Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many women former members of the armed forces are currently serving custodial sentences; and for what offences.

The Ministry began collecting data on service in the Armed Forces in 2015 and all newly received offenders into custody are asked on reception if they have served in the Armed Forces.

Latest figures published in April 2018 show approximately 3% of prisoners on their first reception (Q4 2017) responded to the question were ex-armed service personnel. This has remained relatively stable for 18 months. Due to the very small number of female ex-armed service personnel in prisons the number is not split by gender and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Full details of new receptions can be found in the attached table.

Prisoners who choose to identify as former members of the Armed Services are given access to available specialist support. This includes support for issues such as post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), that may affect them following their service. Additional support can be offered by military service charities working with prisons and rehabilitation services.