Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to page 8 of the Independent Monitoring Board's report entitled Annual report of the Independent Monitoring Board at HMP/YOI Downview, published on 3 September 2025, when he plans to respond to the questions on the main areas for development.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

My noble friend Lord Timpson wrote to the Chair of the IMB on 27 October 2025, setting out the Ministry of Justice’s response to the report. It can be accessed at: Downview 2024-25 annual report - ministerial response - Independent Monitoring Boards.

Question to the Scotland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help ensure that UK public bodies in Scotland implement the For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers Supreme Court judgment.

Answered by Kirsty McNeill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Scotland Office)

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has shared its updated draft statutory code of Practice for Services, Public Functions and Associations with my Right Honourable Friend, the Minister for Women and Equalities. She will consider it fully and make a decision in due course. It is important we take the time to get this right.

The Code of Practice will apply to service providers, public bodies and associations across Great Britain. It is for the Scottish Government, of course, to ensure that its own public bodies comply with their legal obligations under the Equality Act 2010.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to provide additional support for women who face additional prescription costs due to (a) menorrhagia and (b) other menstrual issues caused by (i) miscarriage and (ii) other significant traumas.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

There are no plans to review the support available to women facing these issues.

A maternity exemption certificate can be applied for as soon as a healthcare professional has confirmed that the patient is pregnant or has given birth, including still-birth, in the previous twelve months, and this provides exemption from prescription costs until 12 months after the due date. The certificate remains valid if the patient has a miscarriage. The certificate is automatically backdated one month from the date the application is received by the NHS Business Services Authority.

If a patient is not entitled to the maternity exemption, they can purchase a prescription prepayment certificate (PPC), which allows them to claim as many prescriptions as they need for a set cost. A three-monthly PPC, costing £32.05, or an annual PPC, costing £114.50, will save people money if they need four or more items in three months or 12 or more items in 12 months. To help spread the cost, people can pay for an annual PPC by ten monthly direct debits. A holder of a 12-month certificate can get all the prescriptions they need for just over £2 per week.

Approximately 40% of the population are currently liable to pay the prescription charge though approximately 89% of the items dispensed in the community are dispensed free of charge.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many sexual assaults of female prisoners by biologically male prisoners took place in HMP Downview in (a) 2016, (b) 2017, (c) 2018 and (d) 2019.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

There were no recorded sexual assaults of female prisoners by biologically male prisoners at HMP & YOI Downview, during the specified periods.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what decisions his Department has made on the (a) scope and (b) timeline of the review of transgender prisoner policy following the Supreme Court judgment in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

We are reviewing transgender prisoner policy following the For Women Scotland Supreme Court ruling. Alongside this, the Office for Equality and Opportunity is currently reviewing the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s draft updated Code of Practice on single sex spaces.

If the Code is approved, it will be laid before Parliament in due course. We are working closely with the Office for Equality and Opportunity on this, and will come forward with our updated policy on transgender prisoners once this process has concluded.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what criteria his Department uses to determine placement of transgender young people within the Children and Young People's Estate.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 4 November 2025 to Question 85613.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential merit of allowing nannies to offer funded hours under the Free Childcare for Working Parents programme.

Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

It is the government’s ambition that all families have access to high-quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life and delivering on our Plan for Change.

Nannies are an unregulated part of the sector because they are employed by parents to provide care to children in their home. Parents alone are responsible for deciding the services that a nanny provides, which may or may not include early education. Parents also arrange the payment of income tax and National Insurance contributions and organise security checks for those that they employ. For this reason, successive governments have not engaged in private arrangements between the two parties.

Officials remain in touch with the National Nanny Association and we keep all such policies under review.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many transgender young people are currently held in mixed gender settings within the Children and Young People Estate at HMP & YOI Downview.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

HMP & YOI Downview is not part of the Children and Young People Estate. No children or young people are accommodated there.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps his Department has taken to ensure (a) equality of access to and (b) quality of healthcare provision across the (i) women’s and (ii) Children and Young People's estate.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

To improve health and social care outcomes for all women in prison and upon their release, NHS England and His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service commissioned the National Women’s Prisons Health and Social Care Review. The review’s report identified a number of recommendations to improve equity and quality of care to meet the specific needs of women in prison.

A wide range of actions to implement these recommendations are taking place at establishment, regional, and national levels, backed by £21 million across three years, and overseen by the Joint Women's Prison Health and Social Care Review Implementation Programme Board.

The health issues facing those detained in the children and young people secure estate are systematically kept under review through regular health and wellbeing needs assessments and the Healthcare Standards for Children and Young People in Secure Settings.

The Framework for Integrated Care operates in the children and young people secure estate as a coherent structure for a comprehensive, trauma-informed system of care that focuses on individualised care rather than on separate labels, diagnoses, or interventions.

NHS England has also commissioned the three-year Benchmarking Project, aimed at assessing and supporting the implementation of the Healthcare Standards for Children and Young People in Secure Settings.

Further work is underway to identify where the existing pathway in the children and young people secure estate requires enhancement to better support the placement, management, and care of all girls in secure settings. This work will be informed by evidence and best practice and will be developed with experts to test the most appropriate model of care.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time is for routine mental health appointments across the prison estate in England.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The information requested is not held centrally. As part of the formal prisoner induction process, all prisoners undergo health screening that incorporates a mental health assessment. The secondary care mental health assessment is carried out by a mental health professional. Routine assessments are carried out within five working days. Where an individual is in a state of mental health crisis, presents with rapidly escalating needs, or is at risk of immediate harm to themselves or others, an urgent assessment should be undertaken within 48 hours.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has identified service gaps in the provision of primary care, mental health, dentistry and substance misuse services at HMP/YOI Downview.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Primary care, mental health, dentistry, and substance misuse services at HMP/YOI Downview are delivered under the national specification for integrated healthcare.

As part of the commissioning monitoring processes outlined in the NHS Strategic Commissioning Framework, which covers all National Health Service commissioned services, including health and justice, providers are measured against the mandatory performance indicators within the national specification and any potential inconsistencies in service delivery are identified.

Independent processes are also embedded within service delivery monitoring. These include annual healthcare needs assessments, equality impact assessments, Independent Monitoring Board reports, Care Quality Commission reports and inspections, and user experience consultations. An annual user experience has also been carried out across all prisons in the South East.

Found: Burton-Sampson; Rosie Duffield; Dame Nia Griffith; Christine Jardine; Kim Leadbeater; Kevin McKenna; Rebecca Paul

Found: Edinburgh West) Kim Leadbeater (Labour; Spen Valley) Kevin McKenna (Labour; Sittingbourne and Sheppey) Rebecca Paul

Found: Burton-Sampson; Rosie Duffield; Dame Nia Griffith; Christine Jardine; Kim Leadbeater; Kevin McKenna; Rebecca Paul

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This inquiry will examine whether women donating and freezing their eggs do so with sufficient information about the process, health impacts and consequences and whether the current regulatory framework provides sufficient safeguards to people who go through these procedures.

This inquiry examines why and how Black people face disproportionate risks of homelessness. It will also consider what measures the Government should include in its upcoming cross-departmental homelessness and rough sleeping strategy.

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Reading brings a range of benefits to children, young people and their families, but the number of children reading for pleasure is declining rapidly.