Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to tackle the effects of lack of access to (a) support, (b) education and training, and(c) visits during stage 4 covid-19 restrictions for unconvicted (i) young people, (ii) adult women, and (iii) adult men held on remand while awaiting trial.

We are committed to continuing to provide support for everyone under our care, including those on remand. We have tailored guidance for supporting specific groups of people in prison whose wellbeing may be more impacted by current regimes. A range of products to support Governors mitigate risks have been produced. This has included resources for staff assisting prison residents who might be struggling, and materials for residents themselves to support wellbeing. We continue to make the Samaritans phone service available and are working with the Samaritans to ensure that the Listener peer support scheme continues to function effectively. We have also introduced a range of measures and products designed to manage prisoners with specific needs, including mental health needs.

Classroom-based education provision is currently not available across the adult prison estate to limit the spread of infection. We have, however, continued to work very closely with all Prison Education Framework (PEF) and Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) education providers to support prisons which has allowed learning to continue from the start of the pandemic via in cell activity and learning packs. Within the Youth Secure Estate the delivery of education remains a particular priority and we continue to provide ‘face to face’ classroom-based education in line with the community provision for vulnerable children, notwithstanding local variations and the impact of potential outbreaks amongst staff or children.

Social prison visits are currently suspended in all adult prisons in England and Wales, other than on exceptional compassionate grounds. Visits to children in custody are continuing on this basis, although video calling is promoted where possible. Video calls are now available in all prisons, and we are maximising their use to support prisoners maintaining family contact. The suspension of visits is a step that we have taken to manage the current risk, but we will review this change regularly with a view of resuming visits when it is safe to do so. To mitigate the impact of reduced family contact we are providing additional PIN credit, and secure mobile PIN Phones where in cell telephony is not available.

The National Framework also provides a roadmap for easing restrictions in prisons when it becomes appropriate, guided by public health advice, alongside an operational assessment of what can be achieved in custodial settings while keeping staff and those in our care safe.