Lord Foster of Bath (LD)

My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have spoken, not least those who have given us five excellent and thought-provoking maiden speeches. I am sure that all will make valuable contributions to the work of your Lordships’ House. I was somewhat concerned on their behalf by the opening remarks of the noble Baroness, Lady Hyde of Bemerton, who instead of praising the maiden speeches and leaving it at that, went on to put fear into their hearts by telling them that they now have to go away and come up with their difficult second album. Based on their performances today, I am confident that they are up to the task and we look forward to hearing them. It is often said that a society can be judged by how it treats its most vulnerable members. Prisoners, despite having committed acts deserving of opprobrium, often represent some of the most vulnerable, as the noble Baroness, Lady Wheatcroft, pointed out. Frankly, at present we are failing them. We are failing the staff working in our prisons and the public, not least because we are failing to help prisoners prepare for life outside prison or to provide adequate measures to reduce reoffending. As I pointed out, it was happening 43 years ago and we have heard that it was happening 20 years ago. Sadly, it is happening today. Despite the gloomy picture that I and our report paint of the situation, I have genuine optimism about the future. One of the reasons for that optimism is the Minister. He clearly gets it. All noble Lords who spoke clearly get it. The task is to persuade the rest of the Government to get it and ensure that the Minister and his team are provided with the support to take forward all the recommendations in our report, which I hope will not stay on a dusty shelf. I am sure it will not because, as the noble Lord, Lord Griffiths of Burry Port, pointed out, I will be having a dialectical relationship with the Minister to ensure that. I am optimistic. I hope the Minister is around for a very long time. I thank him for what he has done and for his energy and enthusiasm. I thank all noble Lords who have spoken in this excellent debate.