Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Advisory Board on Female Offenders in addressing the strategic objectives for female offenders; and if he will make a statement.

Since its inception in 2013, the Advisory Board has been supporting the development of locally driven whole system approaches in Greater Manchester and Wales which provide robust and effective sentencing options in the community. They also contributed to the development of guidance for the new probation providers on responding to the gender-specific needs of female offenders, and considered evidence from a cross-departmental working group on the links between debt and finance issues and female offenders.

I believe the Advisory Board on Female Offenders has an important role to play in our work to drive forward improvements for female offenders. Since May 2015, we have refreshed the membership and Terms of Reference to enable the Board to provide stronger leadership, including holding key Government departments and delivery partners to account.