Recommendation 47

HM Government Accepted

Accept. This Government recognises that there are too many women in prison, many of whom have multiple complex needs. Through the Womens Justice Board, we have set out a clear ambition to reduce the number of women in custody, with more managed in the community. Healthcare in prisons is the responsibility of NHS England and Wales. Health and Justice partners are committed to ensuring that women in prison are able to access the equivalent standard and range of health and social care services as they would receive in the community. A range of evidence-based interventions and services are provided for women in prison. These services include the Women’s Offender Personality Disorder Pathway, as well as the Women’s Estate Psychology Service team, which provides forensic psychologists within all 12 women’s prisons to deliver therapeutic services for women in our care. The Women’s Prisons Health and Social Care Review was published in November 2023, making wide ranging recommendations to address the disproportionate higher levels of health and social care needs for women in comparison to their male counterparts in prisons and in the wider population. NHS England and HMPPS accepted the recommendations in full, with NHS England allocating a total of £21m over three years to support the implementation. The Chief Medical Officer’s review in 2025 noted that the eight strategic priorities identified in the earlier review reflect current priorities that are being taken forward. Through the work to implement the joint NHS England and HMPPS national review of health and social care in women’s prisons, NHS England secured additional recurrent investment of £1.38m to implement the Women’s Health and Wellbeing Hubs, which will bring additional dedicated resource within the twelve women’s prisons to address women’s specific health needs. To support the implementation of the Hubs, NHS England has also made £600k available, non-recurrently in 2025–26 for environmental improvements. To support the implementation of work to meet the recommendations in all women’s prisons NHSE allocated £21m over three years (2024/25 to 2026/27). Key activity at a national level includes ongoing work to drive improvements in medicines management and clinical pharmacy services for women in prison, as well as: • A full review and refresh of all health and justice service specifications (primary care, mental health, substance misuse, dental, Pregnant and post-natal women in prisons, Specification 29, Liaison and Diversion, Mental Health Treatment Requirements, RECONNECT, and Enhanced RECONNECT) is taking place and will include specific elements of women’s specific needs and standards of care. • Scoping for good practice in perinatal mental health and domestic abuse/sexual violence support currently delivered within women’s prisons to identify improvements that can be made across the estates and ensure is incorporated in national specifications as part of the NHSE H&J service specification reviews. In addition, the Women’s Group received a total of £14 million in Autumn 2022 to invest in projects to improve safety in women’s prisons. The funding was allocated to a total of six projects, which includes testing enhanced support for Young Adults and Early Days in Custody. The Early Days Service aims to provide enhanced support to women in their first few days in custody, to enable them to more easily cope as they adjust to imprisonment. The Mental Health Bill includes a number of vital reforms to support people with severe mental illness in the criminal justice system. These include: • The introduction of a new statutory 28-day time limit for transfers from prison and other places of detention to hospital to reduce unnecessary delays experienced by patients. • Stopping courts temporarily detaining people with severe mental illness in prison as a ‘place of safety’ whilst awaiting a hospital bed for treatment or assessment under the Mental Health Act; and • Ending the use of remand for own protection under the Bail Act where the court’s sole concern is the defendant’s mental health.