Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many mothers and babies residing in a prison Mother and Baby Unit were separated upon the child reaching 18 months of age in each of the last three years.

Over the last three years, 110 applications to Mother and Baby Units (MBUs) have been approved. In the year to March 2023, 51 women and 44 babies were received into MBUs; compared with 39 women and 40 babies in the previous reporting year. Not all mother and babies that move onto a Mother & Baby Unit will be separated due to the child reaching 18 months old. As it would be necessary to review, individually, the records of each of the women accommodated on MBUs over the last three years to determine this, the information requested could not be provided without incurring disproportionate cost.

MBUs operate an 18-month upper age limit, as explained in the Policy Framework ‘Pregnancy, Mother and Baby Units (MBUs), and Maternal Separation from Children up to the Age of Two in Women’s Prisons’. Consideration of this upper age limit was included in the 2020 policy review and is informed by the available research which has identified that, from 18 months onwards, babies may become more aware of their environment and so being in a custodial setting after that age may adversely impact a child’s development. However, it is fully recognised that there may be cases where it is in the best interests of the child for this age limit to be extended. As such, mothers can apply for an extension to the 18-month age limit, where this is applicable.