Since 2012, automatic enrolment has brought millions of people into a workplace pension for the first time, thanks to the support of businesses and employees across the UK.
Our research shows that nearly 60% of recent offenders who engaged with a community-based alcohol programme did not go on to reoffend in the two years following treatment. Offenders given a community sentence including mental health treatment have also shown to be significantly less likely to reoffend.
For a long time the Conservative party gave the impression of not being terribly interested in the people who were on welfare and that we might just view it as a drain on taxpayer resources.
If the price of continuing my political career is to be complicit in a really bad thing then that’s not a price I’m prepared to pay.
Like most MPs, I campaigned and voted to remain in the EU. I was concerned that extricating ourselves from a relationship built up over 40 years would be complex and challenging and that the economic cost of increasing friction in our trade with the EU would be high.
I want to open up investment even further so over the summer we'll launch a consultation on indirect investments in social enterprises - including exploring the possibility of a new scheme based on the success of venture capital trusts which will enable investors to pool their funds to support a variety of social enterprises.
I believe prisons have emerged as a new frontline in the fight against crime. The fact is, new technology and sophisticated approaches mean that prison walls alone are no longer effective in stopping crime – inside or outside of prison.
If Northern Ireland is in one customs regime and the Republic of Ireland is in another, why won’t a customs border be necessary, just as happens with every other land border of this type?
For the offenders completing these short sentences whose lives are destabilised, and for society which incurs a heavy financial and social cost, prison simply isn’t working.
The best way of ensuring that we get what we need is by demonstrating we have a clear plan, we are thinking strategically and ensuring every pound of taxpayer’s money is spent wisely and my focus is ensuring we do that.
If the Conservative party hasn’t got room for Ken Clarke and Philip Hammond and 19 others, there is also a message there to millions of people who vote Conservative, that it’s not a party for them. If you go down a divisive route, the scars will be very deep.
Non-custodial sentences are certainly something to look at, more support in the community rather than within prisons is something we have to look at. There will of course still be women who need to be in prison, serious offenders, but I think there is scope to look at that number and I think that number could come down.
My position was that if the country could unite around a soft Brexit that would be the least worst way through. But it is now very clear that the country is not going to unite around a soft Brexit. There is nobody really advocating a soft Brexit.
The public, investors and stakeholders now expect higher standards of tax compliance and more transparency from large businesses about the way they approach taxation.
I believe that the Conservative party is at its best when it’s a pro-business, pragmatic party, so to appeal to the country, and the country loses out significantly if the centre right of politics becomes much more populist, nationalist, and more right of centre.
A Canada-style deal for the whole of the UK results in a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. For that reason, it has never been acceptable to the EU without a permanent hard border down the Irish Sea.
People really don’t want Jeremy Corbyn, and they do fear the consequences of a Corbyn government.
I believe we are nearing a time when a combination of technology and radical thinking will make it possible for much more intensive and restrictive conditions to be applied in more creative and fundamental ways outside of prison.
I want the United Kingdom to be the best place in the world in which to grow old. By ensuring that as many as possible have the opportunity to build up a decent private income for later life we will be well on the way to achieving this.
We should be extremely cautious about continuing to increase sentences as a routine response to concerns over crime.
