Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many of the 500 new prison places for women will be open provision.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The exact numbers and mix of new open and closed facilities are being finalised subject to site surveys and planning and, when agreed, will be released at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many women’s prison cells will be brought back into use through the £21 million in funding allocated to refurbishing the women’s prison estate, in each of the next five years.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
We are delivering high quality facilities in women’s prisons including providing up to 500 new places. In addition, we will continue to invest a significant proportion of our custodial capital and resource budgets received through Spending Review ‘21 on improving the condition and operational integrity of existing accommodation. The final allocation is determined through an internal process, currently underway.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when his Department plans to publish its one-year on report on the national concordat on women in contact, or at risk of contact with the criminal justice system.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Government remains committed to publishing an update on delivering the approach and principles in the Concordat. We are considering the recommendations of the January 2022 report by the National Audit Office and the current Public Accounts Committee inquiry on Improving Outcomes for Women in the Criminal Justice System before finalising the report. We expect to publish by summer.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many women known to be pregnant from July 2020 to March 2021, as reported in the HMPPS Annual Digest 2020/21, were (a) sentenced (b) on remand, at the point at which they were first recorded as being pregnant.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The specific information requested is not collected centrally, and therefore could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
On 20 September the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) published a new policy on pregnancy, Mother and Baby Units and maternal separation from children up to the age of two in women’s prisons, which contains a range of reforms for improving the care of pregnant women. The policy requires increased both local and central data collection on self-declared pregnant women in our care, to ensure individuals are receiving the relevant support and to ensure policy is more informed.
We publish some of this data in the HMPPS Annual Digest of statistical information. We published the first of these on 29 July 2021, which showed that during the period July 2020-April 2021 an average of 26 women self-declared as pregnant each week. Data on how many of these women were subject to Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT) or self-declared as pregnant on first reception into custody is not centrally collected, however this data is reviewed locally.
This is a dynamic area of policy and we will continue to consider our central collection as it develops.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many women known to be pregnant from July 2020 to March 2021, as reported in the HMPPS Annual Digest 2020/21, were under Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT) monitoring for risks of self-harm and/or suicide.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The specific information requested is not collected centrally, and therefore could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
On 20 September the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) published a new policy on pregnancy, Mother and Baby Units and maternal separation from children up to the age of two in women’s prisons, which contains a range of reforms for improving the care of pregnant women. The policy requires increased both local and central data collection on self-declared pregnant women in our care, to ensure individuals are receiving the relevant support and to ensure policy is more informed.
We publish some of this data in the HMPPS Annual Digest of statistical information. We published the first of these on 29 July 2021, which showed that during the period July 2020-April 2021 an average of 26 women self-declared as pregnant each week. Data on how many of these women were subject to Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT) or self-declared as pregnant on first reception into custody is not centrally collected, however this data is reviewed locally.
This is a dynamic area of policy and we will continue to consider our central collection as it develops.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the publication of the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman’s independent investigation into the death of a baby (Baby A) at HMP Bronzefield on 27 September 2019, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of ending the use of imprisonment for pregnant women.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The death of Baby A was a tragedy and we have taken a range of actions with our partners to prevent this from happening again.
Sentencing is a matter for the independent judiciary. However, we recognise the additional challenges experienced by pregnant women in prison and we are taking steps to ensure sentencing decisions are better informed by individual circumstances and that there are viable alternatives to custody.
Since the publication of the Female Offender Strategy in 2018, we have invested around £7 million in the women’s community sector to increase sustainability, enhance services and develop new provision, with a further £2.5 million being invested this year.
We are also investing in a range of initiatives that aim to encourage use of robust community sentences including Problem Solving Courts, Community Sentence Treatment Requirements, Electronic Monitoring and a Pre-Sentence Report (PSR) pilot. Specifically, we have developed a PSR checklist for women which ensures that individual circumstances, such as pregnancy, are taken into account.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to make permanent the accommodation provision for vulnerable women leaving prison.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
We are investing more than £20m in supporting prison leavers at risk of homelessness into temporary accommodation. Individuals released from prison will be provided up to 12 weeks of temporary accommodation and will be supported into long-term settled accommodation before the end of that 12-week period. The service will support around 3,000 offenders in its first year and will be commencing in Summer. It will be in operation during the next financial year 2021-22, with a view to scaling up and rolling out nationally, though the Spending Review 2021 will set out the approach for future years.
The service will take account of the needs of women, including those with complex needs and accommodation provision will be dedicated to single gender usage as required. Community Offender Managers, working together with local partners, will be responsible for ensuring that vulnerable female prison leavers with complex needs receive appropriate support and are provided with housing beyond the 12 weeks emergency accommodation.
To support its COVID-19 response, HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) set up seven Homelessness Prevention Taskforces (HPT) to help find accommodation for offenders upon release. HMPPS are considering how the regional HPTs might be a feature of the future landscape going forward.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
What assessment he has made of the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on support for women leaving prison.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
We have taken quick and decisive action, backed by Public Health England and Wales, to limit the spread of the virus across all prison establishments, including the women’s estate. This has included restricting regimes, minimising inter-prison transfers and compartmentalising prisons into different units to isolate the sick, shield the vulnerable and quarantine new arrivals. A comprehensive regular testing regime of both staff and prisoners is in place and is key in helping to prevent the spread of the virus. Our evidence gathering indicates these measures have had a positive impact on limiting deaths and the transmission of the virus in prisons. We are now working closely with the NHS to support the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccinations for eligible groups in custody.
On 31 March 2020 the Government announced that it would be considering pregnant women and women on Mother and Baby Units for early release from prison, as part of a wider plan to protect the NHS and save lives during the Covid-19 pandemic. Prison Governors/Directors are able to consider eligible women for early release based on thorough risk assessment, and subject to secure healthcare pathways and appropriate accommodation, in consultation with partners in community support services. This scheme remains active, and the most recent release was in January 2021.
To support its COVID-19 response, HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) has set up Homelessness Prevention Taskforces (HPT) in all probation regions to help find accommodation for offenders upon release. These have been very successful in securing improved accommodation outcomes. We are exploring how the regional HPTs might be a feature of the future probation landscape, ensuring that the specific needs of women are fully considered.
In addition, measures have been put in place across the women’s estate to help reduce the impact of COVID-19 for women in custody and to help plan for their release. Some of these measures, include; additional phone credit per week, enabling contact with their support networks, Through the Gate providers are working to Exceptional Delivery Models offering phone support to all prisoners pre-release.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the End of Custody Temporary Release scheme for (a) pregnant women and (b) women.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The End of Custody Temporary Release Scheme (ECTR) allows risk-assessed prisoners, who are within two months of their release date, to be temporarily released from custody. ECTR was introduced as part of our wider measures to create headroom across the prison estate, to enable us to implement our compartmentalisation strategy. This strategy allows us to isolate those with symptoms, quarantine new admissions and shield those most at risk from Covid-19. Early release is however only one part of our overall strategy towards achieving the headroom. We are also expanding the capacity of the prison estate through temporary accommodation, expediting remand cases and expanding our video court capacity and capability to facilitate timely remand and sentencing hearings.
Public Health England and HMPPS modelling suggests that our strategy is having a positive impact on the risk of infection in prison populations (including the women’s estate).
In addition to ECTR, pregnant women, prisoners with their babies in custody and those defined by NHS guidelines as ‘extremely vulnerable’ to Covid-19 will merit consideration for compassionate temporary release on a Special Purpose Licence.
The Ministry of Justice now publishes a weekly release of Covid-19 related statistics. This includes the number of prisoners that have been released from custody under Covid-19 temporary release schemes. The statistics release can be found here each Friday:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hm-prison-and-probation-service-covid-19-statistics
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the New Futures Network has staff working specifically on the employment of women in and leaving prison; and whether it works with employers in women’s resettlement areas.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The New Futures Network (NFN) has a full-time Employment Broker dedicated to forging partnerships between prisons in the Women’s Estate and employers. These partnerships provide businesses with individuals who are ready to take up work opportunities within industries workshops, as part of workplace Release on Temporary Licence, and employment on release.
In addition, NFN has a Regional Employment Broker working in each prison group division across England and Wales. Regional Employment Brokers work closely with the NFN broker for the Women’s Estate, sharing employment on release opportunities generated in their geographical areas.
NFN is part of HMPPS whose reporting follows an annual cycle. The available information on prisoners working in custody (which includes activity undertaken by NFN) is published in the HMPPS Annual Digest but is not broken down in the way requested. A copy is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hmpps-annual-digest-2018-to-2019
Additional information that provides a breakdown of national employment outcomes by number, location and gender is published in the Prison and Probation Performance Statistics. The Employment circumstances table outlines all community outcomes and provides location breakdown in table 2 and gender breakdown in table 4 for an individual’s employment status at the start of a community sentence. A copy is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/community-performance-quarterly-update-to-march-2019
NFN intends to report on their work this financial year.