Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of the prison population are parents.

The information requested is not held centrally to a sufficient degree of accuracy for release. It is not mandatory for offenders on arrival at prisons establishments to provide this information and the interface would not be able to differentiate search criteria in order to obtain this percentage.

We are taking forward recommendations, including giving governors the budget and flexibility to spend their resources appropriately to help prisoners keep important family or significant other ties which occurred in October 2017. Prison Governors are working in partnership with family services providers to meet the identified needs of prisoners, including developing relationships for prisoners who do not have access to family for several reasons including leaving the social care system.

We commissioned Lord Farmer to undertake a review on the importance of family engagement to reduce reoffending and prevent intergenerational crime, the recommendations from which we are now implementing. Lord Farmer is currently carrying out a further review on family ties, focusing on female offenders, which is expected to be published shortly