Source · Select Committees · Justice Committee
Recommendation 25
25
Deferred
Expand bail accommodation offer, especially for women, and emphasise electronic tagging alternatives.
Recommendation
Bail accommodation is a particularly acute issue for women, with shortages of appropriate accommodation and that which is available often being far from home. The role of adult custodial remand in the criminal justice system 47 The Government should look at ways of expanding the accommodation offer and emphasise the use of alternatives such as electronic tagging if suitable accommodation is not available. (Paragraph 139) Data and technology
Government response summary AI-generated
The government's response addresses the publication of remand data, committing to improve what they publish and include an additional ethnicity table by April 2023, but it does not address the core recommendation regarding expanding bail accommodation for women or emphasizing electronic tagging.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government · verbatim extract
Deferred
We accept this recommendation. The contractual requirement in the Community Accommodation Service Tier 2 (CAS- 2) for 10% of bed spaces to be reserved for women continues to apply to total bed spaces after the 300 bed expansion. A minimum of 85 beds of the 850 total beds after expansion will therefore always be provided for women, however the service currently provides above this number. As at December 2022, 597 CAS-2 beds were in service, of which 101 were designated for female use only (17%). We review the demand for female beds monthly and have flexibility in the contract to vary the number of female beds according to demand. CAS-2 continues to work with the female prison estate and the Bail Information Service to generate referrals to CAS-2. Additionally, whilst Approved Premises are largely used for supporting individuals on release from prison, they can also be used to supervise those on bail who meet the referral criteria. For high risk bailees and/or those who require a greater level of supervision, Approved Premises can provide a secure temporary accommodation placement. Approved Premises can provide a particularly beneficial bail option for women as the criteria for female Approved Premises includes medium risk with complex needs (as opposed to male Approved Premises of high risk). Across the estate there is a total of nine female Approved Premises, providing 165 beds. Approved Premises are staffed 24 hours per day and provide enhanced supervision and rehabilitative support. As set out in our response to recommendation 20, His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service electronic monitoring (EM) Business Change and Stakeholder Engagement team engages with stakeholders, the judiciary and wider court teams to raise awareness of the full range of EM capabilities and to increase understanding of how they can be used effectively. Although a suitable address is required when imposing EM (for equipment purposes), the flexibility of the technology to support alternative accommodation options when CAS-2 or Approved Premises are not available is being addressed through this engagement. Data and technology
Read the full response on Parliament ↗