Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department is taking steps to reduce the number of (a) pregnant women and (b) mothers of babies under the age of two who are sent to prison.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Our Female Offender Strategy makes clear that we want fewer women entering custody and more being managed in the community.
We have developed an aide memoire to support probation practitioners completing pre-sentence reports (PSRs) on women. It is designed to improve the quality and consistency of PSRs, by highlighting key areas for practitioners to consider when assessing the diverse needs of women in the context of offending (including health, relationships and caring responsibilities), in order to support a robust proposal for a community sentence whenever appropriate.
Sentencing and remand decisions in individual cases are entirely a matter for the courts, which are independent of Government. The Sentencing Council, which is also independent, has provided guidance to sentencers on the factors to be taken into account when sentencing female offenders, including pregnancy, and being the sole or primary carer for dependent relatives. In relation to an offender who is pregnant, relevant considerations may include any effect of the sentence on the health of the offender and any effect on the unborn child. The guidance makes clear that where an offender is at the threshold of custody, imprisonment should not be imposed if the impact on dependents would be disproportionate.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has taken recent steps to ensure that women who become pregnant while awaiting court or sentencing have their pregnancy considered as a mitigating factor.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Our Female Offender Strategy makes clear that we want fewer women entering custody and more being managed in the community.
We have developed an aide memoire to support probation practitioners completing pre-sentence reports (PSRs) on women. It is designed to improve the quality and consistency of PSRs, by highlighting key areas for practitioners to consider when assessing the diverse needs of women in the context of offending (including health, relationships and caring responsibilities), in order to support a robust proposal for a community sentence whenever appropriate.
Sentencing and remand decisions in individual cases are entirely a matter for the courts, which are independent of Government. The Sentencing Council, which is also independent, has provided guidance to sentencers on the factors to be taken into account when sentencing female offenders, including pregnancy, and being the sole or primary carer for dependent relatives. In relation to an offender who is pregnant, relevant considerations may include any effect of the sentence on the health of the offender and any effect on the unborn child. The guidance makes clear that where an offender is at the threshold of custody, imprisonment should not be imposed if the impact on dependents would be disproportionate.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the National Review of Health and Social Care in Women’s Prisons will cover women’s sexual and reproductive healthcare in the prison system.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The National Women’s Prisons Health and Social Care Review, commissioned jointly by His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) and NHS England, is due to report in Spring 2023. The scope of the review includes women’s sexual and reproductive healthcare in prison.
Following a policy review, we began collecting information on the number of babies born to women in the prison estate in 2020-21. National data on pregnancy and births, and on Mother and Baby Units, are now published annually in the HMPPS Annual Digest.
Data on the number of women who are pregnant or who are mothers of babies under two years old who have entered the prison system on remand is not collected or held centrally. Information on prisoners’ caring responsibilities and children living in the community is monitored locally by prison Governors and Directors, to ensure appropriate support can be provided to offenders and their families.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what data his Department holds on the number of (a) pregnant women and (b) mothers of babies under two years old who have entered the prison system on remand in the last year.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The National Women’s Prisons Health and Social Care Review, commissioned jointly by His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) and NHS England, is due to report in Spring 2023. The scope of the review includes women’s sexual and reproductive healthcare in prison.
Following a policy review, we began collecting information on the number of babies born to women in the prison estate in 2020-21. National data on pregnancy and births, and on Mother and Baby Units, are now published annually in the HMPPS Annual Digest.
Data on the number of women who are pregnant or who are mothers of babies under two years old who have entered the prison system on remand is not collected or held centrally. Information on prisoners’ caring responsibilities and children living in the community is monitored locally by prison Governors and Directors, to ensure appropriate support can be provided to offenders and their families.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the timetable is for the publication of the report on the National Review of Health and Social Care in Women’s Prisons.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The National Women’s Prisons Health and Social Care Review, commissioned jointly by His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) and NHS England, is due to report in Spring 2023. The scope of the review includes women’s sexual and reproductive healthcare in prison.
Following a policy review, we began collecting information on the number of babies born to women in the prison estate in 2020-21. National data on pregnancy and births, and on Mother and Baby Units, are now published annually in the HMPPS Annual Digest.
Data on the number of women who are pregnant or who are mothers of babies under two years old who have entered the prison system on remand is not collected or held centrally. Information on prisoners’ caring responsibilities and children living in the community is monitored locally by prison Governors and Directors, to ensure appropriate support can be provided to offenders and their families.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average sentence length was for (a) women and (b) men sentenced to prison in each month since January 2021.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Ministry of Justice publishes these figures on an annual basis, by quarter, on the GOV.UK website in the Outcomes by Offence data tool (MS Excel Spreadsheet, 21 MB) as part of the Criminal Justice System statistics quarterly: December 2021 publication published in May 2022. Figures for 2022 will be published in subsequent releases of the data.
Please see the accompanying table, and associated notes, for a breakdown by month for the year 2021. These figures are not routinely published as monthly averages can be influenced by cyclical factors that need to be considered when considering average custodial sentence length (ACSL) – for example, ACSL will depend on the mixture of offences sentenced within that month. Monthly averages will also be more likely to fluctuations due to relatively small volumes of offenders in each period.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will set a numerical target for the commitment in the Female Offenders Strategy on reducing the number of women entering prison.
Answered by Rob Butler
We remain committed to the aims in the Female Offender Strategy (2018) of seeing fewer women offending and reoffending; fewer women in custody, especially on short sentences, with more managed effectively in the community; and better conditions for women in custody that support effective rehabilitation.
As we have an independent judiciary, setting a numerical target as proposed is not appropriate and may have unintended consequences. We are working to ensure that interventions and pilot projects are, where possible, evaluated so that we can understand their impact on the numbers and make-up of the population.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many of the 500 new prison places for women will be open provision.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The exact numbers and mix of new open and closed facilities are being finalised subject to site surveys and planning and, when agreed, will be released at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many women’s prison cells will be brought back into use through the £21 million in funding allocated to refurbishing the women’s prison estate, in each of the next five years.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
We are delivering high quality facilities in women’s prisons including providing up to 500 new places. In addition, we will continue to invest a significant proportion of our custodial capital and resource budgets received through Spending Review ‘21 on improving the condition and operational integrity of existing accommodation. The final allocation is determined through an internal process, currently underway.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when his Department plans to publish its one-year on report on the national concordat on women in contact, or at risk of contact with the criminal justice system.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Government remains committed to publishing an update on delivering the approach and principles in the Concordat. We are considering the recommendations of the January 2022 report by the National Audit Office and the current Public Accounts Committee inquiry on Improving Outcomes for Women in the Criminal Justice System before finalising the report. We expect to publish by summer.