The Lord Speaker will be pleased to know that it gets a lot clearer from now on.
I beg to move that this House do now agree with the Commons in their Amendment 133. This amendment removes Part 7 of Schedule 15, which would have required contracts between the Secretary of State and probation trusts to place an obligation on trusts to make appropriate provision for the delivery of services for female offenders. This included making provision for women to participate in unpaid work and rehabilitative programmes with their particular needs in mind. As noble Lords will recall, Part 7 of Schedule 15 was inserted into the Bill at Third Reading when the House agreed an amendment in the name of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Woolf. With his customary courtesy, the noble and learned Lord, Lord Woolf, has explained to me that family and religious observations have meant that he cannot be with us tonight, which I fully understand, although I see some familiar faces around the Chamber of noble Lords who are involved in this matter.
I know that the Commons’ decision to remove Part 7 of Schedule 15 will have been a disappointment to many in this House. As the high quality and impassioned contributions to the earlier debates on this issue showed, addressing the needs of female offenders is a key priority for many here. I therefore reaffirm that the Government are committed to addressing the factors associated with women’s offending, and to taking a different approach where there is a need to differentiate provision for female offenders. We recognise that we will rehabilitate female offenders and enable them to lead positive and productive lives only if we a take a different approach where it is required.
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I have on more than one occasion promised that the Government would publish their key priorities for female offenders. I am therefore delighted to say that a document setting out our key priorities for female offenders was published last Friday. These priorities reflect the Government’s wider proposals to reform rehabilitation, and also the review of the women’s prison estate announced on 10 January. They are aimed at ensuring that there are credible, robust community sentencing options available for sentencers; gender-specific services for female offenders in the community, where appropriate; tailoring of the women’s custodial estate; and rehabilitation reforms to support better life management and reduce women’s reoffending.
We have also announced the creation of a new advisory board on female offenders. It will be chaired by the Minister for Victims and the Courts, and will bring together key stakeholders, criminal justice partners and senior officials from across government to support her in delivering these priorities. The need for strong, visible leadership is something that many noble Lords have called for. The advisory board will provide invaluable expertise and challenge as we take forward work on female offenders within the rapidly changing landscape.
On Commons Amendment 133, we fully understand and are sympathetic to the concerns that prompted the noble and learned Lord, Lord Woolf, to bring forward his amendment at Third Reading. However,
it remains the case that we do not believe that it is either necessary or helpful, and I will take a few moments to explain why. As noble Lords will be aware, the Government have also recently published their proposals for taking forward the next steps of the rehabilitation revolution. The consultation document, Transforming Rehabilitation—a Revolution in the Way We Manage Offenders, sets out our proposals to reform the management and rehabilitation of offenders in the community through a new focus on life management and mentoring support for offenders. Fundamentally, offenders with complex problems and chaotic lifestyles need support to turn their lives around, combined with proper punishment.
Included in the consultation were proposals to complete the provision of a wide range of services and to introduce payment by results, so that in future the taxpayer will pay for those services that demonstrate a reduction in reoffending. National commissioning would replace commissioning by probation trusts. We intend to open up rehabilitative services to a wide range of new providers in the private and voluntary sectors who will bring their creativity and innovation to bear on this pressing problem, and who will be paid by results to drive down reoffending. The close work between probation trusts and the voluntary sector women’s community services can be seen as a precursor of this approach. The amendment agreed in this House at Third Reading failed to recognise this new landscape for the delivery of probation services.
I assure noble Lords that, in taking forward these reforms, we are very aware of the particular needs and priorities that are relevant to services for female offenders, and that we will ensure that these are addressed within our overall approach. Our consultation document specifically asked for views on how we can use our new commissioning model, including payment by results, to ensure better outcomes for female offenders and for others with complex needs or protected characteristics. It is also worth noting that our rehabilitation reforms will extend the provision of rehabilitation services to offenders released from custodial sentences of less than 12 months, who currently do not qualify for statutory licence or rehabilitation provision. Proportionately more women than men are serving short sentences, so they in particular will benefit from this element of the reforms.
I can reassure noble Lords that the removal of Part 7 of Schedule 15 from the Bill will not undermine the delivery of appropriate services for female offenders. Our newly published key strategic priorities make clear that the Government are committed to ensuring appropriate provision for female offenders, whether in custody or in the community. As I have mentioned, the Secretary of State for Justice has asked officials to undertake a review of custodial arrangements for women. He recognises that female offenders have particular needs, and that the women’s prison estate should be organised as effectively as possible to meet gender specific requirements while also delivering best value for the public.
There are other public commitments, too, which apply to providers commissioned by the Secretary of State to deliver offender management services. Indeed, one of the actions under objective two of the Ministry of Justice’s equalities objectives is to ensure the,
“provision of gender-specific community services to improve support for vulnerable women in the criminal justice system”.
Probation trusts are also required by the National Offender Management Service Commissioning Intentions document, to demonstrate how they will ensure the appropriate provision of women’s services. All probation trusts have met this year’s requirement to provide appropriate provision for women, including new and innovative ways of working with women.
Noble Lords will be aware that in the last few years the Government have been investing in the development of voluntary sector-led women’s community services. NOMS has provided an additional £3.78 million funding via probation trusts to support 31 of these centres in the current financial year. This £3.78 million has now been embedded in the NOMS community budget for 2013-14, and has been ring-fenced to enable probation trusts to commission the delivery of enhanced services for female offenders. Probation trusts are planning a range of new partnerships with the voluntary sector in the coming year, including opening new women’s community services and the delivery of a new bespoke training programme for women. This inevitably means that some women’s services may find that they receive less funding in the coming year. However, at this time of financial constraint, the commitment to provide £3.78 million to trusts for the provision of women’s services is a strong indication of the priority the Government give to the needs of female offenders.
A further £300,000 is being invested in women’s services by trusts, which I find very encouraging indeed. I am a strong advocate of the women’s centre approach, which provides practical support for women in addressing their many needs, whether it be housing, domestic violence, substance misuse or a range of other issues. These centres are located in the centre of our communities and provide a positive, flexible environment to help vulnerable women sort out their often troubled lives. When I visited the Minerva women’s centre last year, I was very impressed by the number of women that I met who had first come to the centre as clients, sometimes very reluctantly, but then remained at the centre to support other women as mentors and helpers. This is exactly the sort of benign circle that we want to encourage.
I hope that I have reassured the House that the Government remain committed to ensuring the provision of appropriate services that will address the specific needs of female offenders, and that this is an integral part of our reform programme. For these reasons and in the context of the Government’s wider plans to transform rehabilitation, we feel that Part 7 of Schedule 15 is neither necessary nor helpful. In the circumstances, I hope that the House will be reassured on the points that I have made and will agree with Commons Amendment 133 and reject Amendment 133A in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham.
Amendment 133A (as an amendment to the Motion on Amendment 133)