Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department conducted a women-specific impact and health needs assessment prior to the roll out of the use of alcohol monitoring tags.

There have been two equalities impact assessments, both of which considered offenders’ sex, prior to the Department’s introduction of alcohol monitoring.

An Equalities Impact Assessment was carried out on the alcohol monitoring measures introduced by the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, it is published and available using this link: Alcohol abstinence and monitoring requirement (justice.gov.uk).

A further Equalities Impact Assessment was carried out and published alongside the Statutory Instrument to commence the Alcohol Abstinence and Monitoring Requirement, The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (Commencement No. 14) Order 2020, and is available using this link: The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (Commencement No. 14) Order 2020 (legislation.gov.uk).