Children of Prisoners

Wednesday 4th December 2024 Westminster Hall

[Sir Roger Gale in the Chair]

11:04

[Sir Roger Gale (in the Chair)]

I remind hon. Members that, this being a half-hour debate, there will be no opportunity for the Member in charge to wind up.

[Mr Richard Holden (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered support for and identification of the children of prisoners.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Roger. I am delighted to have secured this Westminster Hall debate. First, I want to thank the Government for their manifesto commitment, which states:

“The children of those who are imprisoned are at far greater risk of being drawn into crime than their peers. We will ensure that…young people are identified and offered support to break the cycle.”

That is an important commitment that I know the Minister feels strongly about. Some important work backs that up. Around half of prisoners are parents of children aged 17 or younger, according to a report by the London School of Economics. Often, they and their care givers will both be in need of assistance and support, to provide a stable and nurturing environment, when a partner or former partner is in prison. In some cases, both parents might be in prison and relying on grandparents, and that support is also often required when a mother is in prison.

Children with an imprisoned parent are 25% more likely to suffer from mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, insomnia and eating disorders. Negative school experiences can also come from that—they are common. Many children and families impacted by parental imprisonment also face severe economic hardship—something that can also be worsened by parental imprisonment. Recent data from Oxfordshire county council found that, at the point of a parent’s first imprisonment, half of identified children were receiving free school meals. Following parental imprisonment, that figure rose by at least 20%, if not more. Alarmingly, those children are also more likely to engage in criminal behaviour, with an estimated 65% of young boys of imprisoned parents—two thirds—eventually going on to offend themselves.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I commend the right hon. Gentleman for securing the debate. I always do quick research on these matters. Does he not agree that we must also consider the vulnerable adult children of prisoners and the difficulties they can face in trying to understand the massive shift that can take place in their life? Support is not always readily available for that vulnerable group, and changes need to be made.

[Mr Holden]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for making that point. He touches on the important point behind a lot of this. When parents are imprisoned, caring responsibilities are often the last thing that the state or anybody else thinks about. We are at the crux of what I am trying to get to today.

I would like to thank Sarah Burrows and everyone at Children Heard and Seen, including my friend Ed, who drew me towards the research in this area. I thank them for what they have raised, because this is all about ensuring a child-focused approach. Too often, the children of prisoners are mentioned only in the context of maintaining relationships with the person imprisoned and ensuring that the person imprisoned has a good opportunity—this is a worthwhile thing to do—to reduce their reoffending and recidivism. One thing that has been lost to some degree in this debate is the support required for those children and young people. As the Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) said, in some cases vulnerable adult children might also need support. That is what I am trying to highlight in this debate today: it is the children affected who are at the centre of this.

Sixty seven per cent of children do not visit a parent in prison, while 37% go further and have no contact with their parent at all. We need to focus on what is best for the child, taking into account the often incredibly difficult family relationships and the issues caused by crimes such as domestic violence—which the Minister is working on at the moment—sexual abuse, in some tragic cases, and parental homicide.

The current system is leaving some children living on their own—I will move on to some case studies in a moment, but that is one of the things that has really hit me about this issue. Children Heard and Seen has heard of multiple cases where a child has been discovered living on their own, and not in just one part of the country. If I may turn to the steps we are pressing the Government to take, that is one of the reasons it is so important that those children are individually identified, to ensure that support is there. If we do not have a national register or a system to ensure that the data is fed in, we will not understand the depth of the issues involved.

I want to pick up on a couple of case studies brought forward by Children Heard and Seen. In one case, a man went to prison for sexual offences, and it was only after the house was targeted by vigilantes that a victim support caseworker found his 15-year-old daughter living there on her own. In another case, a criminologist conducting research in a women’s prison was told by a prisoner that her two daughters were living on their own without any money for food. In another, a 16-year-old boy arrested at the same time as his parents was released shortly afterwards and became the sole carer of his eight-year-old brother. In another, an employer requested a welfare check after a woman had not shown up to work for some time. The employer reached out even though they may well have thought that she had decided to no longer be in employment. When the police went to her address, they found a 15-year-old boy living in his own with no gas or electricity. He had been getting up and going to school every day without anyone knowing that his mum was in prison.

Those are just a few of the cases that have been brought forward. They are particularly important because often in these families the children themselves will have had a difficult relationship with the state over many years. Sometimes, especially if those children are into their teenage years, they may feel able to in some way look after themselves. They could have been in and out of state care or support in some ways over many years, and might not have positive relationships—they might not have positive relationships with wider family, either. That is one reason it is so important that we get this right.

[Jake Richards (Rother Valley) (Lab)]

I praise the right hon. Gentleman for securing this Westminster Hall debate and raising this issue so powerfully. He is right about the focus on young people, which has to be part of the commitment, but this is also about the whole family and making sure that contact between parents, children, the wider family and prisons works for the children as well. Does he agree that that will help everyone and also help to tackle reoffending?

[Mr Holden]

I cannot agree more with the hon. Member. He raises an important point—yes, in many circumstances, help for families and children of prisoners can help the prisoners—but he is also right to say that that would be a side benefit. As a country, we should be concentrating on helping the children of prisoners wherever possible—we also want wider family support and networks to be involved where possible. As in the case studies I have spoken about, there may be situations, particularly if people are somewhat estranged, where the extended family do not know that their child has gone to prison and that their grandchild is therefore trying to care for themselves at home. Some of those family relationships may have broken down. That is another area where the hon. Member makes an important point about what more we can do.

The Government recently brought forward the first published estimate of the number of children of prisoners, which is definitely a welcome step. However, what we really need is a system to identify the children involved, not just an estimate of how many there are. An estimate is useful for helping to determine some of the broader policy changes that may be required, and possibly to help the Government to calculate some of the costs involved and where measures need to be targeted. But what we are interested in—on both sides of the House, I think—is identifying the individuals who need support and ensuring that support is provided, because an estimate does not do anything to identify those most in need.

As I have said, a commitment to identify and support children with a parent in prison was included in Labour’s manifesto, and Lord Timpson has stated that it is one of his top priorities as the Minister with responsibility for prisons.

The Ministry of Justice was recently asked what steps it is taking

“to ensure that the children of those imprisoned are (a) identified and (b) offered support”.

The response was that it is

“working closely with the Department for Education to determine how to effectively identify these children and provide support”.

I really hope that, as the MOJ does that, there is no need for a lengthy consultation, because there are children out there today who need such support. It has been suggested that half of prisoners have children under the age of 18. If that is correct, we are talking about tens of thousands of young people, of whom perhaps hundreds or even thousands might not be receiving any proper support.

I say to the Government that there does not need to be a lengthy consultation. Children Heard and Seen has a readymade solution. In collaboration with Thames Valley police, it has created, in Operation Paramount, the first mechanism ever to identify and support children with a parent in prison. Operation Paramount cross-references data from His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service with existing police data to identify children who have been left behind, right from the point that an individual enters the prison system. Data that previously had been used only to track a prisoner’s movements through prison to their eventual release can now be used to identify vulnerable family members who were left behind when an individual was imprisoned.

If this system was rolled out nationally and schools were involved, it could essentially act as the national identification system that I hope hon. Members from across the House want to see. There would be two parts. The system would be used first of all to identify these children and young people, and secondly to provide support for them.

When an adult is sentenced or remanded in custody, a combination of the existing data from the Prison Service, the police and the relevant local authority should be used to identify the home address of a child linked to that offender. I do not think that is too much to ask for, because all that data already exists.

Secondly, a designated safeguarding lead at the child’s school should be notified before the start of the next working day. Registered nurseries, pre-school settings and childminders could also be informed. I am also particularly interested in the point that the hon. Member for Strangford made about considering other cases, too, perhaps where there is a special need. Within the education setting, the DSL should then be able to liaise with other members of staff and external agencies, if necessary, to deliver the appropriate support for the child in question.

Thirdly, I would ask the Government to consider whether children with a parent in prison should be made eligible for pupil premium funding, as we do in other circumstances. That might be worth considering given reoffending rates, because if we can get some of them down, that would be a very good long-term investment. Although I am obviously speaking as a Back Bencher today, this is something that might receive cross-party support in the future.

Fourthly, we need to ensure that children with a parent in prison are not left to live on their own. If we could identify them and provide the necessary support at the earliest stage, we could help to mitigate some of the impacts I talked about in my opening remarks—children living in absolute poverty, going on to become offenders themselves or being left vulnerable to crime in their homes and communities. We could ensure that, at the earliest possible stage, they are supported to mitigate the impact of their parents’ imprisonment and wrongdoing. In this day and age, we should not punish children for the crimes of their fathers or mothers.

16:15

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Alex Davies-Jones)]

I thank my friend, the right hon. Member for Basildon and Billericay (Mr Holden), for securing this important debate. He eloquently outlined why we cannot overestimate the impact of parental imprisonment on children and their families. He reeled off a lot of stats and figures, but then powerfully backed them up with the children’s stories. Behind every one of those numbers is a child.

[Cameron Thomas (Tewkesbury) (LD)]

On that point, I could not help but notice that the impacts felt by the children of prisoners, listed by the right hon. Member for Basildon and Billericay (Mr Holden), strikingly resembled the impacts felt by the children of deployed armed forces personnel. Does the Minister agree?

[Alex Davies-Jones]

I welcome that intervention. As I will explain, it is difficult for any child when a parent is taken away and is unable to be with them. As a parent, I find it really difficult to have to be away from my child for four days a week. I am sure that the hon. Member understands that the impact is in some regard immeasurable. We do not know the impact on those children but, as a Government or as a parent, we try to give them as much support as we can. When one parent is in prison, that is not always possible. This is about what we can do to provide them with that support.

Growing up with a parent in prison is incredibly tough for many children. As the right hon. Member for Basildon and Billericay outlined, it is widely recognised as an adverse childhood experience that affects not just a child’s day-to-day life, but their longer-term opportunities and outcomes. We owe it to every child with a parent in prison to ensure that that disadvantage does not become ingrained from generation to generation.

I am grateful to the organisations that have brought this important issue to the Government’s attention, including the Prison Advice and Care Trust, North Eastern Prison After Care Society and Children Heard and Seen. I also thank my hon. Friends the Members for Bristol East (Kerry McCarthy) and for Brentford and Isleworth (Ruth Cadbury), and the noble Lord Farmer.

These children may have parents in prison, but they too are locked in an invisible cell—one of separation, loss and disruption. The situation is particularly acute for children whose mothers go to jail: around three quarters leave the family home while their mam is locked up, losing not only their parent, but their school and home all at once. Many of the children are passed between family members, but some end up in care.

More broadly, research shows a range of immediate and longer-term effects on children who have parents in prison, including on their physical and mental health, and engagement at school. They are also at risk of following the same path into the criminal justice system. We have to ensure that we reach such families and get them the support they need, and in our manifesto we committed to doing just that.

[Mr Holden]

I thank the Minister for recognising the work of charities across the country, and I thank Members of both Houses for pushing the issue. Does she also welcome the work of BBC Radio 4’s “Woman’s Hour” a couple of weeks ago? It devoted an entire week to the subject, and had the hon. Member for Rother Valley (Jake Richards) and myself on to talk about it. In doing so, it brought to life some of the stories that we are debating today.

[Alex Davies-Jones]

I wholly concur with the right hon. Member’s comments. It is important that we talk about the issue more and try to remove some of the stigma, draw back the curtain and show it to the public. It is welcome that we are having this debate to do just that.

In July, the Ministry of Justice produced the first official statistics on the children of prisoners. The Department estimates that over the course of a year, around 193,000 children in England and Wales may be affected by a parent’s being in or going to prison. Identifying and supporting children with a parent in prison is a complex area, and it is crucial that we take a sensitive approach that puts the child’s needs at the centre. The Under-Secretary of State for Education, my hon. Friend the Member for Lewisham East (Janet Daby), has responsibility for children and families, and our officials are working together closely to deliver this commitment as soon as possible.

We are taking a wide approach, with a focus on providing whole-family support that will improve the overall life chances of children and families. Where appropriate and in the best interests of the child, that will include supporting the parent in prison to maintain, build and improve their relationship with their children, which has been shown to smooth reintegration into family and community on release from prison, in turn reducing the risk that the individual will reoffend and improving outcomes for the whole family. However, when contact with the parent in prison is not in the best interests of the child, we have robust safeguarding measures in place to prevent that; the safety of the children will always be the paramount consideration.

Our aims are threefold: first, to reach a higher proportion of these children and build our understanding of their specific needs and circumstances; secondly, to put in place high-quality support to improve outcomes for children of prisoners and their families; and thirdly, to help maintain and improve relationships between children and parents in prison, where that is appropriate and in the interests of the child. I will take each of those in turn.

First, we are exploring new ways of reaching affected children and families to ensure that they are offered the right support. His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service already has robust safeguarding processes to identify and protect these children where necessary. The Government will also remove parental rights from those who pose a danger to children, to ensure that children are protected from harm. These processes are crucial and we will seek to strengthen them further.

A more bespoke approach is needed to reach a larger number of children and families. There are those who may benefit from support even if there are no safeguarding concerns—especially, as we heard from the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon), vulnerable adults with parents in prison. We are exploring a range of options, including for how HMPPS can help to encourage more prisoners to voluntarily disclose their parental responsibility, and for how we can better share data between Departments and organisations across criminal justice and family services. There are many great examples of local best practice. The right hon. Member for Basildon and Billericay outlined Operation Paramount in the Thames Valley violence reduction unit. We are continuing to learn from that to determine the best way forward to achieve our aims.

As I said, children who have experienced parental imprisonment are at increased risk of mental illness, poor educational outcomes and unemployment. We want those children and their families to receive the support they need to thrive. Support for children of prisoners will be properly integrated with existing support as part of our ambition to rebalance children’s social care towards earlier intervention while we reform the care system. We want to create an end-to-end system for support—from universal services, including family hubs, through to care—that is more responsive to different needs and how they might change over time.

From April next year, £500 million will be available to local authorities to roll out family help and child protection as a first step towards transforming the system, nearly doubling direct investment in preventive services in 2025-26. Families will have access to family help, which will co-ordinate multi-agency support and with which they can build a trusted relationship and develop a plan based on the child’s individual needs. However, we need to better understand the impact of parental imprisonment on children’s outcomes and general opportunities. The Department for Education is undertaking rapid research—the right hon. Member will appreciate that—and has already brought together dozens of organisations to discuss this. It is identifying what support is already in place, where the gaps lie, and what extra support children of prisoners may need.

Supporting the parent in prison to build and improve their relationship with their children, when appropriate, can help to reduce some of the negative effects of this adverse experience. Family support interventions improve relationships, wellbeing and communication, benefiting the whole family. HMPPS has commissioned rehabilitative services to further this work and provide support on release. That helps strengthen family relationships and supports the transition from prison back into the community.

Prisons across England and Wales already offer a range of services to maintain family relationships, including social visits, family days and collaborations with organisations, and I have been pleased to see some of that at first hand—as an example, I highlight the award-winning charity-led initiative Storybook Mums and Dads, which enables parents in prison to record bedtime stories for their children. We have also invested £10 million to fund partnerships with third sector specialist family support providers who are working in custody. Those partnerships allow establishments to deliver a range of services to maintain and nurture family ties.

I am delighted that, with my colleagues at the Department for Education, we are pressing ahead with work to address this important issue. We are fortunate to be able to draw on a significant amount of knowledge and experience on the issue among our own frontline staff and partners within the voluntary, charity and social enterprise sector, as well as among our renowned academics. Their expertise will be invaluable in ensuring that we get this right.

Officials from the Ministry of Justice and the Department for Education have already met with many of those partners, and I am keen to involve them actively in the development of our work. My colleague, Lord Timpson, has met with the Children’s Commissioner for England to discuss the issue and together with the Under-Secretary of State for Education, they will host a roundtable in the new year to further capture the views of experts.

The Government recognise the significant impact of imprisonment on women with dependent children. With only 12 women’s prisons scattered across the country—and none in Wales—mothers are often held far from their homes and families. Pregnancy, mother and baby liaison officers work in women’s prisons to identify and signpost support for women who are pregnant and/or have been separated from young children. We are also testing new roles to help women to maintain family ties, including prison-based social workers and resettlement family engagement workers.

We are establishing a women’s justice board to provide strategic vision and direction on reforming women’s justice, with the ultimate goal of reducing the number of women in custody. Among other areas of work, the board will focus on issues specific to pregnant women and mothers in the system with young children. More fundamentally, the wider measures aimed at driving down the imprisonment rate that we inherited from the last Government, such as our review of sentencing and focus on reducing reoffending, will help reduce the numbers being affected by the issue, and hopefully keep families together.

The Government want every child to flourish, which means ensuring that those affected by parental imprisonment are properly supported and afforded the same opportunities as their peers. I thank again the right hon. Member for Basildon and Billericay for giving me the opportunity to speak on the matter. I hope that I have assured the House of the importance that we place on the issue and that I have laid out the work that we are undertaking to address it head on.

Question put and agreed to.

16:26

Sitting suspended.