Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been admitted to prison (a) in total and b) with sentences of less than 12 months since 23 March 2020.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The requested data is not available at this time. Prison receptions data covering January – March 2020 is planned for publication in July 2020 and receptions data covering April – June 2020 is planned for publication in October 2020.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what progress he has made the development a national concordat on female offenders.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
In the Female Offender Strategy, published in June 2018, we committed to publish a National Concordat on Female Offenders. We are making good progress and aim to publish the Concordat in the next few months. On 6 February, we held a workshop with members of the Advisory Board on Female Offenders where we shared our current working draft. We received many helpful comments and constructive feedback and are revising the document to take those suggestions into account.
The Concordat will set out how national organisations as well as local partners and services should be working together in partnership to identify and respond to the often multiple and complex needs of women who are in contact with, or at risk of coming into contact with, the criminal justice system.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what progress he has made on reducing the number of women serving short custodial sentences.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
In June 2018, the Government published the Female Offender Strategy which set out an aim to see fewer women in custody, especially on short term sentences. There is persuasive evidence that many women, particularly on short custodial sentences, can be better supported in the community on robust and effective community sentences.
There has been a £5.1m investment in community provision for women in 2018/19 and 2019/20.
The best available evidence suggests that in order to reduce reoffending and keep women safe, we should invest in gender-specific, trauma-informed interventions that take into account all areas related to a women’s offending. HM Prison and Probation Service has developed a Pre-Sentence Report interview checklist which focuses on the specific needs of female offenders. Following a series of briefing events, this was rolled out nationally in August 2019 and is available to all practitioners.
It is essential that the public and judiciary have confidence in effective community orders, including those which address offenders’ behaviour, answer their mental health and alcohol or drug misuse needs, or provide reparation for the benefit of the wider community. Through the Community Sentence Treatment Requirement (CSTR) Programme, health and justice partners are working together to improve access to timely and appropriate mental health and substance misuse services for the offenders who need them. The Programme is currently operating in courts across nine areas in England. A number of further sites are expecting to go live in 2020.
We are also working with the police and other partners to support the use of Out of Court Disposals - involving community resolution and conditional cautions - in appropriate cases of low level offending. This includes work to improve the use of police guidance we have published on working with vulnerable women, helping police forces to divert women where appropriate to support and away from crime.
The Strategy is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/female-offender-strategy.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what progress he has made on the development of a pilot of residential women’s centres in at least five sites across England and Wales.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Female Offender Strategy committed to develop a ‘residential women’s centre’ pilot in at least five sites across England and Wales.
We believe that these models could improve outcomes for female offenders and reduce the number of women entering and re-entering custody on short custodial sentences. We have concluded our first phase of consultation with stakeholders, partners and providers to inform our scoping.
We are considering how best to take this project forward.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Written Statement of 27 June 2019, Female Offender Strategy - First Anniversary, HCWS1662, whether the new checklist for Pre-Sentence Reports on women referred to in that statement has been rolled out nationally.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
HM Prison and Probation Service has developed a Pre-Sentence Report interview checklist which focuses on the specific needs of female offenders. Following a series of briefing events, this was rolled out nationally in August 2019 and is available to all practitioners.