Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the death of a baby in custody at Bronzefield women’s prison, what steps his Department is taking improve the care of pregnant women in custody.

The recent death of a baby at HMP/YOI Bronzefield is a tragic incident and the mother involved is receiving appropriate support.

There are currently eleven investigations underway, including an overarching investigation to be conducted by the Prison and Probation Ombudsman (PPO).

There are already a number of steps in place to ensure that pregnant women get appropriate support. These include:

1. All pregnant women are provided with the local NHS Pregnancy free advice line number.

2. Fortnightly multi-disciplinary Maternity Boards for all pregnant women.

3. Ensuring local mid-midwifery services are fully engaged within the prison.

4. Ensuring appropriate Social Services support, including for those pregnant women who refuse to engage with ante-natal services.

The Prison Group Director for the Women’s Estate has asked prisons to ensure that the above measures are in place at each prison.

An additional safeguard has been put in place. That is that welfare observations on pregnant women who are post 28 weeks will take place every hour during the night.

A Prison Service Instruction sets out the current policy on Mother and Baby Units (MBUs), and the Policy Guidance adjoining the Women’s Policy Framework 2018 contains comprehensive operational guidance on perinatal support to women in custody.

Before this tragic event took place, a review of the MBU policy was already underway and we are now expediting it.

To accompany the policy, a training course for managing pregnant women in custody and MBUs will continue to be available to prison staff supporting pregnant women, or women with children in MBUs.