Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, following the report by the Prison Reform Trust Prison: the facts, which found that 70 per cent of sentences given to women in 2016 were for six months or fewer and 84 per cent of women entering prison had committed a non-violent crime, they have any plans to review the passing of short sentences on women and to promote the use of community sentences and restorative justice for women who commit crime.

Protecting the public will always be our top priority. Under this government, the most serious offenders are more likely to go to prison, and for longer, helping protect the public and keep communities safe.

There is persuasive evidence that short custodial sentences do not work in terms of rehabilitation and that community sentences, in certain circumstances, are more effective in reducing reoffending, and therefore keeping the public safe. The MoJ study ‘The impact of short custodial sentences, community orders and suspended sentence orders on re-offending’ published in 2015 found that over a 1-year follow up period, a higher proportion of people re-offended having been sentenced to custody of under 12 months without supervision on release than other similar people given community orders (around 3 percentage points).

We will therefore be looking at what more we can do to emphasise that short custodial sentences should be viewed as a last resort. We also want to ensure that the public and judiciary have confidence in non-custodial sentences, such as effective community orders, which directly tackle the causes of reoffending, including alcohol or drug abuse.

On 27 June we published our strategy for female offenders, which sets out the Government’s commitment to a new programme of work for female offenders.

We have committed to a pilot for residential women’s centres in at least five sites across England and Wales. The aim of the pilot will be to develop a robust evidence base about what could be effective, sustainable and scalable models for improving outcomes for female offenders and reducing the numbers and frequency of women entering and re-entering custody on short custodial sentences.