Oral Answers to Questions

Rosie Duffield Excerpts

Tuesday 28th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Sarah Sackman]

I agree with the hon. Lady that such delays are not acceptable, and I am sorry to hear of the distress that this will have caused. It is right that we continue to invest in our improvement plan and continue to see progress with digitisation. Digitising the application forms is a first step, but we want to see end-to-end digitisation, which we know is resulting in decent progress and has sped up those times over recent months. There is more to do, and we shall do it.

[Rosie Duffield (Canterbury) (Ind)]

21. What steps her Department is taking through the criminal justice system to help tackle violence against women and girls.

[The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Sarah Sackman)]

As I have said, the Government are committed to halving violence against women and girls within a decade. It is an important ambition, and the criminal justice system has a vital role to play in it. In November, we launched a pilot promoting domestic abuse protection orders in selected areas, and we have ambitions to roll that out further. We will also introduce independent legal advisers for adult rape victims, ensuring that victims have the legal support that they need and deserve.

[Rosie Duffield]

Last week, the Domestic Abuse Commissioner found that just 5% of reported domestic abuse results in a conviction. Does the Minister share my concerns that lengthy investigations into non-crime hate incidents are potentially diverting vital resources from the criminal justice system and from prosecuting actual violence against women and girls?

Oral Answers to Questions

Rosie Duffield Excerpts

Tuesday 10th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Sir Nicholas Dakin]

I can assure the House and my hon. Friend that HMP Parc is receiving targeted support. She points to the recent visit by my hon. and noble Friends to the prison, and the Minister for Prisons in the other place is providing full evidence about this and other matters to the Welsh Affairs Committee tomorrow.

[Rosie Duffield (Canterbury) (Ind)]

T9. Elizabeth Fry first began her work to create sex-specific prison facilities for women in 1813, with the primary aim of protecting female prisoners from rape, and the Gaols Act 1823 put this into statute. Yet 200 years later, Fry’s legacy is being betrayed as girls and women continue to be housed with boys and men. One such example is Wetherby. Does the Secretary of State agree with me and the Women’s Rights Network that Susannah Hancock’s work on this is urgently needed, and can she give any indication of when Susannah will conclude her review?

[Shabana Mahmood]

There are no girls currently in Wetherby. We have not changed and will not be changing the policy we inherited from the previous Government in relation to single-sex spaces and the prison system; that policy will remain as it has been. The women’s justice board will consider the issues that relate to female offenders across the women’s estate.