Part of 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Local Government and Public Services – in the Senedd at 2:50 pm on 13 June 2018.
I visited Parc prison last week and spoke to the director of the prison and other members of his staff who deal directly with people who are being held there, and discussed all of those issues with the director. I'm visiting Berwyn prison tomorrow morning and will be having similar conversations with the staff there. I share your concern. I share the concern about not only the report published last week, which I think followed on the heels of a number of critical reports about conditions in the secure estate in Wales. I think there is a need for a fundamentally different approach. I spoke in an earlier question to the need for a more holistic approach in these matters, and that is the case here as well.
I did have a meeting in my diary with Dr Phillip Lee, which I presume will now be rescheduled, and I would like to—[Interruption.] Dr Lee is one of that group of people who have contested Blaenau Gwent, so we do have something in common. I will pay tribute to him and the work he did whilst in office. I thought it was a refreshing change to speak to a Conservative Minister who actually understood many of the issues we're dealing with, and I very much regret that he felt the need to resign yesterday.
But I will be pursuing these matters. I've asked for a meeting with the prisons Minister, Rory Stewart, and we're waiting to hear whether that will be able to go ahead. But, fundamental on this issue for me is that we address holistically the issue of penal policy in Wales. I do not believe that we can fundamentally address the issue of how we manage penal policy in Wales so long as that is managed by the MOJ, which follows the priorities and philosophies of a different Government and takes a fundamentally different approach. We do need to have a penal policy that is rooted in respect, humanity and rehabilitation, and one that serves the whole of our communities across the whole of Wales.