Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Safety in Custody Statistics: Self-harm annual tables, 2004 - 2021, what steps he is taking to reduce self-harming incidents in female establishments.

We continue to do everything we can to address self-harm in the women’s estate.

We have implemented a strengthened case management approach to support women at risk of self-harm, as well as one to one key work support, tailored for the female estate.

In the Prisons Strategy White Paper, we set out our vision for prisons of the future, with a new approach to the women’s estate including smaller, trauma-responsive custodial environments for women on short sentences. We are also investing £37 million on measures to reduce levels of self-harm and violence, including in the women’s estate.

Alongside this, we have established a Women’s Self-Harm Taskforce to provide specialist support and an increased range of interventions across women’s prisons. This includes delivery of specialist training for new officers, recruitment of psychologists to support women with complex needs and piloting a compassion focussed therapy designed for women.