Justice chief told to employ an ex-con

Alastair Chambers, employment director with non-profit organisation Break The Chain which works offenders, told Mr Grayling it would be “inspirational” if he took on a former offender.

The Justice Secretary did not rule out the possibility and said there is no reason why the Ministry of Justice cannot look into finding a role.

Mr Chambers’s organisation interviews people in jails such as HMP Leyhill with a view of improving their chances of finding work.

During a speech on crime and reoffending, Mr Chambers said: “We’ve got some very good chaps and it would be very inspirational if someone like yourself and your office put forward a position for an offender.”

Mr Grayling replied: “Well, you don’t ask, you don’t get, so let’s have a look at that.”

He said later: “I’m very up for the idea of looking to see where we can find more educational or work opportunities for former offenders and of course we should lead from the front with that.

“We’re a big organisation that does an awful lot of things and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t look to find opportunities within the organisation that are right for them.”

Mr Chambers said: “The MoJ is looking at fulfilling that promise at helping previous prisoners come back into society and be valid members of society, so they are stepping up to the mark, but we’ll see what Mr Grayling does.”