this is bbc news. the headlines at 2pm. move away from me unless you want me to use it on you. widespread drug use, a lack of control, door alarms not going off and a hole in an internal security fence. a bbc investigation goes inside one of the uk's biggestjails. the co—op bank has put itself up for sale, four years after it almost collapsed. tesco promises immediate action after a bbc investigation finds out—of—date deals meant discounts weren't given at the checkout. joe root is revealed as england's new test cricket captain, replacing alistair cook who resigned last week. also in the next hour, tens of thousands of people are evacuated in california. authorities fear that an overflow channel at the oroville dam could collapse. and music star adele triumphs at the grammys, taking home five awards, beating the hotly tipped beyonce to win best album. my artist of my life is beyonce

and this album for me, lemonade album was just so monumental, beyonce, so monumental. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. a bbc investigation has found evidence of major security failings at a privately—run prison in northumberland. an undercover reporter from the bbc‘s panorama spent two months working as a prison officer at the jail near morpeth. he secretly filmed widespread drug abuse and discovered that door alarms didn't work and there was a hole in a fence. the ministry ofjustice says it's looking into allegations. our correspondent ed thomas reports. undercover in one of our biggest

jails. for two months, undercover in one of our biggest jails. fortwo months, bbc undercover in one of our biggest jails. for two months, bbc panorama filmed the drugs feeding addiction inside. and staff pushed to their limits. hmp northumberland at a private jail run by the a french company and home to more than 1300 inmates. 0n the undercover reporter's first day inside, 2.5 kilos of spice, nearly all high with the present value of a quarter of £1 million, was found in two selves. despite this, panorama was told there was no lockdown so the blog could be completely searched. the bbc secretly filmed inmates high on drugs. this man had taken spice.

and then there is the violence. cctv cameras recorded an inmate being stamped on. at one point the panorama's undercover reporter was threatened by an inmate. during filming, the bbc discovered a serious security breach, alarms on two doors were not working. nearby, officers found where cutting tools and later a hole in an inner security fence. it meant drugs could have been passed into the jail. the

reporter asked the governor what went wrong. so the x0, the company that runs the brits said the safety of staff and inmates is their top priority. the ministry ofjustice said it would urgently investigate the footage and that the government is determined to reform our prisons. ed thomas, bbc news. 0ur political correspondent, carole walker, is in westminster. we have been talking for a long time about the precious on staffing and funding in prisons but what is the government saying? in terms of the panorama programme, it is saying that it panorama programme, it is saying thatitis panorama programme, it is saying that it is urgently investigating these latest revelations. it has also said it is spending £100

million to try to boost the numbers of front line risen staff by 2500. —— prison staff. it admits there are long—standing issues to be resolved but you are right, this comes after a whole series of warnings about a prison population which is pretty sta ble prison population which is pretty stable over the last five years but which rose very rapidly in the decade up to 2010. and since then we have seen a marked decrease in the number of front line prison officers. in recent months we have had riots in places like birmingham and bedford and lewis and everybody involved said there is this huge pressure on the prison service. in half hour or so, the justice secretary, liz truss, is making a speed setting out her whole approach to these problems and what she will say is that there is no quick fix and she cannot suddenly start reducing sentences as a way of

cutting the prison population —— making a speech. she said there was now are higher than ever proportion of prisoners who are inside for very serious offences, drug pushing, violence, sexual offences which have seen a violence, sexual offences which have seen a big increase in the last few yea rs. seen a big increase in the last few years. she is saying it would be irresponsible and put the public at risk if sentences work at simply to reduce the prison population although she does say that she wants to look again at the whole question of rehabilitation, to see how prisoners' lives can be properly turnaround, and to look at some of those community sentencing to see if more can be done there to prevent the number is rising so rapidly on those who are being sent to prison. then 0. -- thank those who are being sent to prison. then 0. —— thank you. richard burgon is labour's shadowjustice secretary. he joins me from our leeds studio. is reducing the size of the prison population the only way to deal with this? first of all i think the

panorama programme that is going out tonight about this situation in northumberland prison is more bad news forjustice secretary liz truss andi news forjustice secretary liz truss and i believe some of the mudslinging she is doing today and her speech are attempts to distract... what mudslinging? i'm not aware of that. the justice secretary is attempting to make out that other politicians who are criticising her have as their policy and arbitrate reduction in prison numbers by half, as if the choice is between doing nothing and drastically cutting the population. that is not the case. this is a crisis that has started and emerged since 2010 when the conservative government took the political choice to put the number of prison staff by almost a third and that is what has contributed so greatly to record

amounts of violence in our prisons, asi amounts of violence in our prisons, as i think the documentary will show tonight. so what is labour's position on this? how would you change things? if labour had been in power in 2010, they would not have cut the number of prison officers by 6000. you would bring them back straightaway? we need our prisons to be properly staffed. it was a straight question, you raised the figure of 6000, would you reinstate that number straightaway? we need the number of staff we had in 2010. the problem that the justice secretary has got is notjust recruitment, it is retention. she has announced she wants 2500 extra staff in the next five years. prison officers are leaving the servers in such large numbers that it has been cut elated that she will need to recruit 8000 staff —— it has been calculated. because of the

conservative government's decision to cut the number of front line staff, our prisons have got more dangerous, for inmates, and for prison staff, and that has also led toa prison staff, and that has also led to a dangerous cocktail of experienced prison officers leaving and the prison population remaining at the same number but with fewer officers. this is what the position is, i'm interested to know what you would do to improve the situation. you have highlighted how the problem has developed but what would you do? liz truss is going to say there is no quick fix. so what would you do? she will not tell the house of commons that she's making a speech without media being present today in which she will talk about her view on prisons. a white paper on prisons in court was unveiled by liz truss recently but was sadly lacking in

detail and failed to give the details required. there is a crisis in our prisons and that has emerged since the conservatives got into power in 2010, primarily as a result of their decision... forgive me, your criticising her for what i'm going to get from you which is some details and analysis and solutions toa details and analysis and solutions to a problem that everybody except is there. we need our prisons to be properly staffed. we need education services in prisons to be properly funded as well which will help reduce the number of prisoners who are in their past the length of their sentence who are not allowed to be released because they have not completed education courses when the only reason they have not done so is because of the lack of funding. we also have about 10% of the population about prisons who are foreign nationals so the government has to speed up the process of having as many foreign nationals as

possible returned to the own countries. it is a complex situation and there is no easy fix but what we have at from the party that caused this crisis since 2010 is a must ove rco m e this crisis since 2010 is a must overcome a complete failure to set out a credible plan result the crisis that they, not labour, caused. thank you for your time. the co—op bank has announced it's putting itself up for sale. the high street bank, which has more than 4 million customers, almost collapsed in 2013 after a series of financial problems. it was bailed out by american hedge funds but has struggled to strengthen its finances because of low interest rates. the problem started with the merger with britannia building society in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2008. our business editor, simonjack, gave us the latest. by by 2013 some of those loans had gone bad, punched an enormous hole in the finances of the company and ever since then it has found it very hard

to nurse its back to health. it said today that it has not been able to earn enough money to put money into the kitty for a rainy day, it does not have enough capital. the other option is to ask if owners, american headphones, and the co—op group which still owns 20%, they might find it difficult to put in extra money but it is hard to make returns on this low interest rate environment so the third option is to produce up for that and hope that bank with 4 million customers might bea bank with 4 million customers might be a good thing to add to an existing bank. they might be at the pit together and have some economies of scale and get on with things and make a success of it. for customers there is nothing to worry about. they are not in any danger whatsoever, this is a process that will go on, the bank of england will be watching and those 4 million loyal customers who have stuck around, they have nothing to worry about. britain's biggest supermarket, tesco, has promised to take immediate action after a bbc investigation revealed that two thirds of deals on the shelves were out of date and weren't being deducted at the checkout.

an undercover team visited 50 branches across england over a three—month period. tesco says it's working to make sure its prices are accurate. jonathan gibson reports. if we see a special offer on the supermarket shelves, we expect to pay that price at the till. but that doesn't always happen at tesco. and here's why. the bbc‘s inside out programme visited 50 tesco stores across england and found out—of—date special offers in 33 of them. at some stores, staff say it's a recurring problem. and at another store a worker blames

the error on being short—staffed. in most stores, workers removed the label straightaway but not everywhere. at this store the cashier refunds the difference but doesn't remove the label, so it's still on display when we go back in the next day, the next week and one month later. the fourth cashier finally removes it. there are obviously major problems with the control of the special offers. special offers bring customers in, make people reach for more and maybe spend more than they meant to when they came into the store, so that is very, very worrying. throughout our investigation, tesco did refund the difference when informed about the discrepancies. the company wouldn't provide anyone for interview but, after reviewing the bbc‘s evidence, said...

following our investigation, britain's biggest supermarket has said it will be double—checking the accuracy of every price in every store. that's more than 3,500 stores across britain. jonathan gibson, bbc news. and viewers in most english regions will be able to watch inside 0ut‘s full report on bbc one at 7.30pm this evening, and online on the bbc iplayer. at least four people have died and up to five others are missing after an avalanche in the french ski resort of tignes this morning. rescue teams are still trying to dig out those buried beneath large amounts of snow. the eight skiers and a guide were off piste when the avalanche struck at least four people have died and up to five others are missing

just before 11am this morning. it was more than 1000 feet wide. the resort is particularly busy at this time of year with french and british school holidays. we have received some new pictures of the ongoing rescue operation. this was from tom finnigan, who saw the search operation going on. it was to try to find the bodies of anybody missing, hopefully still alive, under the mountain of snow above them. it's taken from a shallow overlooks the mountain. the resort is popular with british holiday—makers but local police have told the bbc that the four dead skiers were all french nationals. it appears to have been set of by a gribkowsky is higher up —— by a group of skiers. two helicopters

we re group of skiers. two helicopters were deployed as well as sniffer dogs, to help search for the missing skiers. any development on that and we will bring them to you. the headlines on bbc news... a bbc investigation reveals widespread drug use and a hole in an internal security fence, after going undercover inside one of the country's biggestjails. the troubled co—op bank puts itself up for sale due to ongoing financial problems. tesco promises immediate action after a bbc investigation finds two an avalanche has killed at least four people in the alps. and in sport, joe root says he is privileged, humbled and very excited after being named the new england test cricket captain, succeeding is to cook who resigned after more than four years in charge last week. —— succeeding alastair cook. ben stokes has been named as vice captain. 0fficial has been named as vice captain. official figures show at least 39% official figures show at least 39% of players who played in the english football league last season were not drugs tested by either anti—doping. the football association says it has

prioritised its anti—doping programme at the deadly —— elite end. and manny pacquiao has asked his twitter followers who needed fight next with amir khan and kell brook is amongst the four suggestions. i will be back with more on that at 2:30pm. pensioners are, on average, better off than those of working age for the first time. that's according to new research by the think—tank, the resolution foundation. it says a new wave of pensioners are more likely than previous generations to own their home, have generous private pensions and still be working. our personal finance correspondent, simon gompertz, reports. pensioners' incomes rolling ahead with company pensions, their own homes, even above—inflation increases in the state pension. these pensioners in harrow say money can still be tight. when you retire, you're fine. seven years down the line, everything's gone up. my husband and i had company pensions and got the state pension

and we have paid for our house, so quite comfortable. if i didn't have a private pension, no way could i be bowling. going back to 2001 and after paying housing costs like rent and mortgage, pensioner households had £70 a week less on average to spend than working families. then there was a big switchover four years ago so now pensioner households are £20 a week better off. more cash in their pockets, especially if they have paid off the mortgage. what's pushing up pensioner incomes is this younger generation of pensioners born after the war who are now retiring with good company pension schemes, owning their own home, often with the mortgage paid off, and the challenge is if you look 20 years ahead that could be a real problem for younger generations who will not retire with the same advantages. so if it's current pensioners who are winning, some say levels the playing field by being less

generous about increases in the state pension, but that would mean when today's younger people retire, they would be up against it. fewer own a home or have a quality private pension. it's important they have better pensions and find it easier to buy into the housing market. 0n the pension side of things they are saving much less than older generations. we think they need to save more. government has a role in this because they set the default rate for savings. we're asking government to increase that over the next decade. even today there is a growing divide among the elderly. many newly retired people are wealthier, many older pensioners just scraping by. they would object to being called " better off". a funeral service is taking place at york minster today for seven—year—old katie rough, who was killed in the city. katie was found with severe lacerations to her neck and chest on a playing field in york last month and died later in hospital. her funeral at the minster will be

led by the archbishop of york, drjohn sentamu. the body that approves church law, the general synod of the church of england, begins meeting today. much of the debate is likely to centre on the synod's response to a report on gay marriage, which upholds a traditional definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman. 1a former bishops have written an open letter, accusing the church of ignoring the views of gay christians. firefighters in australia are battling dozens of bushfires in new south wales. at least 30 homes have been destroyed but so far no reports of any lives lost. australia has had a record heatwave with temperatures up a record heatwave with temperatures up to the seven celsius. —— a0 seven celsius —— a7. president trump will meet canada's prime ministerjustin trudeau at the white house today for their first meeting since last november's election.

mr trudeau said he expected the two leaders would find ‘a lot of common ground', despite their differences over trade justin trudeau is a liberal, a feminist, though immigration and he has welcomed refugees with open arms into canada. there is quite a lot of differences between the northern prime ministerfrom over differences between the northern prime minister from over the differences between the northern prime ministerfrom over the border and the new president in washington but they do have interests in common. a lot of trade between the countries, 75% of canada's trade is with the us, and 18% goes the other way. millions ofjobs across the border are founded on one another and they have things in common, not least the north american free trade agreement which donald trump wants to renegotiate. the canadians will wa nt to to renegotiate. the canadians will want to talk about that. and also this new keystone oil pipeline which was put on hold under 0bama butjust

in ——justin was put on hold under 0bama butjust in —— justin trudeau is was put on hold under 0bama butjust in ——justin trudeau is in was put on hold under 0bama butjust in —— justin trudeau is in favour of it. there are a lot of other things going on in washington at the moment that will be distracting donald trump, not least his national security adviser who is under a cloud over contacts he had with the russians during and after the election. the allegation is that he may have discussed sanctions with them, sanctions imposed by president 0bama on russia for allegations of interfering in the election. there will be a lot of pressure on mr trump over michael flynn today and i'm sure that'll come up in his press co nfe re nce i'm sure that'll come up in his press conference withjustin trudeau at his side. police in the pakistani city of lahore is at least ten people have been killed and dozens wounded after a large explosion which is believed to have happened outside the punjab assembly building were a protest rally had been underway. you can get the latest from our correspondence in islamabad —— we can get. do we

know who the target was? what we know who the target was? what we know is that this blast happened outside the assembly of the punjab regional government. at that time there was a large protest being held by representatives of the pharmaceutical industry who were demonstrating against a new law that was taking place. there was also a large number of local journalists who were there to cover the demonstration and local tv channels filmed the moment of the explosion where what appears to be a car goes up where what appears to be a car goes up inflames, where what appears to be a car goes up in flames, sending hundreds of people running for their lives. as you can imagine, this is quite a fluid situation still so exact numbers are hard to come by but we are hearing that at least ten people have been killed and up to 30 have been injured, amongst them a number of journalists and been injured, amongst them a number ofjournalists and police officers. pakistan has seen a dramatic reduction in the last year, of terrorist attacks in the country.

there was a large one in lahore last in which over 70 people were killed over easter but since then the number of attacks have come down but lahore has been on high alert in the past few days because the final of a agustien super league cricket match was hope that the pakistan super league cricket match was meant to be taking place there next month. the chief minister of punjab, the state where the blast has happened, as called it a cowardly incident and has vowed to find those responsible. some suggestions there was a warning a few days ago that lahore could be a few days ago that lahore could be a target of an attack like this? yes, on the seventh boundary a notice was put out to various security agencies saying there was a threat from an unidentified terrorist group —— on the 7th of february. we don't know what level of intelligence that was based on.

asi of intelligence that was based on. as i mentioned, even though the number of terrorist attacks in pakistan has been decreasing, there is still a real threat here. just last night there was an attack in karachi in the southern part of the country where a local tv cameraman was killed and that attack was claimed by the pakistani taliban but as yet no claim of responsible at the four events in lahore. secunder kermani, thank you very much. united states, japan and south korea have requested an urgent meeting of the united nations security council to discuss north korea's latest missile test. the medium—range ballistic missile was fired into the sea yesterday and north korea says the launch was a success and that it was supervised by the country's leader himself, kim jong—un. while british film talent was somewhat eclipsed at the baftas last night, british musical talent dominated

at the grammy awards in la, thanks to adele and david bowie. adele made history, becoming the first person to win the top three awards twice. but she didn't want to accept the grammy for best album, saying it should have gone to the american star, beyonce, who she called the artist of her life. from la, james cook reports. she was the night's big winner, but adele looked far from comfortable with that, and dedicated album of the year to beyonce. but i can't possibly accept this award. my artist of my life is beyonce, and this album, for me, the lemonade album, was just so monumental... the performance by the proudly pregnant megastar was stunning. there is a curse... but this most consequential of artists really was only winning consolation prizes. the night wasn't all adele's. for the second year in a row, she had performance problems.

i know it's live tv, i'm sorry, i need to start again. i can't do it again like last year. i'm sorry for swearing and i'm sorry for starting again, can we please start it again? it was a good decision. the second take of her tribute to george michael was flawless. # i miss my baby... chance the rapper won best rap album and the big best newcomer award. while david bowie won more grammys in death than in life. and then there was the politics. "persist" was the word on katy perry's arm — a political statement from an artist who campaigned for hillary clinton. busta rhymes was even less subtle, calling mr trump "agent orange". i just want to thank president agent orange for perpetuating all of the evil that you've been perpetuating throughout the united states.

this was billed as a battle between beyonce and adele. but behind that simple summary was a deeper layer of questions, not least about race and a country where cultures continue to clash. let's have a look at the weather now. good afternoon, we have got easterly winds at the moment but through the week it is going to turn slowly milder across the whole country. we having some differences today, this easterly winds are very dusty in the west, but in the sunshine we have in large part of the country. temperatures are in double figures, in contrast to the 5 degrees in the north—east and eastern scotland with the wind off the sea keeping a lot of cloud here as we head into the evening and overnight. some low

cloud coming into northern england and wales. we also seeing rain in the far south—west as the wind is not quite as strong overnight with sufficiently soap to prevent it getting too cold, even under the clear skies with a pinch of frost in the countryside. some changes tomorrow, not quite as windy and more cloud coming from the south—west into wales and the midlands and southern england and northern ireland with the chance of one or two showers but for most places it will be dry and brighter further north and east with some sunshine, even in north—east england and eastern scotland. temperatures are higher than today and the highest in the south—west. this is bbc news. the headlines: a bbc undercover report has found evidence of major security failings at a prison in the north—east of england, which holds hundreds of inmates. the ministry ofjustice says it's looking into allegations. the co—0p bank has announced it's putting itself up for sale four years after it almost collapsed. the bank, which has four million

customers, says it hasn't been able to strengthen its finances due to low interest rates and is inviting offers to buy all of its shares. for french skiers have been killed in an avalanche. tesco is promising an investigation after an undercover report by the bbc found that many customers are being overcharged at the till. the findings by the inside out programme show that in several stores across the country, problems with promotions are leaving customers short—changed. time now for a look at all the sport. i'm will perry with the latest sports news. joe root has been named as england's new test captain with the the ecb chairman colin graves calling him the "perfect choice". the yorkshire batsman succeeds alastair cook, who resigned last week after more than four years in charge. 0ur sports correspondent katie gornall is at headlingley now, root‘s home ground.

what's the reaction been like there? in a think there's been a huge amount of excitement here. this is his county club, the club he joined as a teenager, where he honed his skill is in and let him on the path to becoming england captain. the news was announced this morning. many of us were expecting it. joe root says he feels privileged, humbled and very excited. he was the obvious choice as well. whilst there is no doubting his talents, there will be concerns about his ability to be a captain and whether the captaincy will affect his game. i have been

speaking to a yorkshire head coach, who has also been yorkshire's ten and he has knownjoe root cincy was teenager. he has gone on to bigger and better things. he thrives under pressure and that will stand in in good stead as the captain of england. did he strike you as a natural leader, someone strike you as a natural leader, someone who could go on and do well for england and become the captain? absolutely. he's always respected the team. he's the guy in the dressing room the people listen to.

he has played a lot of cricket and he has been around the england team for a few years now. for me, he is the right man for the job. it's also been confirmed that ben stokes will ta ke been confirmed that ben stokes will take over as vice captain. joe roofs take over as vice captain. joe root‘s challenge will be the ashes and the challenges that come any bigger than that. thanks katie, so plenty of congratulatory messages are coming in this afternoon. stuart broad says, "this pic was after he scored a (rare) goal in football but it works — congrats captain root! #england" michael vaughan says, "i bring you the new england cricket captain.... #root" the durham county cricket say, "introducing your new england cricket test vice—captain, @benstokes38" the rfu has said that scott

behaviour was inappropriate and knee has been issued with a written warning for passing on information. one of the best boxers of all time has asked his twitter followers to pick the opponent for his next title fight. manny pacquiao, a six weight world champion and current holder of the wbo welterweight title, has given four options.the british pair of amir khan or kell brook, australia's jeff horn and american terence crawford. pacquiao retired in april last year but returned to defeat jessie vargas in in november. he's said the title fight would be in the uae. that's all sport for now. i'll have more in the next hour.

more now a bbc investigation which has found evidence of major security failings at a privately run prison in the north east of england. panorama filmed undercover at hmp northumberland and discovered a number of problems, including inmates using drugs. domestic violence and child sex abuse was rife. the situation is changing. before 2005, rape of a child under 13 was not even a specific offence. in 2005 man will be sentenced to an average of a.8 yea rs be sentenced to an average of a.8 years for raping a child under the age of 13. by 2015 the average sentence given out for this terrible crime had than doubled and the average sentence crime had than doubled and the average sentence given out for all

sexual offences has increased by 50%. it's not only sexual offences, although those are the sentences that have gone up the most. if you look at sentences of violence against a person and robbery, they are up by10% against a person and robbery, they are up by 10% and 23% respectively. we are seeing more of these crimes being brought to justice and the result has been an increased number of people imprisoned for the serious offences. since 2000 there has been a 29% increase those sentenced to custody for robbery. the 75% increase for violence against the person and there has been a increase in the number of sexual offenders in prison. this has led to a change in the make—up of our prison population. whereas in 1990 52 in five prisoners that those convicted

of violent sexual or drug adventures, it is now three in five. there has been a huge difference in the people we sent to prison. if we look at the period from 2010 to 2016, andi look at the period from 2010 to 2016, and i explain there has been no rise in the prison population, we have seen a 3000 increase in the number of sexual offenders in prison. so what we are seeing is fewer people being sent to prison on the short sentences, but more people sent to prison for more serious crimes. this is being reflected in what our courts are seeing is well and some of our courts in some of the regions in the country are spending half of their time dealing with sexual offence cases. this sea change is happening because our society is changing. we have gain some understanding of the seriousness of these crimes. more victims are having the confidence to come forward and put the case. it is also happening because we are

catching and convicting more violence offenders and giving them longer sentences that better reflects the seriousness of those crimes. this is the right thing for victims and the right thing for the british public. be shadow attorney general thinks we can cut our prison numbers at a stroke because she does not believe the sum of human wickedness could have doubled in her lifetime. she blames a political arms race for the number of people in ourjails, but what has actually happened in baroness chakravarty‘s lifetime is the criminaljustice system has got that at catching and convicting criminals who have perpetrated some of the worst crimes possible and sentences better reflect the crimes, like domestic violence, rape and child abuse. it's not the sum of human wickedness that has doubled, it's that we are driving the wickedness out of the shadows and putting it where it

belongs, behind bars. we should be proud to live in a society that no longer shames victims of rape, is prepared to confront child sexual abuse and has brought domestic violence out into the open. but there is more we can do. i'm going to ta ke there is more we can do. i'm going to take action to spare the victims of sexual abuse the trauma of giving evidence in open court. a family courts will be appalling practice of domestic abuse victims being cross—examined by the attacker. we're also looking at the operation of section a1 in rape cases where in exceptional cases, the victim's past history can be asked about. i don't wa nt history can be asked about. i don't want this used as an excuse to shame thick teams. we have come a long way asa thick teams. we have come a long way as a society, but we face new challenges like social media and we cannot allow the clock to be turned back. i won't let this happen under mild watch. i now want to address

the second issue that people have raised and that is the idea that our prisons are to fall for us to meaningfully reformed the offenders in within them. i think that that is a counsel of despair. reoffending rates are high and our prisons are violent, but the wrong way to address that would be to release offenders early or shorten sentences. that would be reckless and it would endanger the public. it would restrict the freedom of the independent judiciary to would restrict the freedom of the independentjudiciary to choose the most appropriate sentence for an individual. we must learn the lessons of recent history. under labour prisons were so overcrowded that offenders were routinely held in police cells. labour introduced the end of custody licensing scheme. 0ver the end of custody licensing scheme. over three years 82,000 prisoners we re over three years 82,000 prisoners were released early. the net result,

an extra 1500 crimes reported and prison population 3000 higher than when the scheme had started. the a nswer to when the scheme had started. the answer to overcrowding is not to cut prison numbers in half, it's to make sure we have the right resources, the right workforce, the right buildings in the right regimes for prisoners to turn their lives around. it will be enshrined in law that reform of offenders is the key purpose of the prison system. that has never been in our law before. at the moment the duty of the secretary of state is to howz offenders. it's not good enough. we have to be about turning people's lives around. this change will usher in major reforms. the way i see it is the prison system now is a bit like education was before we had 0fsted and league

tables, before we knew what was going on in schools. what i want to see in our prisons is the same type of scrutiny, the same type of openness and the same focus on making things better and really reforming things and reforming people while they are inside. i want to transform our prisons from places of violence and despair to places of self—improvement and hope, were all prisoners are given the chance to lead a better life because i believe that everybody is capable of reform. governors will have greater power to make the changes they need and prison officers will have more responsibility to challenge prisoners to change, to get them off drugs, get them into training and work and to be there at times of crisis and i want us to look at work from the outside in. we've got some fantastic employers in this room who wa nt to fantastic employers in this room who want to be part of this. i want to

see us want to be part of this. i want to see us bring those employers into prison, peoples to start apprenticeships in prison, get a job on the outside, get housing on the outside. that is the way we will reduce reoffending and change our appalling reoffending rates which at the moment, half of all people in our prisons when they leave, they will reoffend within a year. it's not good enough. the number of first—time offenders have gone down and we want to see the number of people going through our system going down. if they go to prison, i wa nt going down. if they go to prison, i want them in the only once. we've also got to deal with the levels of violence and self harm in our prisons and that is why as well as investing in reform and giving more power to governors and creating a new front line agency, we are also investing in prison officers, an

additional £100 million a year, 2500 officers. that will enable us to have a caseload of one officer for every six offenders. that will be about keeping those people safe, challenging them to change their ways, but also supporting them in their time through prison said that they can lead a successful life on they can lead a successful life on the outside. at the moment we don't have enough officers to do that and i fully acknowledge that is the case. today we have natasha porter in the audience who is leading a new programme which is all about getting the best graduates into prisons for a couple of years at least, although we hope all of them will stay on longer. a couple of years to help our show that being a prison officer isa our show that being a prison officer is a noble and important profession. it is as vital as teaching, nursing or being a police officer. i'm

pleased to say it has had a huge response. we are at the start about process in recruiting prison officers. that is a strong hope that the fact this game had 1000 people interested within the first 2a hours shows it can be done and together we can make it work. so while her majesty's prison and probation service focuses on reform, it will be the secretary of state's to hold a service to account on the progress thatis a service to account on the progress that is made in getting offenders off of drugs and getting them into work on the outside. i am beefing up as well her majesty's inspectorate of prisons said they have the teeth to intervene when a prison is not working and to make the secretary of state act. that's me! as i said before, at another event with iain

duncan smith, and i'm so grateful for his help and involvement in this, a prisoner's family is the most effective resettlement agency we know. by improving family ties and keeping people linked in with the family it gives them hope and it also helps turn around lives for the next generation as well. thanks to all the evidence collected by lord farmer's review, governors will have access to comprehensive data to help them decide what works best to bolster positive family ties. i also wa nt to bolster positive family ties. i also want to congratulate the sea yesterday for their work in highlighting the importance of fathers. we must all remember that when we look at the justice system overall because the involvement of fathers is vitally important. the ability when we have these reforms in place, and we have got the bill coming up soon. the run new in place, and we have got the bill coming up soon. the run new measures on the tables, the new agency commencing in april, it will take

time to bed in, but once it is in place we will be able to measure, we will be to learn from the best and we will be able to intervene in those prisons that aren't working and we will know better which prisons aren't working. this change will not happen in weeks or months, it will take time and determination to deliver, but as a society we simply can't afford to put this off any longer. all of the people in the room are vital to this change. i know there are many of you who have beenin know there are many of you who have been in forfour years been in for four years in turning around our prisons and i'm grateful for all your work. there is a big opportunity here, there is a great big political consensus that we do need to address this issue of our poor reoffending rates and our failure to reform people in prison, but i do warn you that profound changes in our prison population make the need for reform even tougher, but they also make it even more critical. so we have a

challenging time ahead, but an incredibly important time ahead and i'm incredibly proud to be leading this department, the ministry of justice, at this time. i'm equally determined to address the factors that feel prolific reoffending, like theft and shoplifting. they can all too often put prisoners on the path too often put prisoners on the path toa too often put prisoners on the path to a prison sentence. reforming the prison sentence does notjust beginning with prisons and probation, though it is a good place to start. we also need to intervene earlier by giving our courts the tools they need. there can never be an excuse for committing crime. too often people are ending up in prison because our interventions to tackle problems like mental health or drug addiction don't work as well as they should. as i have said, the number of first—time offenders in the system has fallen by 57% since 2006, whereas our reoffending rates stayed

flat. this means that the police, prison officers and probation staff see the same faces over and over again and it means our communities end up being blighted by the same people. any mp will tell you that one of the most frequent complaints in the surgery is from law—abiding residents who can't understand why a small number of people are allowed to wreak so much havoc in the neighbourhood. so just as we are giving prison and probation staff more powers to help re—offenders, we also need to get criminals to quit crime for good. research we have done at the ministry ofjustice shows that community sentences are most effective when they tackle the problems that contribute to the offender's crime. so mental health treatment requirements are some of our most effective measures that can help get somebody‘s life back on

track, but if i tell you the proportion of our community sentences that have mental health treatment orders is only 1%, you will see where the problem lies. we need a much more systematic nationally consistent approach that provides quicker and more certain access to those mental health treatments for offenders who need it because that will stop them, prevent them getting into a position that leads to a cost 0dile sentence and i'm working very closely with the health secretary who is extremely committed to this, and nhs england, to develop a new mental health protocol which will operate across the country. it will ensure timely access to mental health treatment. i'm also working with the judiciary and the health secretary to make sure courts have better access to

psychiatry. we are seeing fewer cases adjourned early and we are getting people the treatment they need to sort out those issues before it leaves to further crime. in milton keynes we have got a bespoke service which has dramatically increased the number of sentences involving mental health treatment orders. i would like to see that approach adopted right across the country. we also need to do more to tackle the scourge of drink and drugs. 62% of prisoners who reported using drugs in the four weeks before custody reoffended in the year after release. but in 2015, drugs treatment orders accounted for only 596 treatment orders accounted for only 5% of the treatments attached to community sentences. again, we have

these very effective interventions which aren't being used enough. i note again that the centre for justice has called for more compliance in the recovery report. evidence from australia suggest that those who adhere to drug treatment orders are less likely to reoffend. early intervention by our courts is vitally important, in particular in stopping women offenders from ending up stopping women offenders from ending up in prison and we will be announcing our strategy shortly for women later this year. we've already announced a new director for women in custody in the community. i believe is the first time ever that the agency responsible for prisons and probation have a single person responsible for women across community and custody. family drugs

and alcohol courts like the one i visited in maidstone a few weeks ago will play a vital role in this. i believe that judges are will play a vital role in this. i believe thatjudges are as important in reforming people as any probation or prison officer. working with local authorities judges closely oversee compliance is with treatment programmes. i have watched it in action, i know it works. 0ver programmes. i have watched it in action, i know it works. over 26 weeks those taking part have to comply with drug testing and therapy sessions to stay clean. this sort of consistent supervision overseen by onejudge has helped women beat the addictions that feel crime and makes it more likely that they will be able to have custody of their children. if i give you one example of many. a woman called jenny, that isa name of many. a woman called jenny, that is a name i have made up, but it is a real case. she has transformed from a drug dependent 25—year—old

with a five—year—old daughter to a woman determined to do right by her trial. without that intervention, jenny would have continued to steal to feed her habit. jenny now has a chance at a better life and also her daughter does as well. there are people who will dismiss this as soft justice. i would call it decency and common sense because without this court intervening, without this intervention, jenny's path would almost certainly lead her to prison. how many more victims of crime would there have been before that happened? how many more working people would have returned home to find the back windows smashed and the treasured possessions gone? and what about the children as well of offenders, like the case i have mentioned? all the offenders, like the case i have mentioned ? all the evidence offenders, like the case i have mentioned? all the evidence shows that children whose parents and up in prison are much more likely to end up there as well. two thirds of

boy separated from imprisoned pa rents boy separated from imprisoned parents go on to defend themselves. chances are that they would grow up to rob and steal to feed their habit and we end up with generation upon generation of blighted lives and blighted communities. early in detention —— early intervention is a vital component of the justice system if we are ever to break the cycle of crime, punishment and more crime. finally, iwant cycle of crime, punishment and more crime. finally, i want to address theissue crime. finally, i want to address the issue of the management of our current prison population. we are making progress, but that is more we can do. everyone, including lord blu nkett can do. everyone, including lord blu n kett to can do. everyone, including lord blunkett to introduce them, regrets the effects of indeterminate sentences. it is to the credit of my predecessor ken clarke that he abolished them. we need to be realistic that many prisons on —— prisoners on the sentences are dangerous people, but there are

others who are safe for release. of course public protection must be our number one priority, but it seems unjust that somebody who was sentenced in 2010 can remain in prison four—year is when if that person were sentenced today they might have an automatic release date, and that is why it is important that we tackle the backlog of these cases that are waiting for a parole board hearing. we are making progress. the art currently 3683 of these prisoners in ourjails and last year a record 553 were released, but i put additional resource onto this because there is more we can do and that is why i have set up a dedicated unit within the ministry ofjustice to ensure these cases are dealt with efficiently whilst ensuring people are only released when it is safe to do so. i also want to ensure the system recall works better and we remain focused making sure that more

foreign criminals are sent home every year. in 2016 over 5000 foreign offenders were sent back to their home countries i want to build on that to conclude, i think we all agree in this room that it is desirable to have a lower prison population, but i believe it has two b for the right reasons. public protection is paramount and means we need to manage the prison population ina need to manage the prison population in a safe and sustainable way. i wa nt in a safe and sustainable way. i want the prison population to go down because her majesty's prison and probation service has got better at reforming offenders. i want to see it go down because we have got better as a society at intervening earlier before people commit the crimes that lead them to prison. i wa nt to crimes that lead them to prison. i want to see go down because we have got better at the prison population inside ourjails. reductions by

sweeping sentencing cuts are not a magic bullet, they are a dangerous attempt at a quick fix. we need to do hard work. we need to do a lot of ha rd do hard work. we need to do a lot of hard work. we need to do the hard work of improving community sentences, dealing with problems like drink and drugs and making our prisons more effective at reforming the people inside them. but if we are resolute we will see our society become safer and we will see our prison population reduced. thank you. applause thank you very much for that fascinating speech, we have