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    Posted by Editor on 30th December 2010 at 05:52 PM Scales, goals and prisoners' tales
By Sir Alan Beith The new Justice Committee has been busy since we were formed in July. We have launched two large-scale inquiries – into the probation service and the work of the family courts – and have had one-off evidence sessions with the secretary of state, the Lord Chief Justice, the Judicial Appointments Commission, and others. But we are not just interested in grandees: as a committee we are keen to know how things work on the ground, and one of the most fascinating evidence sessions we had was with four former offenders who told us how probation really works in practice. We also visited a probation scheme in South London, where a group of offenders were tidying a garden used by elderly residents (although our own gardening skills were not put to the test). I am very keen that the valuable work done by our predecessor committee is not shelved, but is acted upon by government. In particular, that committee’s report on Cutting Crime: the case for Justice Reinvestment, set out our findings that, other than for serious offenders from whom the public required protection, prison was a relatively ineffective – but very expensive – way of reducing crime. The report called for radical decision-making and for resources to be shifted from incarceration towards rehabilitation and ‘prehabilitation’. It received a widespread welcome from bodies working in the criminal justice area and has helped shape the new government’s views. In order to maintain its influence, I instigated a debate in Westminster Hall on the report, and the important arguments made in it – especially about the need for robust and effective community sentences – are ones the committee will follow-up throughout the course of this Parliament. No select committee can ignore the cuts being made across government. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is taking quite a hit (its resource budget will have fallen by 23 per cent by 2014-15, compared to an average of 8.3 per cent across Whitehall), and it simply will not be possible to make such cuts without having an impact. We will be asking questions of the department to try to ensure that that impact is fair and that vital services are maintained and enhanced and this it is consistent with the policy objective of reducing custody and investing in prevention and rehabilitation. We have already quizzed a minister on the effect of court closures and we look forward to taking evidence soon from the MoJ’s permanent secretary on the detail of the cuts. We have a lot to do. Very soon the government will set out its thinking on sentencing policy in a new green paper; we will want to look at that carefully and examine both the government’s objectives and how it intends to meet those objectives in this time of scarce resources. The Justice Committee will continue to play its part by being a critical friend of the department. The next few years will be an immensely important time in the development of criminal justice policy and I intend for the Justice Committee to be instrumental in influencing that policy. Sir Alan Beith is chair of the Justice Committee Source: epolitix.com Copyright: Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd
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