Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for what reasons the mother and baby unit at Eastwood Park Prison remains out of commission; and when the repair to that unit will be completed.

A full refurbishment of the mother and baby unit at Eastwood Park, is scheduled to start in December 2017, with the project plan suggesting it will take 12 weeks to complete before re-opening. This unit has been out of use since it was flooded due to a burst pipe in October 2016.

While the MBU at Eastwood Park remains out of use, any women at the prison whose application for a place on the unit is accepted can be accommodated in one of the other five MBUs within the women’s prison estate.

We are committed to doing all we can to address the issues around female offending so we can better protect the public and deliver more effective rehabilitation.