Oral Answers to Questions

Kenny MacAskill Excerpts

Wednesday 26th April 2023 Commons Chamber

[Kenny MacAskill (East Lothian) (Alba)]

T3. The Ministry of Justice has made welcome changes on transgender prisoners, excluding those guilty of not only sexual offences but violent offences from the general women’s estate, as well as those who are still physically male, and so accepting the vulnerability of females on the basis of sex at birth. Does the Minister accept the need, not just in justice institutions but across other Departments, for both single-sex spaces and single-sex services, based on the criterion of sex at birth?

[The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Damian Hinds)]

Yes, of course safety must come first. Although it is true that more than 90% of transgender women prisoners are in the male estate, it is right that we have further strengthened our policy for those who have committed sexual or violent offences, and for those who retain their birth genitalia, who can be housed elsewhere only in truly exceptional circumstances, on a case-by-case basis.