Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent steps his Department has taken to ensure the safety of women in prison.

The safety of those who live and work in our prisons is our top priority. We have established a Women’s Estate Self-Harm taskforce which is co-ordinating longer-term work to address the factors driving self-harm

Our Offender Management in Custody (OMiC) model is transforming how we support prisoners and significant investments have been made to improve safety and deliver key work. In April 2021 we began implementing a gender specific Offender Management in Custody (OMiC) model in the women’s estate.

The Challenge, Intervention and Support Plan (CSIP) is also in place for the effective case-management of those prisoners who are at a raised risk of violence towards others. While the newly revised version of the Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT) framework includes a stronger person-centred approach and improved focus on risks, triggers, and protective factors.