Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will set a target and milestones for reducing the number of women entering the criminal justice system; and if he will make a statement.

The Government remains fully committed to delivering the Female Offender Strategy and its three overarching priorities of i) fewer women coming into the criminal justice system; ii) fewer women in custody (especially on short-term sentences) and a greater proportion of women managed in the community successfully; and iii) better conditions for those in custody.

The Government will be considering the recommendations in the report “Improving outcomes for women in the criminal justice system” published earlier this month by the National Audit Office, one of which is to “set out a list of the work it is doing to implement the strategy’s aims, with milestones”. While the Government has not previously set targets or milestones for delivering the Strategy, it will be considering whether this would be practical and beneficial as part of its response to the report.

We launched the Female Offender Strategy in 2018 with the aim of steering women away from crime and since then, the number of women entering the criminal justice system has fallen by 30%. We are investing millions of pounds over the next 3 years into community services like women centres, drug rehabilitation and accommodation support so fewer women end up in prison.