Written question asked by Lord Acton (Labour), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour) on Thursday, 1 February 2007.

Prisoners: Women

Question: asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the statement by the Secretary of State for the Home Department on 20 July 2006 (HC Deb, col. 473) that vulnerable women should not be in prison, what is their estimate of the number of vulnerable women currently in prison.

Answer: It is not possible to put a figure on the number of vulnerable women in prison. There are women in prison who may be considered vulnerable for a number of reasons, such as mental health problems, drug addiction, histories of abuse and victimisation or who are at risk of self-harm or suicide. The Government want to ensure that custody is used only for women offenders who really need to be there because of the seriousness of their offending or because they present a risk. That is why we are taking forward the women's offending reduction programme which focuses on improving community-based services and interventions to support greater use of community sentences wherever possible. This includes the £9.15 million we are investing in new initiativesto demonstrate how an integrated multi-agency approach in the community can be more effective at tackling the multiple needs of women offenders and avoid the use of custody. The noble Baroness, Lady Corston, is completing her Review of Women in the Criminal Justice System with Particular Vulnerabilities which may suggest further action that could be taken to prevent women with vulnerabilities ending up in prison.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 1221; 689 c79-80WA
Session: 2006-07
Related items: Criminal Justice
Thursday, 20 July 2006
Proceeding contributions
House of Commons
Subjects: Women Prisoners
Contains statistics: Yes
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk