Speeches by Farnsworth.

“What is it at the moment?”

“That is really interesting, thank you. My optimistic nature is hopeful from what you have just said about going forward. What is the appropriate balance that you would like to see between salaried and fee-paid judges?”

“You mentioned the issue in London and the south-east in terms of recruitment and that there is an application process at the moment. In previous evidence you said that because of the recruitment problem in those areas, there has been an over-reliance on fee-paid deputy judges. Will that still be the case until this iss…”

“My children will attest that digitalisation is not my forte, so I would like to talk about the human side of the court system, starting with judicial capacity. The recent judicial attitude survey produced by University College London concluded that the judiciary was facing, “A looming retention and recruitment crisis,”…”

“It seems like every week we are back here, dealing with culture wars—”

“I am very conscious that the Chair is glaring at me, so I will leave it there, if I may.”

“Thank you. I could talk to you for hours about libraries.”

“That is wonderful. Thank you, Victoria.”

“I have some questions about prison libraries. I was celebrating World Book Day with my children last week and having long conversations about reading for pleasure. I was heartened to read in our brief that the Prison Rules 1999 say that a library should be provided in every prison and, subject to the directions of the …”

“Dr Jo, you have hit on something that is really important to me and my colleagues in Derbyshire. Lee will know that Derbyshire county council and the ICB have recently failed quite dramatically an Ofsted report on their SEND provision, so I am really interested to hear what you say. MOJ data shows that 55% of prisoners…”

“I am the Member of Parliament for Amber Valley. I am a non-practising solicitor, formerly working at the Crown Prosecution Service, and my registration of interests is as on the website.”

“That is wonderful. Thank you, Victoria.”

“Thank you. I could talk to you for hours about libraries.”

“I am very conscious that the Chair is glaring at me, so I will leave it there, if I may.”

“On that point, it sounds a bit like a prison postcode lottery, in terms of different prisons offering different types of courses. That is great, but obviously you may have a prisoner who really is drawn to construction—off the top of my head—and one prison offers that and the prison that he happens to go to does not. A…”

“We have some MPs sitting here thinking about the businesses in their constituencies that might be able to help.”

“Would you like to see links with businesses on the outside as well, taking people through perhaps with apprenticeships, or some sort of link where local businesses might support funding for education in the prison and then jobs on the outside when they come out?”

“A more joined-up approach for re-entry into the community might be useful, would you say?”

“The requirement to have GCSE English and maths has been removed, so does that open up apprenticeships now?”

“That in itself is an example of best practice when it works, and it sounds like it is a really good scheme or system that you have there generally. Are there any other examples of good practice, and are there any other opportunities that you can see that would help to support prison leavers into the community continuin…”