Asked by: Baroness Healy of Primrose Hill (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support vulnerable women leaving prison by ensuring (1) access to housing, (2) access to benefits and employment, and (3) access to health services.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
We are investing more than £20m in supporting prison leavers at risk of homelessness into temporary accommodation. Individuals released from prison will be provided up to 12 weeks of temporary accommodation and will be supported to secure long-term settled accommodation before the end of that 12-week period. Initially launching in five probation regions, the service will support around 3,000 offenders in its first year and will be commencing this Summer. It will be in operation during the financial year 2021-22, with a view to scaling up and rolling out nationally.
The service will take account of the needs of women, including those with complex needs, and accommodation provision will be dedicated to single gender usage as required. Community Probation Practitioners, working together with local partners, will be responsible for ensuring that vulnerable female prison leavers receive appropriate support and are provided with housing beyond the 12 weeks’ emergency accommodation.
Commissioned Rehabilitation Services are due to start delivery on 26 June 2021 which includes services to assist in accommodation; employment training and education; financial benefit and debt and personal well-being.
These provide a holistic service for all women leaving prison by providers based in the community in to which they are released. The accommodation service and mentoring service both start pre-release. The mentoring service aims to support those who lack social support in making the transition from prison to community and to assist in building social networks.
Asked by: Baroness Healy of Primrose Hill (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the report Safety in Custody Statistics, England and Wales: Deaths in Prison Custody to December 2020 Assaults and Self-harm to September 2020, published on 28 January, what steps they are taking to address the reported increase in self-harm in the female prison estate in England and Wales.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
We recognise that the level of self-harm in the women’s estate is too high and are determined to reduce this. A Women’s Self-Harm Task Force was set up in April 2020 in response to our increasing concerns about the level of self-harm in the Women’s estate. We know that many of the drivers (risks and triggers) and protective factors linked to women’s risk of self-harm in prisons have been adversely affected by Covid-19 and the restricted regimes that have been put in place to control the spread of infection.
The Task Force has led work to introduce a number of specific interventions to counteract the impact of Covid-19 on self-harm in the Women’s estate. This work has seen the introduction of bespoke well-being checks, increased credit to enable phone calls and increased access to Purple Visits (video calls with family and friends).
We have prioritised the roll out of the revised version of the Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT) multi-disciplinary case management system used in prisons to support people at risk of suicide and self-harm. We will also be implementing the Offender Management in Custody model in the female estate in April 2021. This will provide each woman in the female estate with a dedicated key worker who will be able to better support them and identify concerns at an early stage so that women can receive the right support at the right time.
We have also produced a range of products to support Governors in devising and implementing local safety and welfare plans designed to mitigate risks and promote wellbeing. We have developed new guidance for staff on understanding and supporting someone who is self-harming. We continue to make the Samaritans phone service available and are working with the Samaritans to ensure that the Listener peer support scheme continues to function effectively wherever possible.
We have also invested £5m in alternatives to prison, including new women’s centres which help people address issues such as alcohol or drug addiction which leads them to crime.
Asked by: Baroness Healy of Primrose Hill (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the cross-government suicide prevention strategy, including action on self-harm, will form part of their strategy on female offenders in England and Wales.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
We are committed to improving the safety of female offenders to reduce rates of self-harm and prevent deaths.
The cross-government suicide prevention strategy recognises the importance of working across criminal justice settings to reduce suicide and self-harm. This approach will be reflected in our female offender strategy, alongside our work with the Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody on the results of their rapid information gathering exercise on Preventing the Deaths of Women in Prison.