Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what progress he has made on reducing the number of women serving short custodial sentences.

In June 2018, the Government published the Female Offender Strategy which set out an aim to see fewer women in custody, especially on short term sentences. There is persuasive evidence that many women, particularly on short custodial sentences, can be better supported in the community on robust and effective community sentences.

There has been a £5.1m investment in community provision for women in 2018/19 and 2019/20.

The best available evidence suggests that in order to reduce reoffending and keep women safe, we should invest in gender-specific, trauma-informed interventions that take into account all areas related to a women’s offending. HM Prison and Probation Service has developed a Pre-Sentence Report interview checklist which focuses on the specific needs of female offenders. Following a series of briefing events, this was rolled out nationally in August 2019 and is available to all practitioners.

It is essential that the public and judiciary have confidence in effective community orders, including those which address offenders’ behaviour, answer their mental health and alcohol or drug misuse needs, or provide reparation for the benefit of the wider community. Through the Community Sentence Treatment Requirement (CSTR) Programme, health and justice partners are working together to improve access to timely and appropriate mental health and substance misuse services for the offenders who need them. The Programme is currently operating in courts across nine areas in England. A number of further sites are expecting to go live in 2020.

We are also working with the police and other partners to support the use of Out of Court Disposals - involving community resolution and conditional cautions - in appropriate cases of low level offending. This includes work to improve the use of police guidance we have published on working with vulnerable women, helping police forces to divert women where appropriate to support and away from crime.

The Strategy is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/female-offender-strategy.