Select committee: Justice Committee
Recommendation 39
First Report - Women in Prison
Published 26 Jul 2022
Paragraph 214
Addressed to Ministry of Justice
Justice Committee Women in Prison All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
Accommodation is one of the most significant and urgent barriers to effective resettlement. We welcome the work the MoJ is doing to address this barrier and are particularly pleased to hear about the new accommodation service. We note that it provides up to 12 weeks of basic temporary accommodation for approximately 3,000 prison leavers. However, we are concerned that, given the comparatively small size of the female prison population, female prison leavers may be disadvantaged in accessing this service provision. The Ministry of Justice should set out how it will ensure that women are able to access this service provision as needed, and whether a proportion of this accommodation has been specifically reserved for women leaving prison.
From: Justice Committee, First Report - Women in Prison (HC 265), paragraph 214, 26 July 2022
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 21 October 2022 (deadline 26 September 2022).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government accepts most of the Committee's recommendations on women in prison, but states it does not accept three: mandatory full written pre-sentence reports, new data collection on custody as a place of safety, and a cross-department accommodation strategy.
- On pre-sentence reports, the government says it "does not accept" making full written reports mandatory for women facing custody, stating the court must already request one "unless it considers it to be unnecessary". A pilot evaluation is to be published in 2023.
- It does not accept the recommendation to collect data on custody as a place of safety, saying a cross-agency group found "no robust source of data" and the focus is on implementing reforms in the draft Mental Health Bill.
- It does not accept the call for a cross-department accommodation strategy "because this is already being delivered through other means", citing the Prisons Strategy White Paper and Beating Crime Plan.
- On new prison capacity, it states the new facilities "will aim to provide 456 additional places" across five women's prisons, with the first women expected in the new facilities "in early 2025".