Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the Government is taking steps to reduce the number of women remanded into custody who do not then receive a custodial sentence.

The number and proportion of women remanded into custody at the magistrates’ and Crown Court who did not subsequently receive an immediate custodial sentence in each of the last 5 years are shown in the tables below. Separate figures are provided for the magistrates’ courts and the Crown Court. These figures cannot be combined as individuals that are committed for trial or sentence from the magistrates’ courts to the Crown Court in the same year would be counted twice.

Women remanded in custody at the magistrates' and Crown Court who did not go on to receive an immediate custodial sentence, 2012 to 2016 ^{1 2 3}

Notes

1) The figures for remands relate to defendants remanded in each year in each completed court case rather than to the number of remand decisions.

2) Each individual is reported against their principal remand status at that court, that is, the remand status involving the greatest degree of court control – i.e. custody if any period of the trial or sentencing was spent on custodial remand, else bail if any period was spent on bail and no period was spent in custody, else not remanded.

3) Individuals cannot be robustly tracked between courts and cases, they will be counted separately in both Crown Court and magistrates’ courts totals if their case spans both, and would be counted more than once if remanded as part of multiple completed court cases.

4) These figures exclude individuals remanded in custody at the magistrates' court that were committed to trial or sentence at the Crown Court as is not possible to determine the sentencing outcome.

5) Individuals who failed to appear at court have been excluded.

6) The Crown Court table only includes those remanded in custody at the Crown Court, regardless of an individual's remand status at the magistrates' Court. Individuals remanded in custody at the Magistrates' court may not be not be remanded in custody at the Crown Court following a committal.

At all stages of the Criminal Justice System, consideration is being given to a number of practical ways to ensure that we are managing all offenders and defendants, including female offenders/defendants, in the most effective and efficient way in order to support their rehabilitation and reduce reoffending. This includes improving the effectiveness of the use of remand and bail, focusing in particular on those defendants currently remanded in custody, convicted, but who do not go on to receive a custodial sentence.

We are committed to doing all we can to address the issues around female offending so we can better protect the public and deliver more effective rehabilitation. We are developing a strategy for female offenders, to improve outcomes for women in the community and in custody. This will also consider how we can improve early intervention and diversion to avoid vulnerable women entering the criminal justice system.