Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the National Audit Office report, Improving Outcomes for Women in the Criminal Justice System, what steps his Department is taking to achieve the aim set out in the Female Offenders Strategy to reduce the number of women in prison and increase support in the community.

We remain committed to the vision in the Female Offender Strategy, which set out the long-term framework to achieve better outcomes for female offenders that will take some years to deliver.

Since publication in June 2018, the number of women entering the criminal justice system has fallen by 30%. We're investing millions of pounds over the next 3 years into community services like women’s centres, drug rehabilitation and accommodation support so fewer women end up in prison.

We also have several initiatives underway to improve community sentencing options to tackle low-level offending, divert women from custody, and reduce reoffending. This includes several pilots such as the Residential women’s centre pilot, and plans to create a residential women's centre Pre-Sentence Report pilot that is targeting fuller reports for women.