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Written question asked by Kate Green (Labour) on Wednesday, 12 June 2019, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 17 June 2019. It was answered by Edward Argar (Conservative) on Thursday, 27 June 2019 on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.

Prisons: Transport

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the Her Majesty's Prison and Probation Service prison transport contract specifies that women and men should be transported to prison separately.

Answer

The Prisoner Escort and Custody Services (PECS) contract is specifically designed for the movement of prisoners in cellular vehicles that meets MOJ standards.

A total of 191 pregnant women have been transported since December 2018, with 1 being moved by a cellular vehicle because she did not declare her pregnancy before the move.

Below is a table showing the number of instances when both women and men have been transported in the same vehicle. PECS contracts include a Contract Delivery Indicator which requires women to be separated from men for at least 97% of all journeys made. The current national performance is 99.93% of total journeys made.

Year

Number of instances OF failure to separate females

2014

297

2015

226

2016

262

2017

81

2018

5

2019 YTD

5

Contracts also include a requirement that individuals should not remain on a cellular, or any other vehicle, overnight and there have been no instances where women have been held in such circumstances.

Private providers continue to play an important role in the prison estate. We will continue to closely the performance of all providers and we will not hesitate to take action where

standards fall short.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
263854
Session
2017-19
Grouped for answer
Yes
Subjects
Women Prisons Men Transport
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk