My Lords, we are fully aware of the point that the noble Lord, Lord Rosser, made in closing. One of the special factors about women in the criminal justice system and in prison is that the impact of their incarceration is an impact not only on themselves but also on their children and their families. For that reason, the Government have taken the Corston report of 2007 very much as the template of their approach to women. I have benefited from having a number of conversations with the noble Baroness, Lady Corston, over the past couple of years about the implementation and carrying forward of the report. I know that my colleague Helen Grant has also met the noble Baroness to discuss these issues.
It is interesting to note that the Government accepted 40 out of the 43 recommendations in the Corston report and made a range of commitments across government departments to take them forward. There have been real improvements in the past five years under successive Governments, including significant investment in women’s community centres to address holistically the underlying causes of women’s offending such as drug and alcohol addiction, mental health issues and histories of abuse.
The female prison estate was reduced by 400 places with the closure last year of HM Prison Morton Hall. We have about 4,000 women still in prison. However, the cross-government strategy includes: piloting and, subject to business case approval, rolling out liaison and diversion services in police custody and the courts by 2014; the piloting of drug recovery wings for drug and alcohol misusing prisoners at three women’s prisons—New Hall, Askham Grange and Styal—and the development of intensive treatment-based alternatives to custody for offenders with drug or mental health problems, including four women-only services at Wirral, Bristol, Birmingham and Tyneside. In addition, there is the implementation of particular provisions in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 with regard to remand and breach, which are expected to reduce the number of women in custody, and the delivery of the Home Office-led Call to End Violence Against Women and Girls, which will address the high levels of abuse experienced by female offenders. The commissioning of women’s services, including women’s community services, has been devolved to local probation trusts to ensure that provision is integrated into local services. This year’s £3.78 million of funding is now embedded in NOMS’ community budget baselines to allow for continued support of provision for women.
As I indicated in Committee when we last considered the issue, I fully agree with noble Lords that it is important that the criminal justice system is properly responsive to the needs of female offenders. I share the view that it is also essential that we take account of women’s experiences and needs. That is why I am pleased that the National Offender Management Service is still rolling out the Women Awareness Staff Programme,
currently with a focus on training the trainers, so that they can provide support to staff and voluntary and community sector partners working with female offenders. This covers issues such as self-harm, relationships and abuse, and is complementary to the Women’s Aid best practice framework, Supporting Women Offenders Who Have Experienced Domestic and Sexual Violence.
I am also pleased to confirm that the National Offender Management Service has been working to develop the evidence base around what works with female offenders. Over the coming year, this work will support the strategic approach to female offenders as set out in the National Offender Management Service’s Commissioning Intentions discussion document, published in October of this year. All probation trusts are required by the National Offender Management Service’s Commissioning Intentions document to make appropriate provision for women in the community to address factors associated with their reoffending, using third sector and private sector services, where appropriate.
The National Offender Management Service has also published information on the specific needs of women to support the commissioning of relevant offender services for this group as part of the commissioning round for 2012-13. Already probation trusts across the country are coming up with innovative, new approaches to working with women that reflect the local situation. There are many good examples of women-only provision in the community. For example, Nelson Probation Office in Lancashire has a women-only reporting day. In Durham in the Tees Valley, the trust provides women-only reporting centres in each of the six local delivery units, with community based support and childcare provision located at these points. In Derby, there is a women-specific programme addressing violent behaviour.
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Going forward, Probation Trusts will be supported with, as has been mentioned, an additional £3.78 million of funding for women’s community services. This funding has now been embedded in the National Offender Management Service community budget baselines to support the provision of appropriate services for women. Trusts are currently discussing with the National Offender Management Service their proposals for women’s services in 2013-14, and will be challenged when these do not appear to be sufficiently robust.
It is essential that trusts have the freedom to make the best arrangements for each individual offender. In addition, the National Offender Management Service’s unpaid work operating manual requires that women should be allocated to work placements which take account of their particular needs. This includes providing flexibility to take into account childcare responsibilities or the need to be in a safe setting.
I mentioned in Committee that work was well under way on our promised strategic objectives for female offenders and that we planned to publish these by the end of the year. However, we are no longer in a position to do so. This is because, since my new ministerial colleagues took up their posts in September, we have been keen to review the current position, and we have all been looking closely at our policy on
female offenders. As I said earlier, Helen Grant and the noble Baroness, Lady Corston, have met and the noble Baroness is aware that we are delaying it. I think delaying it is good news, because we will be able to reflect in the work when it is published the buy-in that was mentioned from the Secretary of State—a conviction by him that we need a vigorous, robust women-oriented strategy.
I know that my noble friend thinks that this would also be improved by a statutory commitment in the Bill, but I really do not believe that this is the case. I mentioned in an earlier debate the ability of some of my colleagues to look gift-horses in the mouth on some of the progress we are making in this area. This is equally true as far as women are concerned. This Government—and certainly my department—have been giving a new urgency and a higher priority to services for women, and this will be reflected in the strategy and programme that we roll out. In the circumstances, I would ask my noble friends to withdraw their amendments.