government to "do more".

Mr Stewart says the government acknowledges the level of violence in prisons has increased.

"That is why I have said if I don't bring the levels of violence down, including assaults of prison officers, I will resign."

House of Commons
Parliament

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Labour MP Alex Cunningham asks if the government will make it policy to return the probation service to the public sector.

Justice Secretary David Gauke says the government has been clear that "the probation service in the UK needs to improve" and that the public sector, private sector and local communities all have a role to play.

Labour MP Grahame Morris calls for the probation service to be devolved across counties, and for the government to have more conversations with police and crime commissioners about this.

Mr Gauke says the government is speaking to police and crime commissioners across the country as part of the aim to improve the probation service.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Conservative MP Gareth Johnson kicks off today's justice questions, asking what the government's policy is on the use of imprisonment for offenders and asks for stricter punishments for those guilty of acid attack related crimes.

Justice Secretary David Gauke says there is evidence that short sentences do not work which is why the government is exploring other options which would see them used much less frequency.

Mr Gauke says "the punishment must suit the crime" and that anyone committing such acts "must feel the full force of the law" which the new Offensive Weapons Bill will ensure.

Chair of the Justice Select Committee Bob Neill says he welcomes the government's new approached to imprisonment, and asks if the justice secretary will ensure that there is enough room for serious crime offenders to serve long custodial sentences.

House of Commons
Parliament

Justice questions begins the day today, before Labour MP David Lammy asks an urgent question on the operation of the Windrush scheme.

Labour MP Melanie Onn will then introduce her Crime (Impact Statements) Bill as a ten minute motion, which aims to allow statements made by victims of a crime to be used in sentencing proceedings in court.

After this, MPs will debate two motions: the police grant and the local government finance reports, which set out the government grants to police authorities and local councils in England.

This may include special provision for extra council tax increases in areas with particular financial problems such as in Northamptonshire.

Labour MP Sarah Champion will conclude the day's proceedings with her adjournment debate on funding for children's social care in Rotherham.

Select Committee
Parliament

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DS Janet Hills, chair of the Metropolitan Black Police Association, says "my feeling is we have gone backwards" on the question of representation and diversity because "we haven't allowed it to change along with society".

She says someone like her, a black woman, "sits within" different underrepresented groups but the system "silos" them. As a result although there are more black officers and more women in the police than there were, there aren't many BAME women. "We are nowhere to be seen," she says, "we've become invisible".

She says "there would be public outcry" if there were forces without women in them but the absence of black female officers is barely noticed.

Select Committee
Parliament

The committee is continuing its session into the Macpherson report and racism in police with a panel of black and minority ethnic serving police and former police officers. They are:

• DS Janet Hills, Chair, Metropolitan Black Police Association
• Inspector Mustafa Mohammed , President, National Association of Muslim Police
• Police Sergeant Tola Munro, President, National Black Police Association
• Bevan Powell, former Chair of the Metropolitan Black Police Association and founding member of the National Black Police Association

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Select Committee
Parliament

Conservative MP Douglas Ross asks what Baroness Lawrence's view of the police was before her son was murdered. He says he assumes that "you had no reason to think if a crime was committed it wouldn't be properly investigated?"

Baroness Lawrence says that there were always "rumours" about what would happen to a black boy arrested by the police, that it'd be assumed they'd be "beaten up in the back of a van".

She says she and her husband, Neville, always told their son "when you're out you've got to be very careful" to which Stephen would say "but I'm not doing anything".

After the murder, though, she says she assumed that the magnitude of the crime would "shock the police" but actually the attitude was that it was "trivial". One officer told her that the murder was "just thugs".