Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department has taken to train prison staff on the additional needs of prisoners with disabilities, including for neurodiverse prisoners.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
On 30 June 2022, the Government published our Action Plan in response to the Evidence Review on Neurodiversity in the Criminal Justice System, setting set out a number of steps we are taking to increase support for neurodivergent people encountering the criminal justice system (CJS), including those on remand.
The action plan includes a number of steps specifically focused on training staff:
we are on track to have a dedicated Neurodiversity Support Manager in every prison across England and Wales by March 2024. A key part of their role is to deliver awareness sessions to upskill staff, and to improve prisoners’ access to education, skills and work;
by the end of 2022, we will have developed and launched a National Neurodiversity Training Toolkit available for all prison and probation staff; and
HM Prison and Probation Service has commissioned the organisation Skills for Justice to develop an ‘Adult Health, Care and Wellbeing Core Capabilities Framework’ for frontline staff, to set out what skills, knowledge and behaviour are required to support offenders with health requirements, including neurodivergent need.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when the revised protocol on searching of the person will be published; whether prison officers of the male sex who identify as transgender, with or without a gender recognition certificate, will be permitted to rubdown or strip search female offenders; and whether the revised protocols will also apply to youth custody services.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The national policy on the searching of prisoners, staff and visitors (PSI 07/2016 – Searching of the Person) is currently under review, and to allow for extensive consultation, is expected to be published later this year.
The updated policy will include directions on transgender staff, with and without Gender Recognition Certificates, conducting searches.
In reviewing the policy, Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) is consulting with the Government’s Legal Department, HMPPS Equalities Team and representatives from external women’s and transgender groups. The new policy will be compliant with the Equality Act 2010, Gender Recognition Act 2004 and the European Convention of Human Rights.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the OASys Sexual reoffending Predictor (OSP) Guidance for Practitioners, dated December 2021, what tools are used to assess the risk of biologically male transgender prisoners (a) with and (b) without a Gender Recognition Certificate who are convicted of sexual offences; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
OASys Sexual Reoffending Predictor (OSP) was developed for use with legally male offenders and so is not used with offenders who are not legally male. However, transitioning will not result in an offender’s risk assessment being less robust. Whether or not a transgender prisoner is assessed using OSP is not a factor in decisions about whether to allocate them to a men's or women's prison, which are only made after all individual risk factors have been thoroughly assessed.
The most accurate risk assessments combine actuarial methods of prediction with structured professional judgement. The Offender Assessment System (OASys) allows HMPPS staff to undertake actuarial assessments. It also provides a structure to record their assessment of the risks posed by, and needs of, an offender.
Apart from OSP, all actuarial risk assessment tools can be used with men and women. These tools are:
- Offender Group Reconviction Scale version 3 (OGRS3), for risk of any proven reoffending
- Risk of Serious Recidivism (RSR), for risk of serious proven reoffending, which comprises sexual reoffending (using OSP, or a simple base rate for legal females) and serious nonsexual violent reoffending (a separate algorithm)
- OASys Violence Predictor (OVP), for risk of nonsexual violent proven reoffending
- OASys General reoffending Predictor (OGP), for risk of nonviolent proven reoffending
Forensic psychologists also use a range of risk assessment tools with this cohort, which involve using their professional judgement. These are used on an individual basis, as with any offender, taking into account the full range of characteristics of the person being assessed.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the OASys Sexual reoffending Predictor (OSP) Guidance for Practitioners, dated December 2021, whether biologically male transgender prisoners (a) with and (b) without a Gender Recognition Certificate who are convicted of sexual offences are risk-assessed using OSP; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
OASys Sexual Reoffending Predictor (OSP) was developed for use with legally male offenders and so is not used with offenders who are not legally male. However, transitioning will not result in an offender’s risk assessment being less robust. Whether or not a transgender prisoner is assessed using OSP is not a factor in decisions about whether to allocate them to a men's or women's prison, which are only made after all individual risk factors have been thoroughly assessed.
The most accurate risk assessments combine actuarial methods of prediction with structured professional judgement. The Offender Assessment System (OASys) allows HMPPS staff to undertake actuarial assessments. It also provides a structure to record their assessment of the risks posed by, and needs of, an offender.
Apart from OSP, all actuarial risk assessment tools can be used with men and women. These tools are:
- Offender Group Reconviction Scale version 3 (OGRS3), for risk of any proven reoffending
- Risk of Serious Recidivism (RSR), for risk of serious proven reoffending, which comprises sexual reoffending (using OSP, or a simple base rate for legal females) and serious nonsexual violent reoffending (a separate algorithm)
- OASys Violence Predictor (OVP), for risk of nonsexual violent proven reoffending
- OASys General reoffending Predictor (OGP), for risk of nonviolent proven reoffending
Forensic psychologists also use a range of risk assessment tools with this cohort, which involve using their professional judgement. These are used on an individual basis, as with any offender, taking into account the full range of characteristics of the person being assessed.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents of self-harm and attempted suicide have been recorded for biologically male transgender prisoners housed in the male estate in each of the last five years.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
These figures have been drawn from the HMPPS Incident Reporting System, which records the legal gender of prisoners. They are based on snapshot data collections from March 2018, 2019 and 2021. There was no collection in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Data is not available for 2017. This is because legal gender did not form part of the central data collection in that year.
In 2017-18 there were 38 assaults and 14 sexual assaults on legally male transgender prisoners in the men’s prison estate. In 2018-19 there were 16 assaults and fewer than 5 sexual assaults. In 2020-21 there were fewer than 5 assaults and fewer than 5 sexual assaults.
In 2017-18 there were 332 self-harm incidents involving legally male transgender prisoners in the men’s prison estate. In 2018-19 there were 159. In 2020-21 there were 228. Data on attempted suicide is not available.
We have trained more than 25,000 staff in suicide and self-harm prevention as part of our drive to tackle these issues, and we continue to develop initiatives to better support people in custody.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many biologically male transgender prisoners housed in the male estate have been subjected to assault and to sexual assault in each of the last five years.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
These figures have been drawn from the HMPPS Incident Reporting System, which records the legal gender of prisoners. They are based on snapshot data collections from March 2018, 2019 and 2021. There was no collection in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Data is not available for 2017. This is because legal gender did not form part of the central data collection in that year.
In 2017-18 there were 38 assaults and 14 sexual assaults on legally male transgender prisoners in the men’s prison estate. In 2018-19 there were 16 assaults and fewer than 5 sexual assaults. In 2020-21 there were fewer than 5 assaults and fewer than 5 sexual assaults.
In 2017-18 there were 332 self-harm incidents involving legally male transgender prisoners in the men’s prison estate. In 2018-19 there were 159. In 2020-21 there were 228. Data on attempted suicide is not available.
We have trained more than 25,000 staff in suicide and self-harm prevention as part of our drive to tackle these issues, and we continue to develop initiatives to better support people in custody.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the cost to the public purse of prison sentences for Insulate Britain activists.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS), does not collate, calculate or analyse separately the costs down to individual prisoner level. The costs recorded on the HMPPS central accounting system do not allow identification of costs attributable to holding specific offenders.
An average cost per prisoner, costs per prison place and overall prison unit costs for each private and public sector prison in England and Wales are routinely published by HMPPS. This information is produced on an annual basis and is published after the end of each financial year.
Information on prison expenditure can be accessed in the Prison and Probation Performance Statistics pages for each financial year on the www.gov.uk website.
The most recent published figures for financial year 2019-20 can be accessed on the www.gov.uk website from the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/prison-performance-statistics-2019-to-2020
Prison unit costs can be found within the document ‘Costs per prison place and costs per prisoner 2019 to 2020 summary’ in Table 2a and in the ‘Cost per prisoner place and prisoner by individual prison 2019 to 2020’ in the ‘Cost by Establishment’ tab.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 15 July to Question 29878 on Sexual Offences: Rehabilitation, how many and what proportion of biologically male transgender prisoners in the male estate have accessed accredited Sex Offender Treatment Programmes in each of the last five years.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The data HMPPS hold on transgender prisoners (published in the annual HMPPS Offender Equalities Report) is snapshot data and importantly has not historically included prisoners who have a Gender Recognition Certificate, due to legal restrictions. There was no data gathering exercise in 2020 due to the pandemic. HMPPS are actively working on ways to improve the scope and quality of data held on transgender prisoners while still respecting their rights and privacy.
Analysis of accredited programme participation for each year’s transgender offender cohort requires a data matching exercise as these pieces of information are held in separate data sets. A response could only be obtained at disproportionate costs as the analyses would be new and require significant resource to ensure accuracy and reliability.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 13 July 2021 to Question 29877, Downview Prison, and with reference to the evidence quoted in the judgment in R (FDJ) v the Secretary of State of 2 July 2021 that biologically female prisoners have been allocated to HMP Downview’s E Wing alongside biologically male transgender prisoners, what the circumstances are under which a biologically female prisoner may be considered for placement on E Wing.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
HMP Downview’s E Wing currently provides separate accommodation in the women’s estate specifically for transgender women with Gender Recognition Certificates (GRC) who pose, or face, too high a risk to be located in the general women’s population. Decisions on allocation of this nature can only be made via a Complex Case Board, chaired by a senior prison manager, as detailed in ‘The Care and Management of Individuals who are Transgender’ policy framework
It is not Ministry of Justice and HM Prison & Probation Service (HMPPS) policy to place women on E Wing who do not hold a GRC. In exceptional circumstances, such as those seen during the COVID-19 pandemic, it remains open to HMPPS to utilise accommodation differently where it is considered operationally necessary. However, any women placed on E Wing in such circumstances would always be held separately from others on the unit.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what research his Department has approved that analyses how risk assessment panels understand the (a) risks being assessed and (b) needs of the female prison population when making decisions on placement of transgender people.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has not commissioned any relevant research since the current version of the policy framework ‘The Care and Management of Individuals who are Transgender’ was published in 2019. However, this policy was formulated following consultation with a range of stakeholders including staff and external groups representing the interests of prisoners, and after consideration of the existing evidence on transgender people in prison, including internal data. Decisions regarding transgender prisoners continue to be made on a case-by-case basis, and all known risk factors (including any risk to the person, risk to others and risk of self-harm) are thoroughly assessed in each case.
The MoJ recognises the importance of good quality data and evidence and this will continue to be considered, as part of the ongoing implementation review, where evidence gaps are highlighted.