Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that women in prison on imprisonment for public protection sentences have sentencing plans with release dates.

It is for the independent Parole Board to review the detention of those prisoners serving an IPP sentence who have completed their tariff period. The Board will direct the release of these prisoners only if it is satisfied that the levels of risk posed to the general public are reduced enough that the National Probation Service and its partner agencies can safely manage them in the community under supervision. Therefore, whilst every female prisoner serving the IPP sentence should have a sentence plan, it is not possible for an offender manager to include a release date in the sentence plan.

A range of initiatives are in place, as part of the joint action plan, co-owned by HM Prison and Probation Service and the Parole Board, which are having a positive impact on the progression of women serving an IPP sentence. The initiatives include ensuring that there is a sufficient supply of places on offending behaviour programmes, to meet the demand in prisoners’ sentence plans.

On 27 June 2018 we published our strategy for female offenders. This sets out our vision to see fewer women coming into the criminal justice system, a greater proportion managed successfully in the community, and better conditions for those in custody.

Whilst HM Prison and Probation Service is focused on giving all prisoners serving IPP sentences opportunities to progress towards release, public protection must remain our priority.