Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many prisoners recorded as transgender women who either still retain genitalia or have a history of sexual or violent offences have been granted an exemption by a Minister to serve their sentence in a male prison.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The latest available figures for transgender prisoners are set out in the table below:
| 31 March 2025 |
All reported transgender prisoners with a GRC | 9 |
(no further breakdowns provided) |
|
All reported transgender prisoners without a GRC | 339 |
(further breakdowns provided below) |
|
|
|
Biological sex |
|
Biological sex female | 63 |
Biological sex male | 276 |
|
|
Self-identified gender identity |
|
Female | 247 |
Male | 64 |
Non-binary | 18 |
Other (one of identifying in a different way, not recorded/not stated) | 10 |
|
|
Women's establishments |
|
Number of transgender prisoners in women's estates | 64 |
Transgender women (biological sex male, self-identifies as female) | ~ |
Transgender men (biological sex female, self-identifies as male) | 61 |
Other (one of non-binary, identifying in a different way, or not stated/not known) | ~ |
|
|
Men's establishments |
|
Number of transgender prisoners in men's estates | 275 |
Transgender women (biological sex male, self-identifies as female) | 245 |
Transgender men (biological sex female, self-identifies as male) | ~ |
Other (one of non-binary, identifying in a different way, or not stated/not known) | ~ |
The Ministerial exemption process only applies to the placement of transgender women (defined in HMPPS as biological males who identify as females) in women's prisons. Transgender women with birth genitalia and/or any history of violent or sexual offending can only be placed in the general women's estate in exceptional circumstances and where an exemption has been granted by Ministers. No transgender women have received such an exemption under this Government.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many transgender women are currently serving a prison sentence.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The latest available figures for transgender prisoners are set out in the table below:
| 31 March 2025 |
All reported transgender prisoners with a GRC | 9 |
(no further breakdowns provided) |
|
All reported transgender prisoners without a GRC | 339 |
(further breakdowns provided below) |
|
|
|
Biological sex |
|
Biological sex female | 63 |
Biological sex male | 276 |
|
|
Self-identified gender identity |
|
Female | 247 |
Male | 64 |
Non-binary | 18 |
Other (one of identifying in a different way, not recorded/not stated) | 10 |
|
|
Women's establishments |
|
Number of transgender prisoners in women's estates | 64 |
Transgender women (biological sex male, self-identifies as female) | ~ |
Transgender men (biological sex female, self-identifies as male) | 61 |
Other (one of non-binary, identifying in a different way, or not stated/not known) | ~ |
|
|
Men's establishments |
|
Number of transgender prisoners in men's estates | 275 |
Transgender women (biological sex male, self-identifies as female) | 245 |
Transgender men (biological sex female, self-identifies as male) | ~ |
Other (one of non-binary, identifying in a different way, or not stated/not known) | ~ |
The Ministerial exemption process only applies to the placement of transgender women (defined in HMPPS as biological males who identify as females) in women's prisons. Transgender women with birth genitalia and/or any history of violent or sexual offending can only be placed in the general women's estate in exceptional circumstances and where an exemption has been granted by Ministers. No transgender women have received such an exemption under this Government.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many prisoners recorded as transgender women are currently serving their sentence in a male prison.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The latest available figures for transgender prisoners are set out in the table below:
| 31 March 2025 |
All reported transgender prisoners with a GRC | 9 |
(no further breakdowns provided) |
|
All reported transgender prisoners without a GRC | 339 |
(further breakdowns provided below) |
|
|
|
Biological sex |
|
Biological sex female | 63 |
Biological sex male | 276 |
|
|
Self-identified gender identity |
|
Female | 247 |
Male | 64 |
Non-binary | 18 |
Other (one of identifying in a different way, not recorded/not stated) | 10 |
|
|
Women's establishments |
|
Number of transgender prisoners in women's estates | 64 |
Transgender women (biological sex male, self-identifies as female) | ~ |
Transgender men (biological sex female, self-identifies as male) | 61 |
Other (one of non-binary, identifying in a different way, or not stated/not known) | ~ |
|
|
Men's establishments |
|
Number of transgender prisoners in men's estates | 275 |
Transgender women (biological sex male, self-identifies as female) | 245 |
Transgender men (biological sex female, self-identifies as male) | ~ |
Other (one of non-binary, identifying in a different way, or not stated/not known) | ~ |
The Ministerial exemption process only applies to the placement of transgender women (defined in HMPPS as biological males who identify as females) in women's prisons. Transgender women with birth genitalia and/or any history of violent or sexual offending can only be placed in the general women's estate in exceptional circumstances and where an exemption has been granted by Ministers. No transgender women have received such an exemption under this Government.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that biological male prisoners are not held in women's prisons.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Almost all transgender prisoners are already allocated in line with their biological sex. Over 95% of transgender women are held in men's prisons, and the majority of those in the women's estate are held on E Wing at HMP/YOI Downview, a separate unit where they cannot access the wider regime unless risk assessed as being safe to do so and they are supervised by staff.
No transgender women who retain their birth genitalia and/or have any history of sexual or violent offences can be held in the general women’s estate unless an exemption is granted by a Minister.
The small number of transgender women who are held in the general women's estate are there because they have been risk-assessed as being safe to do so, and because there is a compelling reason to hold them there (which can include risks to them from a placement elsewhere).
We are reviewing transgender prisoner policy following the For Women Scotland vs. The Scottish Ministers Supreme Court ruling and will be able to say more about this in due course.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many gender recognition certificates have been issued in each of the past 10 years.
Answered by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede
The table below shows the number of applications received by the Gender Recognition Panel that were granted full Gender Recognition Certificates in the last 10 years.
Table 1: Number of Gender Recognition Certificates granted in full during the complete financial years from 2014/15 to 2023/24
Financial Year | Gender Recognition Panel |
2014/15 | 244 |
2015/16 | 329 |
2016/17 | 316 |
2017/18 | 351 |
2018/19 | 323 |
2019/20 | 364 |
2020/21 | 427 |
2021/22 | 495 |
2022/23 | 871 |
2023/24 | 1,088 |
Date source: Tribunals statistics quarterly: October to December 2024 - GOV.UK
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to bring forward additional legislation to remove the power of the Post Office to bring forward prosecutions.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
The Post Office scandal is the biggest miscarriage of justice in our history. That is why this Government announced on 10 January its intent to overturn wrongful convictions and ensure swifter access to compensation for hundreds of innocent post-masters and mistresses.
Whilst the vast majority of Horizon cases were prosecuted by the Post Office, some were pursued by other prosecutors, including the Crown Prosecution Service. The Post Office does not have a specific power to bring private prosecutions. It did so under the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985, the same right as other third party organisations, such as the RSPCA. The Post Office has not brought any such prosecutions since 2015.
Sir Wyn Williams’ Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry is examining in detail the failings that led to the Post Office scandal. It would not be appropriate for Government to pre-empt the findings and recommendations of the Inquiry, which are due later this year, by pursuing changes at this time.
We are, however, examining the wider question of private prosecutions and the Government is therefore committed to looking again at the Justice Select Committee’s recommendations in their 2020 report as part of this work.