Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps HM Prison Service has taken in response to the death of baby born to an 18 year old inmate in September 2019 at HMP Bronzefield in order to prevent that situation arising again; and if he will make a statement.

On 20 September the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) published a new policy on pregnancy, Mother and Baby Units and maternal separation from children up to the age of two in women’s prisons, which contains a range of reforms for improving the care of pregnant women. As part of the new policy, we have increased central data collection on self-declared pregnancies in women’s prisons. We will be publishing annual snapshots in the HMPPS Annual Digest. The first publication, covering July 2020-April 2021, shows that on average 26 women self-declared as pregnant each week. During this period, 31 births took place. Out of these, 28 were in hospital, two in transit to hospital, and zero in a prison.

Women in prison should have access to the same range and quality of healthcare services as they would have access to in the community, including midwifery, obstetric and health visiting services. These services are commissioned through the health sector. Care is driven by individual care plans, including birth plans where women are due to give birth during their time in custody. These are developed by specialist midwives, prison staff and other relevant agencies dependent on individual needs.

The death of Baby A was a tragedy and a range of steps have been taken to prevent it from happening again. Immediate steps were taken locally at HMP Bronzefield to safeguard women in children, including a review of commissioning arrangements and provision of additional information resources on support services. In addition, measures were put in place in all women’s prisons to ensure immediate estate wide improvements, including free access to local NHS Pregnancy advice services and additional welfare checks for all pregnant women in the third trimester.

Centrally, officials have responded directly to the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) recommendations with a comprehensive action plan detailing the work that is underway to address learning. This work is being assured by a Project Board jointly chaired by Executive Director level SROs in HMPPS and NHS England and NHS Improvement, to ensure whole system improvement.

The new HMPPS policy on pregnancy, Mother and Baby Units and maternal separation from children up to the age of two in women’s prisons, published 20 September, forms an important part of our national response to the learning from Baby A. This contains requirements which directly address PPO recommendations.

Sentencing is a matter for the independent judiciary. However, we recognise the additional physical, emotional and practical challenges experienced by pregnant women in prison and we are taking steps to ensure sentencing decisions are more informed. Since the publication of the Female Offender Strategy in 2018, we have made improvements to the preparation of pre-sentence reports (PSRs) through a PSR checklist for women and a Pre-Sentence Pilot that includes the targeting of fuller reports for female offenders. These take into account individual circumstances relating to pregnancy and caring responsibilities and the impact that imprisonment has on these.