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 ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether she has had recent discussions with Cabinet colleagues on the provision of cross-departmental funding for women’s centres.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Women’s centres play a vital role in supporting women in the community and the Ministry of Justice is investing up to £24 million in community support for women in 2022-25.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the timing of the publication of the gambling white paper on (a) the economy and (b) society.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Gambling Act Review is an extensive evidence-led review, which aims to ensure regulation is fit for the digital age. We will publish a White Paper setting out our vision and next steps in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment she has made of the nature of the financial relationship between the EFL and SkyBet.
Answered by Paul Scully
Football clubs can enter a wide variety of commercial partnerships and all partnerships with gambling operators must be conducted in a socially responsible fashion and never target children or vulnerable people. Sky Bet’s title sponsorship of the EFL is a long-standing commercial arrangement established in 2013 with the current contract running to 2024. The arrangement includes a number of social responsibility commitments, such as ensuring there is no branding in family areas of the stadia and mandatory inclusion of safer gambling messaging on kits and in stadia.
Gambling sponsorship and the relationship between sports and gambling is included in the scope of the government's wide-ranging Review of the Gambling Act. A White Paper setting out our conclusions and next steps will be published in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made a comparative assessment of taxation rates for (a) land-based and (b) remote gambling operators.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
A range of duty rates apply to different forms of gambling. Bingo duty is 10% of gross profit. Lottery Duty is 12% of ticket value. General Betting Duty is 15% of gross profit for general bets, 10% of gross profit for sports spread betting or 3% of gross profit for financial spread betting. Pool Betting Duty is 15% of gross profit. Remote Gaming Duty is 21% of gross profit. Gaming Duty is 15-50% of gross gaming yield. Machine Games Duty is 5% of gross profit at the lower rate, 20% of gross profit at the standard rate and 25% of gross profit at the higher rate.
As with all taxes, the Government keeps gambling taxation under constant review and welcomes representations from stakeholders to inform policy development.
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.