North Wales MS and Shadow Minister for Social Justice and Shadow Counsel General, Mark Isherwood MS, has again outlined why calls for the devolution of criminal justice should not be answered.
In Spokespersons Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution during Wednesday’s meeting of the Welsh Parliament, Mr Isherwood quoted the former UK Justice Minister, Lord Wolfson, at the October 2021 Legal Wales conference, where he said “that being part of an England and Wales justice system made Wales a more attractive place to do business” and that, “We are continuing to work closely with the Welsh Government to deliver justice in Wales, including the joint work on supporting women and young people, and taking forward some of the recommendations of the Thomas Commission”.
He asked the Counsel General: “What progress has, therefore, been achieved with this in the 13 months since -I appreciate you might be tempted to respond by just commenting on the last couple of months - as we go forward?”
He also highlighted again “that senior police officers told me during my visit to the north-west Regional Organised Crime Unit that: all North Wales emergency planning is done with north-west England; that 95 per cent or more of crime in North Wales is local or operates on a cross-border east-west basis; that North Wales Police have no significant operations working on an all-Wales basis; and that evidence given to the Thomas Commission regarding this 'was largely ignored in the Commission's report', and asked “What, if any, action have you therefore since taken to investigate the serious omissions I identified and gather the necessary missing evidence?”
He added:
“Responding to you in May, I detailed evidence showing that the UK Government is actually more aligned with the Welsh Government approach to Justice than otherwise, and has stated repeatedly that it favours policy based on prevention through tackling social challenges and rehabilitation - quoting, for example, the UK Ministry of Justice's 'Prisons Strategy White Paper' to rehabilitate offenders and cut crime; the UK Government’s Female Offender Strategy to divert vulnerable female offenders away from short prison sentences; and the UK Government's Turnaround Scheme, to catch and prevent youth offending earlier than ever, to help stop these children and young people from moving on to further, more serious offending.”
With regards to Policing, Mr Isherwood highlighted that cuts in Police numbers have now been reversed and that “we're now well on the road to deliver on 20,000 new police officers within the three-year target.” (SEE NOTE BELOW)
He added:
“Responding to you in May, I noted, for example, that ‘Wales has the highest proportion of children in the UK in care, and one of the highest proportions of children looked after by any state in the world’, and asked, 'Is it therefore not the case that such a difference in delivery within what is a shared criminal justice system shows why the calls for devolution of criminal justice should not be answered?'
Mr Isherwood also questioned the Counsel General over the Residential Women’s Centre in Wales given that “women prisoners from England can now be released from Welsh prisons for rehabilitation in centres in England, but women prisoners in Wales cannot be released to equivalent centres in Wales?”
ENDS
NOTE: Police Budget cuts were first announced in Labour’s March 2010 UK Budget Statement, when the scale of the deficit meant that the UK didn't have enough money. When this UK Government took office in 2019, it promised to recruit 20,000 extra police officers, 15,343 of whom have been hired so far across England and Wales, including 850 across Wales and 145 in North Wales.