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

Ev 130Justice Committee: EvidenceGovernment DepartmentsDepartment of HealthHome OfficeDepartment for Communities & Local GovernmentAttending as RequiredDepartment for Work & PensionsDepartment for Business, Innovation & SkillsAttorney General’s OfficeGovernment Equalities OfficeWales OfficeAnnex BADVISORY BOARD ON FEMALE OFFENDERS: TERMS OF REFERENCEPurpose1. The purpose of the Board is to provide ministerial leadership on delivery of the key priorities for femaleoffenders.2. It will do this by:— raising awareness of the needs and profile of female offenders within the Criminal JusticeSystem and across-Government;— providing a forum for sharing expertise and knowledge from within and outside Governmentto inform the development of policy on female offenders, undertaking specific tasks, as required;— advising on specified elements of the Government’s reform programme for offenders, notablythe rehabilitation programme and review of the female custodial estate, ensuring that these takeaccount of the particular needs of female offenders both in the community and in custody, andacross the whole system; and— advising on those factors associated with women’s offending such as mental health,accommodation, substance misuse, domestic violence, sexual abuse, and finance/employmentboth where they impact on reoffending and women at risk of offending.Work Streams3. The Board will be responsible for the following work streams:(i) Enhanced provision in the community for female offendersWe want the Board to take a creative, innovative look at the scope, within existing financialconstraints, for improved sentencing options that combine a sufficiently punitive element withrehabilitative support that would give sentencers robust community sentencing options as analternative to the use of short custodial sentences. Linking in with work streams (ii) and (iii),we will also explore with the Advisory Board, how we could use current community options,such as Approved Premises, more effectively.(ii) Transforming Rehabilitation for female offendersThe Transforming Rehabilitation consultation document sought specific views on how we canensure the new rehabilitation commissioning model, including payment by results and theprovision of post-release supervision for those sentenced to custody for less than 12 months,recognises and addresses the specific needs of female offenders, to enable better outcomes forthese women. We will publish our response to the consultation shortly. However, we recognisethat the relatively small number of female offenders presents particular challenges. We intendthat the Advisory Board should support us in designing the system to ensure that women’sneeds and priorities are recognised in the provision of services in the community and throughthe-gateof prison.(iii) Review of women’s prison estateOn 10 January, we announced a review of the women’s prison estate, to report by the summer.The review is expected to examine current capacity, distances from home, and the futurecomposition of the estate so as to improve women’s access to relevant opportunities and regimesfor their rehabilitation needs. It is crucially important that we have appropriate accommodationthat meets the needs of female prisoners, and that we have the right design, location andfacilities, which are affordable and deliverable. There may be different views on what the newestate should look like, and the Advisory Board will provide external, practitioner focussedinput to this complex work. As the review progresses, Board members may be asked to considerand provide advice on specific issues arising from this work.