Source · Select Committees · Justice Committee
Recommendation 31
31
Acknowledged
Paragraph: 177
Require Ministry of Justice to report progress on remaining Lord Farmer Review recommendations.
Recommendation
We recognise that custody can have a significant effect on family life and welcome the work being done in response to Lord Farmer’s Review for Women. We note that 12 of the 33 recommendations have been actioned; however, it is not clear what progress has been made on the remaining 21 recommendations. The Ministry of Justice should set out its progress against each of the remaining 21 recommendations, including the timeframe for actioning them.
Government Response Summary
The government accepted the recommendation, outlining general work related to employment opportunities and Release on Temporary Licence (ROTL) for women, including ensuring all 12 women’s prisons have Employer Advisory Boards, Prison Employment Leads, and Employment Hubs. It provided data showing increases in women's ROTL usage but did not detail progress against each of the 21 outstanding recommendations from Lord Farmer's Review or provide specific timeframes.
Paragraph Reference:
177
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
We accept this recommendation. In the PSWP we committed to transforming the opportunities for work in prisons and on ROTL to increase job prospects for prison leavers. The needs of female offenders and the challenges presented in the women’s estate were taken into account in developing the ROTL Policy Framework that was issued in May 2019. All women’s prisons are able to conduct ROTL for eligible offenders, to ensure that ROTL is available for women across the country. Since publication of the White Paper, the Women’s Estate has been working to ensure that that all 12 women’s prisons have Employer Advisory Boards, Prison Employment Leads and Employment Hubs in place to support and empower women to engage in employment opportunities in the prison, on ROTL and on release (see further detail under recommendation 32). Data on ROTL is published quarterly at Offender management statistics quarterly—GOV. UK and monitored carefully to ensure that ROTL is being used to best effect. Immediately following the issue of the new policy framework in May 2019, ROTL numbers began to rise and, by the end of 2019, work related ROTL for women had risen by 48% year on year, and ROTL for education and training by 13%. The pandemic had a significant impact on access to ROTL, numbers fell across the board and have not yet recovered to pre pandemic levels. In the first quarter of 2022, however, we saw a year-on-year increase in the use of work-related ROTL for women by 128% and education and training-related ROTL for women by 340%.