Speeches by Farnsworth.

“I see. The digital, as we know, has caused problems in terms of the finances.”

“Off the back of what you were saying about the 1,000 staff you have retained—rightly so, in my opinion—and stepping away from the courts and looking at the wider MOJ, staffing in Ministry headquarters has increased by 66%, with an increase of slightly under 3,000 full-time equivalent staff in ’23-24, while we know ther…”

“But under pressure.”

“Is there an issue in HMCTS of career progression opportunities for staff?”

“There are quite a lot of internal transfers within the civil service, aren’t there, particularly in HMCTS? Do you know why people are moving Departments? What is driving that?”

“In HMCTS, you have the highest turnover of staff: 14.5% in ’23-24 against the civil service rate of 7.5%. Does that concern you? Do you think that is a problem?”

“Thank you. That is really helpful. Are you expecting to have to make any more efficiency savings for the next year, for ’24-25 and beyond, at the moment that are not medical and are simply efficiency savings?”

“Were the efficiency savings just because of that restructure, or were there efficiency savings elsewhere as well?”

“Thank you very much. You have probably gathered that I am interested in the people side of things, having worked in the courts for many of the 21 years that I was in the CPS. If we can turn to staffing, that is something I am interested in. Let’s stick at the moment with the cost side of things. I know we have concentr…”

“Amy, you have said it is in your interests to work with the contractors to make sure that things are better. My concern is that because the contracts are clearly not working, as we hear time and again, and we have given you some examples from the frontline, as it were, it must take up a lot of your time and effort tryi…”

“As long as we do it next, due to my commitments.”

“My name is Linsey Farnsworth. I am the Member of Parliament for Amber Valley. My interests are on the website, but of particular relevance today: I am a non-practising solicitor, formerly of the Crown Prosecution Service, and I am the mission delivery champion for the Safer Streets Mission.”

“There are many reasons why this debate is important. Obviously, access to healthcare is particularly important throughout the country, but there is also a social equity situation here, because those that can afford to pay for dentistry will get dental care, and there is a whole tranche of society for whom that will not…”

“I thank the right hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Sir Iain Duncan Smith) and his team for securing this important debate. I know that he has long been a champion of Ukraine’s fight against Russia. Members on both sides of the House have loudly supported the Ukrainian cause and have made excellent contribu…”

“Hello, I am Linsey Farnsworth, Member of Parliament for Amber Valley. I am a non-practising solicitor formerly of the Crown Prosecution Service. I am a member of various trade unions and I am the mission delivery champion nationally for the safer streets mission.”

“That is really interesting. Thank you. The availability on the outside and the higher drug use on the outside is impacting prison use. Do you think that that is happening generally across the country or is there a specific problem locally, close to prisons? Are the organised crime groups, for example, targeting specifi…”

“I will switch now to drugs strategy, because you started to touch on that. I would be interested to hear what your drugs strategy is. It is probably detailed, but maybe you could provide a summary of your drugs strategy in each of the three settings that you are in. Is there anything that you are really proud of, in te…”

“In terms of use of drugs in prisons, Babafemi, you have prisoners serving long sentences, and, Rob, you have people coming and going. I would be interested to hear whether you think there are any trends with longer-serving prisoners and the use of drugs or the desire and demand for drugs. Likewise, how does it model in…”

“I was really interested in what you were saying about the demand for drugs and the ingress of drugs having increased, as well as the availability. We have heard loud and clear from a number of witnesses, both today and previously, that a lack of purposeful work or being stuck in the cells for too long, for various reas…”

“I will switch now to drugs strategy, because you started to touch on that. I would be interested to hear what your drugs strategy is. It is probably detailed, but maybe you could provide a summary of your drugs strategy in each of the three settings that you are in. Is there anything that you are really proud of, in te…”