Written question asked by Paul Stinchcombe (Labour) on Friday, 18 February 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 4 April 2005. It was answered by Paul Goggins (Labour) on Monday, 4 April 2005 on behalf of the Home Office.

Home Office

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress has been made in implementing the 2004 spending review commitment to pilot new approaches to (a) meet the needs of women offenders and (b) reduce the need for custody; and how much has been allocated from Home Office budgets to each.

Answer: Mr. Stinchcombe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress has been made in implementing the 2004 spending review commitment to pilot new approaches to (a) meet the needs of women offenders and (b) reduce the need for custody; and how much has been allocated from Home Office budgets to each. [217170] Paul Goggins: The Home Secretary announced on 22 March 2005 that £9.15 million will be allocated to implement the 2004 spending review commitment to develop radical new approaches to meet the specific needs of women offenders. This is the first time that Government funding has been allocated specifically to tackle women's offending. It will enable the development of a co-ordinated multi- agency response to women's offending and will show how this kind of approach can tackle issues such as drug dependency and mental health problems in the community and avoid the use of custody for women who do not need to be there.

Secondary information