Source · Select Committees · Justice Committee
Recommendation 14
14
Deferred
Paragraph: 88
Set out detailed operational plans and evaluation methods for Residential Women's Centres.
Recommendation
We recognise that the Residential Women’s Centre model is new and untested, and so we acknowledge the concerns of many of our witnesses over how the centres will operate in practice and how their provision will differ from that of custody. As it develops its plans for the Swansea centre and other sites, the Ministry of Justice should set out in greater detail how the centres will operate in practice, including how they will differ from custody. Additionally, the MoJ should set out how it intends to evaluate and report on the effectiveness of the pilot.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government accepted the recommendation but responded by detailing a multi-disciplinary Women’s Self-Harm Taskforce and various prison safety measures, instead of providing operational details or evaluation plans for Residential Women's Centres.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
88
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government · verbatim extract
Deferred
We accept this recommendation. In May 2022 we announced that we will invest over £10m in the residential women’s centre (RWC) in Wales over the next 3 years. We are currently revising our timeline for implementation following the recent decision by the local planning committee to reject our application to develop the site. We anticipate the RWC will support up to 48 women every year and it will be run by the probation service which will procure specific interventions from women’s services providers. We are currently developing our operating model for the centre. Once that work is complete, we will develop operational instructions and guidance for staff, providers, courts, and the judiciary as appropriate. We are about to run a feasibility study to assess best options for evaluating the RWC in Wales.
Read the full response on Parliament ↗