Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the rights of biological women are protected in female prisons.

We have a range of policies in place to ensure that the rights of female prisoners are protected.

With regard to transgender prisoners, the Supreme Court ruling brings clarity and confidence for women and service providers.

We inherited the current policy regarding allocation of transgender prisoners from the previous Government, and have not moved any transgender women into the women’s estate since taking office.

Following the Supreme Court’s ruling, we will be reviewing the transgender prisoner allocation policy we inherited, as well as staff searching policy.