Women offenders: after the Corston Report - United Kingdom ...

Women offenders: after the Corston Report 15as much on offenders as women at risk: “I am sorry to keep banging on about this. Womenoffenders are obviously an extremely important focus and, in a way, have to be the No. 1focus, but the very strong No. 2 is women at risk.” 5229. Others were more radical in their proposals. For example, PCSU believed there wasscope to establish a separate women’s prison service or to give local authorities primaryresponsibility for women offenders. 53 Frances Crook was less convinced that the answer tochanging the way that women who come into contact with the criminal justice system aretreated lay in structural alterations; she felt a more subtle response was needed: “a morepolitical and financially driven response”. 54The appointment of new Ministerial champion30. In September 2012 the Secretary of State for Justice decided to separate responsibilityfor women in the criminal justice system from that for men, in recognition that there aredifferent issues to address, and appointed Helen Grant as Parliamentary Under Secretaryof State for Justice, Women and Equalities. Our witnesses were positive about thisappointment, welcoming the recognition of the need for clear leadership in this area,though some were disappointed that they were yet to observe the benefits of it. 55 HelenGrant did not accept the view of most observers that prior to her appointment insufficientattention had been paid to this agenda by the MoJ. She cited a number of areas of progress,though most of these were well under way prior to May 2010. 56 The MoJ explained that theco-location of officials from other government departments was no longer needed asstrong relationships have now been forged between relevant policy leads in MoJ and cross-Government colleagues working on specific elements of the women's policy; according tothe MoJ this approach both ensures that the specific needs of female offenders areembedded in policy making across Government and offers cost-effectiveness. 57 We returnto the issue of governance arrangements in paragraphs 45 to 50.A strategy for women offenders31. Baroness Corston drew attention to the lack of a written strategy for female offenders ina debate in the House of Lords in March 2012. 58 Ministers responded by stating that astrategic document on the priorities for women would be published ‘in due course’, whichwas later declared to be expected in December 2012. 59 The appointment of a newministerial team in September 2012 and the subsequent acceleration of the introduction ofpayment by results delayed this and until near the end of our inquiry there was no specificstrategy for women offenders or those at risk of offending. As we commenced our inquirythe MoJ said that the Government was fully committed to addressing women’s offending52 Q 1353 Ev w5754 Q 16455 Q 8 [Ms. Hogarth], Q 29 [Baroness Corston], Q 198 [Ms Rijnenberg], Q 227 [Mr. Hardwick], Qq 124–125 [Mr Kilgarriff]56 Q 25857 Ev 9658 HL Deb, 20 March 2012, c76459 HC Deb, 3 July 2012, c742