Speeches by Babarinde.

“There are no specific domestic abuse offences in law, so abusers hiding behind convictions such as actual bodily harm are being let out early under the SDS40 early release scheme. That is not right, so I have introduced the Domestic Abuse (Aggravated Offences) Bill to create a specific set of domestic abuse aggravated …”

“I thank the Secretary of State for that answer—I hope to have the chance to meet her to discuss it in more detail. The Liberal Democrats are deeply concerned about survivors who have been told that, as it stands, their abuser is set to be released early. One such survivor is Elizabeth Hudson, who I met on the set of “G…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Mundell. I thank the Minister for his remarks. I also thank him and the Government for taking seriously and addressing the issue of overcrowding in our prisons. They inherited a completely unsustainable position, whereby our prisons were driven to the brink by the l…”

“I am Josh Babarinde, the MP for Eastbourne. I am a non-practising non-lawyer.”

“I have certainly spoken with campaigners and organisations in the sector that believe there is a gap and a loophole, and that a common assault conviction is not appropriate for a number of the folks who have it now. The SDS40 scheme is an example of that problem.”

“It would be good to follow up with you another time on that.”

“Yes.”

“I haven’t finished on mine yet, Chair. Director, you spoke about common assault as an offence that is often very closely associated with domestic abuse and domestic violence. Sitting in the very place you are a couple of weeks ago we had Lord Timpson and two officials to speak a little bit about this. I asked about the…”

“When you say that some cases come to you in a bad state, what does a bad state of a case look like?”

“What work are you doing to loop in and communicate with victims and survivors of domestic abuse in the pilots that you are doing? There is clearly an issue of confidence in our system, and that includes confidence in the Crown Prosecution Service’s ability to play its part in dispensing justice on their behalf. I am su…”

“Local leisure and sports facilities, such as the Sovereign centre where I learned to swim, deserve more long-term investment. I want Eastbourne to be able to invest its £20 million from the towns fund in such facilities, but it will not be unlocked by the Treasury until 2026. Will the Chancellor commit to accelerating …”

“My questions are on domestic abuse. Domestic abuse consistently represents a third of all the crime that you handle. We can see from the data that the number of suspects of domestic abuse-related crimes referred by the police to the CPS fell from over 110,000 in 2017-18 to about 69,000 in 2022-23. Are you able to shed …”

“Exactly. What do you think needs to be done to address what is clearly a failure in the technology to meet the needs of the justice system?”

“We have spoken a lot about the Crown court backlog and reform. When you were last here in January, you spoke about the need for radical reform to take place, which might involve things like fewer either-way cases or the establishment of an intermediate court that involved a blend of judges and lay magistrates. Are you …”

“To reassure victims, survivors and indeed others, can you give some essence of a deadline or a target by which—”

“That was going to be my next question. It sounds like the existence of some kind of vehicle that is a safe way for you to be able to input without publicly jeopardising your position might be—”

“To what extent do you feel that you were listened to?”

“I agree that the work of those justice and court workers, in the context of an environment that was not of their shaping, must be commended. To clarify, you and the rest of the judiciary were not consulted, by the sound of it. You were informed and you personally—”

“Are you able to expand on that?”

“The people of Eastbourne will remain on the edge of their seats. I want to ask about the facilities in those buildings and what they are kitted out with. There are some serious challenges, especially when it comes to things like screens. Are they bright enough for juries to see? Are the acoustics in court good enough? …”