Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the HM Prison and Probation Service Offender Equalities Annual Report 2021-2022, published on 24 November, how many of the transgender prisoners held in England and Wales were (a) convicted of (i) a sexual offence and (ii) rape and serious sexual offences and (b) registered at birth as (i) male) and (ii) female).

On question (a), please find the information in the attached data table, noting that this does not cover transgender prisoners with a gender recognition certificate. On question (b), this information is available in the HMPPS Offender Equalities Annual Report 2021-2022.

We are not obliged to allocate transgender prisoners according to their wishes, and we are strengthening our policy on transgender prisoners so that transgender women who have committed sexual offences cannot be held in the general women’s estate, subject to an exemption policy for truly exceptional cases. This policy will come into effect before the end of the year, and until then our current policy is that transgender women cannot be held in the women’s estate unless they have been through a robust risk assessment, which considers offending history.