Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many mothers and babies residing in a prison Mother and Baby Unit were separated upon the child reaching 18 months of age in each of the last three years.

Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

Over the last three years, 110 applications to Mother and Baby Units (MBUs) have been approved. In the year to March 2023, 51 women and 44 babies were received into MBUs; compared with 39 women and 40 babies in the previous reporting year. Not all mother and babies that move onto a Mother & Baby Unit will be separated due to the child reaching 18 months old. As it would be necessary to review, individually, the records of each of the women accommodated on MBUs over the last three years to determine this, the information requested could not be provided without incurring disproportionate cost.

MBUs operate an 18-month upper age limit, as explained in the Policy Framework ‘Pregnancy, Mother and Baby Units (MBUs), and Maternal Separation from Children up to the Age of Two in Women’s Prisons’. Consideration of this upper age limit was included in the 2020 policy review and is informed by the available research which has identified that, from 18 months onwards, babies may become more aware of their environment and so being in a custodial setting after that age may adversely impact a child’s development. However, it is fully recognised that there may be cases where it is in the best interests of the child for this age limit to be extended. As such, mothers can apply for an extension to the 18-month age limit, where this is applicable.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of cells in (1) the female prison estate, and (2) the male prison estate, have in-cell telephony; and what proportion of cells in each prison have that facility.

Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

There are a total of 10 Women’s Public Sector Prisons (8 closed and 2 open) in England which are run by His Majesty’s Prison & Probation Service.

• All cells in the 8 prisons within the women’s closed estate have 100% In-Cell Telephony.
• Neither of the 2 prisons within the women’s open estate have any In-Cell Telephony, 0%.

There are a total of 97 Men’s Prisons (84 closed and 13 open) in England and Wales, which are run by His Majesty’s Prison & Probation Service.

Of the 84 closed men’s prisons:

• 78 prisons have received In-Cell Telephony throughout, 100%.
• 4 prisons are currently at the end of implementation, therefore these prisons are 98% live with In-Cell Telephony and should complete within the next two weeks.
• 2 prisons are at implementation stage and are due to complete on February 24, therefore the proportion is currently 0%.

Of the 13 open men’s prisons:

• 1 prison has In-Cell Telephony throughout, 100%.
• 12 prisons do not have any In-Cell Telephony, 0%.

It is important to note that there are limitations to call usage on these devices. The PIN Phone system enables this as it can be configured on a site by site basis to best suit the needs of the site. This configuration applies to the time scales in which calls can be made, the number of calls which a single prisoner can make within those timescales and also the maximum amount of time the prisoner can spend on calls.

Additionally, each prisoner is issued a unique PIN number which they will use to make outside calls. These PIN numbers are pre-loaded with calling credit and also contain pre-approved numbers which security have sanctioned for the prisoner to use. The prison can configure the system to decide when the phones will be available to the prisoner. Support frameworks such as the Samaritans are accessible 24hrs a day via a dedicated PIN number which is available to prisoners.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is the cost per minute to make a call from (1) a prison wing payphone, and (2) an in-cell phone, to (a) a landline, and (b) a mobile phone, at (i) weekends, and (ii) weekdays.

Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The cost per minute for prison wing payphone and in-cell phones are:

Calls to UK fixed lines:

3.10 pence during the week midnight Sunday to midday Friday
2.75 pence during the weekend midday Friday to midnight Sunday

Calls to UK mobiles:

6.88 pence during the week midnight Sunday to midday Friday
4.50 pence during the weekend midday Friday to midnight Sunday

Prisons are able to limit when calls can be made and the duration of time an individual can use a PIN phone for on a given day. These limitations will reflect the local capacity to handle multiple calls concurrently and their requirement to resource the monitoring of specific calls.

Prisoners pay for their own calls using prison earnings or money sent into them from family and friends. Calls to organisations such as the Samaritans are free to prisoners with HMPPS paying for these directly.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government (1) how many, and (2) what proportion, of prisons in England and Wales currently provide secure video calls for prisoners.

Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

All prisons (100%) across England and Wales have the capability to offer secure video calls with approved family members and friends, responding to demand from prisoners.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many, and what proportion of, people reoffended within one year of release from prison by accommodation status at (1) release, and (2) three months post-release, in each of the last three years.

Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

I enclose details of the number and proportion of people who reoffended within one year of release from prison, broken down by their accommodation status at release, for 2020/21 and 2021/22 – the two years for which this information is available. The equivalent information broken down by accommodation status three months post-release could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

A settled place to live is key to reducing reoffending, cutting crime and protecting the public. Our Prisons Strategy White Paper set out our plans to reduce reoffending, including improving prison leavers’ access to accommodation.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of people released from prison went on to reoffend, what number of reoffences were committed on average, what was the total number of reoffences, and what was the total number of reoffenders by custodial sentence length for (1) men, and (2) women, for the most recent year that figures are available.

Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

This Government is committed to tackling the causes of reoffending to keep our communities safe. Between 2010/11 and 2020/21, the overall proven reoffending rate decreased from 31.6% to 24.4%.

Helping prison leavers to secure accommodation, employment, and substance misuse treatment on release is essential for rehabilitation and can significantly reduce their likelihood of reoffending. We are therefore investing in a range of interventions including delivering our temporary accommodation service so that prison-leavers have a stable base on release, offering more offenders the chance to work in prison and expanding the number of Incentivised Substance-Free Living wings so that we can support prisoners off drugs and into recovery.

Further, we are seeking to introduce a presumption against short sentences which we know have significantly higher reoffending rates than suspended and community sentences.

The answer can be found in the tables below.

Table 1: Reoffending rate, number of reoffences and average number of reoffences per reoffender for offenders released from custody, male and female (adult), April 2020 – March 2021.

Table 2: Number of reoffenders by custodial sentence length, male (adult), April 2020 – March 2021

Table 3: Number of reoffenders by custodial sentence length, female (adult), April 2020 – March 2021

[Note 1] 'Other life' category includes discretionary and automatic life sentences.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many applications were received for a Mother and Baby Unit place in prison in the past five years; and of those, how many were (1) accepted, or (2) refused, broken down by reason for refusal.

Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

Total figures for applications received, approved and refused are provided in the table below.

As decisions are made on a case-by-case basis and the reasons can be complex, reasons for refusal are not currently collated, and could not be provided without incurring disproportionate cost.

Note;

¹ For a variety of reasons, some applications do not proceed to an admissions board. For example, the application may be withdrawn; or the applicant’s circumstances may change so that a place is no longer required

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