Asked by: Baroness Fox of Buckley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the E Wing unit for trans women in HMP/YOI Downview is classified as part of the female prison estate.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The E Wing at HMP/YOI Downview is not part of the general women's estate. Prisoners on E Wing are held separately from other prisoners at HMP/YOI Downview and can only access the wider prison's regime where this is supervised by staff and has been risk assessed to ensure safety.
Asked by: Baroness Fox of Buckley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether HM Prison and Probation Service interprets the word "woman" in the Prison Rules 1999 as excluding biological men in possession of a Gender Recognition Certificate, following the Supreme Court ruling in the case of For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Supreme Court has ruled that for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010, sex means biological sex, while also being clear that protections against discrimination for transgender people remain. We are currently assessing our policies relating to prisoners in light of this ruling and we will be able to say more in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Fox of Buckley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of HMP Dovegate’s scheme to train prisoners to become fully qualified dog trainers; and whether they will implement similar schemes in all prisons across England and Wales.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
The Restart Dogs Programme at HMP Dovegate is currently funded through the local prisoners’ Amenities Fund, and its continuation will be reviewed in line with routine assurance checks to ensure continuing value for money and defined outcomes. There are no plans to implement the project across prisons in England and Wales, but it is available to Governors under the Dynamic Purchasing System, using their Learning and Skills budgets, if they determine that there is a local need.
Asked by: Baroness Fox of Buckley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will publish the most recent statistics available on self-harm during the first 90 days in custody in the closed prison estate.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
We do not currently publish a breakdown of self-harm incidents by total time in custody or by prison. Changes to our self-harm tables are considered as part of our regular review of how our statistical publications can best meet the needs of their users and stakeholders. Statistics on self-harm incidents by time in custody, like all identified information gaps, will be considered ahead of our more detailed annual statistics on self-harm in custody, due to be published in April 2023.
Asked by: Baroness Fox of Buckley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the success of HMP Peterborough’s scheme to reduce self-harm incidents in their female prison; and whether such a scheme could be implemented across England and Wales.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
We welcome the work HMP Peterborough is doing to reduce self-harm amongst female prisoners. We continue to do everything we can to address self-harm across the estate. In 2020, we established a multi-disciplinary Women’s Self-Harm Taskforce to address the high levels of self-harm. The aim of the taskforce is to focus on work, research and interventions that improve prisoner outcomes. The taskforce is trialling and formally evaluating a range of initiatives for women in prison and will use the formal evaluations of the work at Peterborough, and the similar work across the women’s prison estate, to inform our approaches to reducing self-harm amongst female prisoners going forward.