Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to reduce the number of women in prison.

As set out in the November 2016 White Paper on Prison Safety and Reform, we plan to publish a strategy for female offenders later this year, and this will address how we can improve outcomes for women across the criminal justice system. The strategy will build on the existing work we are already funding in local areas to introduce a Whole Systems Approach, aimed at prevention and early intervention, and on our work to roll out Liaison and Diversion (L&D) services across England. L&D services, based at police stations and courts, help identify people with mental health issues, substance misuse problems and other vulnerabilities as soon as they come into contact with the criminal justice system, with a view to diverting them into treatment and support where appropriate.