Richard Spring MP
Member of Parliament for West Suffolk

The Home Information Packs fiasco is again another example of the wheels coming off. The most enduring legacy of this Government, Iraq aside, is their sheer inability to manage issues competently. When eventually, we are told, HIPs come into being, it will only apply to four bedroom houses. What if there is a bedroom being used as a study? On what basis will inspections take place, etc, etc….

Now we discover that the Lord Chief Justice first heard about the new Ministry of Justice by reading about it in a Sunday paper. Joined up Government was one of the early, misplaced claims of New Labour…in the circumstances this announcement should have been made to the judiciary in advance.

The words whelks and stalls spring to mind.

There are two adjacent men’s jails in West Suffolk – one, HMP Highpoint, has been around for many years and at one time enjoyed a reputation for easy escapes.

It is extraordinary how the composition of the 800 or so in the jail have changed over the years – nearly half are from ethnic minorities, many from religious minority groups, and nearly 200 are foreigners. Because of its location near the road and open fields even the most sophisticated fencing has not fully prevented a variety of items being hurled over. There is comprehensive drug testing.

Recently an inmate, Mark Ryder,a convicted murderer, whilst visiting Cambridge absconded, and somehow landed up in Spain. I simply cannot get answers as to how his unbelievable travel arrangements came about, another symptom of the shambles in the Home Office. He has yet to be interviewed about his, six weeks on!

Prison officers have to deal with some extremely difficult customers. They are the forgotten end of the criminal justice system, and frankly have at times a truly terrible job to do. I was reminded of just this when I visited the prison on Friday. 

It is again symptomatic of the shambles which has now descended on this Government that yesterday the Prime Minister indicated an open mind about whether the Home Office should be split in two – the Big Story of the weekend – and which conveniently happened to push Ruth Turner of Downing Street fame off the front pages.

You would not believe it but the Home Office is a much smaller animal than it used to be. Two relatively new departments, Culture Media and Sport and Constitutional Affairs have taken on chunks of Home Office’s former remit (licensing, gambling, broadcasting, the fire service and so much more). Yes it is true that worldwide migratory flows are not likely to abate, and yes we face terrorism not rooted in territorial claims but religious fundamentalism, and is therefore more difficult to identify and prevent.

Key parts of the Home Office do not communicate with each other. Charles Clarke had to resign over foreign prisoners because the prison department failed to talk to the immigration service. It is the antithesis of joined up government. The words whelks and stalls spring to mind.

This morning a Labour MP jokingly suggested to me that perhaps the Home Office should be split three ways. Why not? Another headline.

You couldn’t make it up…   

Where I live in Central London during the week – Pimlico – is a pretty quiet area. More recently, I have been surprised to see two police officers together patrolling from time to time. It is reassuring. They talk to people. Most usual contact with the police is having to get out of the way of a police car at high speed with flashing blue lights.

Nothing is more irritating than continuous minor crime – like scratching a car or deflating a tyre. That is what Police Community Support Officers help to prevent, and have the power to issue fixed penalty notices. However, what I discovered at the weekend is that the planned increase in PCSOs has had to be scaled back because the money is being directed to the prisons crisis.

The Home Office – not fit for purpose? I couldn’t agree more.