Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to update the study by the Home Office Research Directorate Imprisoned Women and Mothers, published in 1997; and what assessment they have made of the finding in that report that only five per cent of female offenders’ children remain in the family home while their mother is in prison.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Shadow Minister (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Although responsibility for the children of offenders sits with the Secretary of State for Education, we are actively committed to joined-up working across Government and, in our Female Offender Strategy 2018, encouraged a partnership-focused approach to addressing the needs of both imprisoned mothers and children affected by maternal imprisonment.
The Female Offender Strategy, published in June 2018, sets out our commitment to improving outcomes for women at all stages of the justice system, and this includes supporting those who have children. We know that female prisoners are more likely than male prisoners to be a primary carer and imprisoned mothers are more likely to be living with their children prior to custody – around 60% of women compared with about 45% of men in prison who have children.
We recognise that maternal imprisonment can have particularly detrimental impact on family life, and that children whose mothers are in prison are a vulnerable group and may need additional help to address both the short and long-term impacts that maternal imprisonment can have.
We have accepted the recommendations made in your secondary report on women, which demonstrated that supporting women to build and maintain health family ties is one of the many important factors to successful rehabilitation. We are making good progress with implementation of the Review and where needed we are working across Government to deliver the recommendations to their best effect. Going forward, we acknowledge the need for improved collection and transparency of data on primary carers in prison and their dependents in the community.
At the moment, information on a prisoner’s caring responsibilities and children living in the community is monitored locally by prison Governors/Directors to ensure the appropriate support can be provided to women and their families. On reception into custody, all prisoners are asked if they have any children living at home and what their ages are. Currently, this information is not captured in a way that can be centrally monitored, and we know that there are challenges around parents being reluctant to disclose this information due to fear of involvement from social services. However, we are considering how to monitor and publish this information.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people in prison have dependent children with whom they were living prior to sentencing, broken down by gender.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Shadow Minister (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The information requested is not held centrally and could not be collated without incurring disproportionate cost, as individual records would need to be analysed.
We acknowledge that distance from home can be a real challenge for the maintenance of family ties, and that this is particularly acute in the female estate. HM Prison and Probation Service is committed to ensuring that prisoners are accommodated as close as possible to their resettlement communities and families. We have introduced a range of measures to minimise the impacts of any suspension to visits, due to local restrictions. The Help with Prison Visits Scheme is also available for assistance where close relatives on a low income are able to apply for financial assistance on a means tested basis to facilitate visits to relatives in custody.
This included introducing almost 1,500 secure mobile PIN phone handsets to contact family, provided additional pin credit for calls, and introduced video calls which are currently operating in over 100 prisons across England and Wales.
Close proximity of is one of the key factors considered when choosing where to place prisoners, particularly for those on short sentences or nearing release, where they need to rebuild family ties, secure housing and health services and look for work. In the female estate, this is inevitably more challenging, as the smaller population means there are significantly fewer establishments more widely spread.
We are committed to tackling domestic abuse and to supporting vulnerable individuals, such as female offenders who have experienced domestic abuse, to ensure they can rebuild their lives. We also acknowledge the need for improved collection and transparency of data on primary carers in prison and their dependents in the community. Information on a prisoner’s caring responsibilities and children living in the community is monitored locally by prison Governors and Directors to ensure the appropriate support can be provided to women and their families.
We will continue to provide additional support to enable prisoners to maintain contact and support where prison regimes are restricted and will keep this under regular review especially for offenders and families with vulnerability issues.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what are the reoffending rates for prisoners who receive visits from family members, broken down by gender.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Shadow Minister (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Families and friends can be a positive influence on reducing reoffending. Strengthening the ties individuals have with their families and friends is one of the many important factors to successful rehabilitation and reducing intergenerational crime.
Information relating to reoffending and individuals who receive visits from their family whilst in prison, are recorded on separate case management systems and therefore the information requested is not readily available without incurring disproportionate cost.
The latest published data on reoffending rates for prison leavers was published on 29th October. While information relating to those in receipt of visits is not available, the rates broken down by gender can be found in table A2 at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/930448/proven-reoffending-oct18-dec18-3-monthly.ods
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the current level of intergenerational transmission of criminal offending, broken down by gender.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Shadow Minister (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Families and friends can be a positive influence on reducing reoffending. Strengthening the ties individuals have with their families and friends is one of the many important factors to successful rehabilitation and reducing intergenerational crime.
The Ministry of Justice is working collaboratively with the Department for Education and the Welsh Government to ensure that effective support is available within the community for children of prisoners to reduce the likelihood of intergenerational offending.
The specific information you have requested is not held centrally by the Ministry of Justice. We do not collect data on the criminal conviction status of the parents or children of those who come into contact with the Criminal Justice System. Therefore, it would not be possible to do any analysis on either the proportion of offenders who had parents with a criminal conviction, or offenders with children who have a conviction.
In the absence of holding this data ourselves, we rely on estimates from research studies, such as the MoJ SPCR survey in 2005/6 which found that 37% of prisoners reported having family members who had been convicted of a non-motoring criminal offence.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people currently in prison spent time in care as children, broken down by gender.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Shadow Minister (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The information requested is not held centrally and could not be collated without incurring disproportionate cost, as individual records would need to be analysed.
We acknowledge that distance from home can be a real challenge for the maintenance of family ties, and that this is particularly acute in the female estate. HM Prison and Probation Service is committed to ensuring that prisoners are accommodated as close as possible to their resettlement communities and families. We have introduced a range of measures to minimise the impacts of any suspension to visits, due to local restrictions. The Help with Prison Visits Scheme is also available for assistance where close relatives on a low income are able to apply for financial assistance on a means tested basis to facilitate visits to relatives in custody.
This included introducing almost 1,500 secure mobile PIN phone handsets to contact family, provided additional pin credit for calls, and introduced video calls which are currently operating in over 100 prisons across England and Wales.
Close proximity of is one of the key factors considered when choosing where to place prisoners, particularly for those on short sentences or nearing release, where they need to rebuild family ties, secure housing and health services and look for work. In the female estate, this is inevitably more challenging, as the smaller population means there are significantly fewer establishments more widely spread.
We are committed to tackling domestic abuse and to supporting vulnerable individuals, such as female offenders who have experienced domestic abuse, to ensure they can rebuild their lives. We also acknowledge the need for improved collection and transparency of data on primary carers in prison and their dependents in the community. Information on a prisoner’s caring responsibilities and children living in the community is monitored locally by prison Governors and Directors to ensure the appropriate support can be provided to women and their families.
We will continue to provide additional support to enable prisoners to maintain contact and support where prison regimes are restricted and will keep this under regular review especially for offenders and families with vulnerability issues.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people in prison have experienced (1) emotional, (2) physical, and (3) sexual abuse, broken down by gender.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Shadow Minister (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The information requested is not held centrally and could not be collated without incurring disproportionate cost, as individual records would need to be analysed.
We acknowledge that distance from home can be a real challenge for the maintenance of family ties, and that this is particularly acute in the female estate. HM Prison and Probation Service is committed to ensuring that prisoners are accommodated as close as possible to their resettlement communities and families. We have introduced a range of measures to minimise the impacts of any suspension to visits, due to local restrictions. The Help with Prison Visits Scheme is also available for assistance where close relatives on a low income are able to apply for financial assistance on a means tested basis to facilitate visits to relatives in custody.
This included introducing almost 1,500 secure mobile PIN phone handsets to contact family, provided additional pin credit for calls, and introduced video calls which are currently operating in over 100 prisons across England and Wales.
Close proximity of is one of the key factors considered when choosing where to place prisoners, particularly for those on short sentences or nearing release, where they need to rebuild family ties, secure housing and health services and look for work. In the female estate, this is inevitably more challenging, as the smaller population means there are significantly fewer establishments more widely spread.
We are committed to tackling domestic abuse and to supporting vulnerable individuals, such as female offenders who have experienced domestic abuse, to ensure they can rebuild their lives. We also acknowledge the need for improved collection and transparency of data on primary carers in prison and their dependents in the community. Information on a prisoner’s caring responsibilities and children living in the community is monitored locally by prison Governors and Directors to ensure the appropriate support can be provided to women and their families.
We will continue to provide additional support to enable prisoners to maintain contact and support where prison regimes are restricted and will keep this under regular review especially for offenders and families with vulnerability issues.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the average distance from home that (1) adult prisoners, (2) imprisoned young offenders, and (3) imprisoned juvenile and child prisoners were held each year since 2009, broken down by gender.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Shadow Minister (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The information requested is not held centrally and could not be collated without incurring disproportionate cost, as individual records would need to be analysed.
We acknowledge that distance from home can be a real challenge for the maintenance of family ties, and that this is particularly acute in the female estate. HM Prison and Probation Service is committed to ensuring that prisoners are accommodated as close as possible to their resettlement communities and families. We have introduced a range of measures to minimise the impacts of any suspension to visits, due to local restrictions. The Help with Prison Visits Scheme is also available for assistance where close relatives on a low income are able to apply for financial assistance on a means tested basis to facilitate visits to relatives in custody.
This included introducing almost 1,500 secure mobile PIN phone handsets to contact family, provided additional pin credit for calls, and introduced video calls which are currently operating in over 100 prisons across England and Wales.
Close proximity of is one of the key factors considered when choosing where to place prisoners, particularly for those on short sentences or nearing release, where they need to rebuild family ties, secure housing and health services and look for work. In the female estate, this is inevitably more challenging, as the smaller population means there are significantly fewer establishments more widely spread.
We are committed to tackling domestic abuse and to supporting vulnerable individuals, such as female offenders who have experienced domestic abuse, to ensure they can rebuild their lives. We also acknowledge the need for improved collection and transparency of data on primary carers in prison and their dependents in the community. Information on a prisoner’s caring responsibilities and children living in the community is monitored locally by prison Governors and Directors to ensure the appropriate support can be provided to women and their families.
We will continue to provide additional support to enable prisoners to maintain contact and support where prison regimes are restricted and will keep this under regular review especially for offenders and families with vulnerability issues.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of remote private and public family law proceedings in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
The President of the Family Division published a report of a rapid consultation on the use of remote hearings in the family court due to the Covid-19 pandemic, produced by the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory, on 6 May. The Judiciary and HMCTS will further refine guidance on the use of remote hearings in family proceedings based on the evidence provided in this report.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the report by Lord Farmer The Farmer Review: The Importance of Strengthening Prisoners' Family Ties to Prevent Reoffending and Reduce Intergenerational Crime, published in August 2017, what consideration they have given to the recommendation that prisons should ensure that virtual visits, using video calling technology, are available "for the small percentage of families or individual family members who cannot visit frequently or at all due to infirmity, distance or other factors".
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
HMPPS recognises that families or significant relationships can play an important role in supporting prisoners to reduce their risk of reoffending following release. We have implemented a number of the recommendations from the 2017 Farmer Review and continue to publish updates on progress on these every six months.
Visits have been suspended after the Government took vital steps to limit travel and social interactions in order to limit the spread of the virus. In recognition of the importance of continued contact with family, however, the Government has moved swiftly to keep prisoners in touch with their family members by other means.
As part of new measures introduced because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ministers have approved the use of 900 locked SIM card handsets, allowing risk-assessed prisoners to speak to a small number of pre-authorised contacts.
Strict measures will ensure the phones are not misused with calls being time-limited and monitored closely. Additionally, handsets will include tamper-proof tape to prevent non-secure SIM cards being used.
As well as helping prisoners connect with their families, the phones will give prisoners access to support services such as the Samaritans, therefore reducing their risk of self-harm at a uniquely difficult time.
We are also urgently exploring options for the safe and secure use of video solutions in a range of establishments to facilitate family video calling. We expect that this approach will be available imminently to support the current situation, but beyond this, will consider how best to utilise the video-calling services to enable prisoners to maintain contact where they have historically not received regular visits.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what guidance has been given to prison governors about visits from family and significant others during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
HMPPS recognises that families or significant relationships can play an important role in supporting prisoners to reduce their risk of reoffending following release. We have implemented a number of the recommendations from the 2017 Farmer Review and continue to publish updates on progress on these every six months.
Visits have been suspended after the Government took vital steps to limit travel and social interactions in order to limit the spread of the virus. In recognition of the importance of continued contact with family, however, the Government has moved swiftly to keep prisoners in touch with their family members by other means.
As part of new measures introduced because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ministers have approved the use of 900 locked SIM card handsets, allowing risk-assessed prisoners to speak to a small number of pre-authorised contacts.
Strict measures will ensure the phones are not misused with calls being time-limited and monitored closely. Additionally, handsets will include tamper-proof tape to prevent non-secure SIM cards being used.
As well as helping prisoners connect with their families, the phones will give prisoners access to support services such as the Samaritans, therefore reducing their risk of self-harm at a uniquely difficult time.
We are also urgently exploring options for the safe and secure use of video solutions in a range of establishments to facilitate family video calling. We expect that this approach will be available imminently to support the current situation, but beyond this, will consider how best to utilise the video-calling services to enable prisoners to maintain contact where they have historically not received regular visits.