Oral Answers to Questions

Bambos Charalambous Excerpts

Wednesday 12th June 2019 Commons Chamber

[Alok Sharma]

At the risk of repeating myself, this is a question of making it clear that we have provided extra support, but this is a question of fairness and I know the hon. Gentleman will want to make sure that intergenerational fairness is reflected in these changes.

[Bambos Charalambous (Enfield, Southgate) (Lab)]

8. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to provide a co-ordinated approach to supporting women at risk of entering custody.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Paul Maynard)]

Last summer, our female offender strategy set out priorities for supporting women at risk of entering the criminal justice system. As part of that strategy, we will be publishing a national concordat shortly, setting out how public services should co-operate to protect these vulnerable women.

[Bambos Charalambous]

The number of prison officers leaving within a year of starting their role has risen dramatically since 2010, so what are the Government doing to ensure that prisons have experienced staff to assist female prisoners, who often have complex needs, and what steps are the Government taking to support women’s centres, which play a huge role in preventing vulnerable women from entering the criminal justice system?

[Paul Maynard]

That is two questions for the price of one, which I will seek to answer. As the hon. Gentleman will know, we are recruiting significant numbers of prison officers—over 2,000 more—but also significantly increasing our spending on women’s centres to make sure that every police and crime commissioner area has a centre.