Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Incarcerated Pregnant Women and Mothers

Tuesday 5 November 2024 · 2 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 2 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Liz Saville-Roberts questioned the Department's steps to support incarcerated pregnant women and mothers.
  • The Department noted that many women in prison are non-violent offenders with dependent children.
  • The Department mentioned launching a women's justice board to address the issue, with a strategy expected in spring.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Liz Saville-Roberts PC Dwyfor Meirionnydd
Justice & Courts Women & Equalities
Context

Two-thirds of women in prison are non-violent offenders, over half have dependent children, and 75% of the time these children leave home after their mother's incarceration.

Question

What steps her Department is taking to support incarcerated pregnant women and mothers. Two-thirds of women in prison are non-violent offenders, over half of whom have dependent children, with 75% of those children leaving home after incarceration, adding emotional torture for the separation from their mother.

Answer from Shabana Mahmood

We are sending too many women to prison; we have launched the women's justice board which will set out its strategy in the spring with the goal of reducing the number of women in prison and ultimately women's prisons. The data on how we track the experiences of women across England and Wales will be work that the women's justice board—once it is up and running—will be able to look into and make recommendations on, which we will pick up in the spring.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The specific ask was not addressed as no concrete actions or timelines were provided for supporting incarcerated pregnant women and mothers.

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Q2 Liz Saville-Roberts PC Dwyfor Meirionnydd
Wales Women & Equalities
Context

Welsh women in prison are held in England, and the emotional impact of separation from children without public access to Wales-specific disaggregated data is significant.

Question

All Welsh women in prison are held in England, and being far from home adds to the emotional torture of separation from children. Without public access to Wales-specific disaggregated data, we cannot assess the extent of this separation properly. Will the Secretary of State commit to making this information public so that we can ensure pregnant women and mothers and their children have proper support?

Answer from Shabana Mahmood

The data on how we track the experiences of women across England and Wales will be work that the women's justice board—once it is up and running—will be able to look into and make recommendations on, which we will pick up in the spring.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The specific ask was not addressed as no concrete commitment or timeline was provided for making Wales-specific disaggregated data public.

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