Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 4
4
The Ministry is taking some steps to address the needs of ethnic minorities in the...
Recommendation
The Ministry is taking some steps to address the needs of ethnic minorities in the CJS, but it recognises that it has not yet done enough to achieve equality of outcomes for ethnic minority women. The Ministry’s Female Offender Strategy included actions to tackle the overrepresentation of, and unique challenges facing, black and other ethnic minority women in the CJS but progress has been slow, and the Ministry acknowledges that it needs to do better. The Ministry accepts that it can learn from others and it is committed to addressing the concerns raised in a recent publication by providers of specialist services for ethnic minority women in the CJS. The Ministry recognises that there is also an issue in making sure that it funds services specifically for ethnic minority women. The small charities that work in this field find it difficult to compete with larger organisations, which can have whole teams dedicated to developing bids for grants and contracts. The Ministry has provided some funding to help smaller organisations prepare bids. Recommendation: The Ministry should work with specialist providers and experts to establish a set of actions it needs to take to deliver equality of outcomes for ethnic minority women. This should include its arrangements for supporting smaller specialist organisations that support them. It should publish the set of actions with a timetable so that Parliament, stakeholders and others can hold it to account. It should confirm in its response to this report a planned timescale for publishing this action plan.
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
4.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Summer 2022 4.2 The Female Offender Strategy Delivery Plan, to be published by Summer 2022, will be the mechanism by which the department sets out its commitments for ethnic minority women, with key milestones, reflecting the work of the Female Offender Minority Ethnic working group, which brings together officials and stakeholders with specialist expertise. 4.3 Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) has begun work to increase the capacity of ethnic minority specialist voluntary organisations. This includes the establishment of the Voluntary and Charity Sector Stewardship Fund in November 2020 to strengthen the capacity of ethnic minority specialist voluntary organisations to be able to engage in probation commissioning. The HMPPS Race Action Programme (RAP) is conducting an evaluation of the Stewardship Fund to determine the efficacy of the approach. Following evaluation, RAP will make recommendations to optimise the framework with a view to securing the future of the Stewardship Fund across HMPPS 4.4 The department is exploring options to increase the use of grant funding for the voluntary sector to provide services for disadvantaged groups, including women from ethnic minority groups. To support this, HMPPS has developed guidance that makes clear that grants should be the presumptive choice for funding where possible. 4.5 In summer 2022, the department will commence work with Clinks to support ethnic minority specialist organisations to improve their capacity to share best practice and form networks through facilitated events and more structured communication of policy developments. Clinks supports, promotes and represents the voluntary sector working with people in the criminal justice system and their families.