Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Keen of Elie on 13 March (HL2223), what guidance is given to prison governors on how to assess the balance between the rights of transgender individuals in custody and those of others in custody around them, as referred to in the Ministry of Justice Policy Framework on The care and management of individuals who are transgender; what examples are provided to illustrate this guidance; and how this guidance enables prison governors to assess the appropriate balance between the risk to inmates of a women's prison from being housed with a biologically male transgender prisoner who has a history of sexual offending and the risk of serious harm to the transgender prisoner if they were housed in a men's prison.

Governors do not have jurisdiction over the estate that a transgender individual is housed within. Rather, Complex Case Boards (CCBs) assess cases of transfers of transgender individuals between the male and female estates. These are chaired by Prison Group Directors (PGDs), who hold the ultimate responsibility for decisions. They are aided by experts and staff who have expertise on transgender identity and/or on the individual in question.

All PGDs who chair such boards are specially trained—in part using case studies, and many also have direct experience of cases. Additionally, there are core members of the CCB process who are invited to all CCBs and have experience of previous cases they have been involved with.

If a transgender female must legally be housed in the female estate, but a CCB deems their risk too high to be managed safely within the general population, HMPPS have alternative provision to enable this – namely through location on HMP Downview E Wing.

The ‘Care and management of individuals who are transgender’ Policy Framework was published on gov.uk within the Prison & Probation Policy Frameworks collection. Operational guidance was also published to accompany the Policy Framework which is available to all Governors and staff, to help them care for and manage transgender individuals. Additionally, E Learning on how best to care for and manage transgender individuals is also available to all Governors and staff.