Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Prison population projections: 2021 to 2026, published on 25 November 2021, page 12, if he will make an assessment of the reasons, apart from the impact of the covid-19 pandemic, that no effect of the Female Offender Strategy on the population of women in prison has been detected; and whether he has made an assessment of the effect on the population of women in prison over the forecast period of that strategy’s full implementation.

“Prison population projections: 2021 to 2026”, published on 25 November 2021, noted that the adult female prison population fell from 3,766 at the end of June 2019 to 3,170 at July 2021. However, as also noted in the same publication, no effect of the Female Offender Strategy on the population of women in prison has been detected because “the limited time between the publication of the Female Offender Strategy and the start of the pandemic means it is difficult to disentangle any effects of the strategy. Any future impacts of the Female Offender Strategy have therefore been excluded from the baseline projection.”

There are a number of external influencing factors that will result in fluctuations in the adult female population. We will continue to monitor trends and, where possible, look to assess the impact of interventions driven through the Female Offender Strategy.