Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will take steps to ensure that biological males who identify as female are not housed in women’s prisons.

We take the allocation of transgender prisoners very seriously. It is right that there are safeguards in place to protect the safety of vulnerable women, and well over 90% of transgender women in custody are held in men’s prisons.

Transgender women who have committed sexual or violent offences, or who retain birth genitalia, will not be held in general women’s estate, other than on an exceptional basis where experts have a high level of confidence that they pose a low risk to other prisoners.