Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

I very much agree with my noble friend that having the POA as a constructive partner as we take forward prison policy, changes and improvements must be the best foundation. We have had many marvellous debates about prison policy and the way in which we can improve and develop it. I again acknowledge the improvements that have taken place in the past few years and the efforts of prison officers to do everything they can to co-operate with those improvements, which has not always been easy. Some discussions that take place in individual prisons are very challenging. Certainly, whenever I visit prisons, I always meet representatives of the Prison Officers’ Association. But I have to say to my noble friend that, alongside all that, we also have to have the available safeguards. We cannot have a situation, for all the welfare reasons that I have mentioned, where this kind of action can take place.