Fifty-First Report - Improving outcomes for women in the criminal justice system

Select Committee
Public Accounts Committee HC 997 28 April 2022
Report Status Response document linked Recorded deadline: 28 Jun 2022

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Conclusions & Recommendations 22 items (19 recs)
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Government response
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Fifty First report from Session 2021-22 · published 2 Sep 2022
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Recommendations & Conclusions

22 results
2 Recommendation
Despite its emphasis on community provision in its strategy, the Ministry has not yet quantified...
Recommendation
Despite its emphasis on community provision in its strategy, the Ministry has not yet quantified how much funding is required or invested heavily in community services for women. The Ministry has declined to set targets for its female offender programme. … Read more
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3 Recommendation
Effective implementation of the strategy has been undermined by insufficient joined-up working.
Recommendation
Effective implementation of the strategy has been undermined by insufficient joined-up working. Working across government is always challenging and the Ministry is reliant on many other bodies for the female offender programme to 6 Improving outcomes for women in the … Read more
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4 Recommendation
The Ministry is taking some steps to address the needs of ethnic minorities in the...
Recommendation
The Ministry is taking some steps to address the needs of ethnic minorities in the CJS, but it recognises that it has not yet done enough to achieve equality of outcomes for ethnic minority women. The Ministry’s Female Offender Strategy … Read more
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5 Recommendation
It is not clear how Parliament, the public and other stakeholders can hold the Ministry...
Recommendation
It is not clear how Parliament, the public and other stakeholders can hold the Ministry to account for delivery of the strategy’s commitments. The Ministry’s decision not to set targets affects not only its ability to make good funding decisions, … Read more
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6 Recommendation
The Ministry does not yet know the effectiveness of its interventions, or whether it is...
Recommendation
The Ministry does not yet know the effectiveness of its interventions, or whether it is achieving its aims. This limits its ability to identify and share best practice and to understand where it needs to invest to achieve its aims. … Read more
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1 Conclusion
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence...
Conclusion
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Ministry of Justice (the Ministry) and HM Prison & Probation Service (HMPPS) on improving outcomes for women in the criminal justice system.1 We … Read more
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7 Recommendation
The Ministry told us that it has received a record funding settlement at the Autumn...
Recommendation
The Ministry told us that it has received a record funding settlement at the Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021.11 We asked the Ministry how much of this it will be spending on the female offender programme.12 It told us … Read more
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8 Recommendation
The first two objectives of the strategy (intervening earlier and a greater proportion of women...
Recommendation
The first two objectives of the strategy (intervening earlier and a greater proportion of women managed in the community) each depend on improved community services for women.15 The Ministry told us the importance of work done in the community is … Read more
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9 Recommendation
The £9.5 million for grants for community services compares with £200 million the Ministry has...
Recommendation
The £9.5 million for grants for community services compares with £200 million the Ministry has committed to spend on an extra 500 prison places for women due to increases in police numbers.19 We asked stakeholders how far the £200 million … Read more
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10 Recommendation
We asked the Ministry if it had assessed the impact of spending the £200 million...
Recommendation
We asked the Ministry if it had assessed the impact of spending the £200 million on prison places for women. It has not. It told us this was because it has a duty to provide places for those sent to … Read more
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11 Recommendation
The Ministry recognises it needs to work together with many other national and local bodies...
Recommendation
The Ministry recognises it needs to work together with many other national and local bodies to improve outcomes for women in the CJS.26 It established a concordat with other government departments, creating a basis for joint working, although this was … Read more
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12 Recommendation
We were told of several good practice examples where many different agencies worked together to...
Recommendation
We were told of several good practice examples where many different agencies worked together to help women with multiple problems. These include the ‘one-stop-shop model’ that women’s centres try to adopt.29 The Ministry told us about ‘problem solving courts’ where … Read more
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13 Recommendation
We asked the Ministry why it had not had the support from others it had...
Recommendation
We asked the Ministry why it had not had the support from others it had hoped for and how it could incentivise their support. It told us that the COVID-19 pandemic had changed priorities for a lot of departments, and … Read more
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14 Recommendation
The Ministry’s strategy included specific actions to tackle the overrepresentation of, and unique challenges facing,...
Recommendation
The Ministry’s strategy included specific actions to tackle the overrepresentation of, and unique challenges facing, black and other ethnic minority women in the justice system. But progress has been slow.39 The Ministry told us that after the publication of the … Read more
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15 Recommendation
The Ministry told us that it wanted to work with others to help it make...
Recommendation
The Ministry told us that it wanted to work with others to help it make greater progress.44 In particular, it referred to a recent publication, Tackling Double Disadvantage that specifically addresses issues faced by minority ethnic women in relation to … Read more
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16 Recommendation
The Ministry decided not to set targets because achieving them would be reliant on bodies...
Recommendation
The Ministry decided not to set targets because achieving them would be reliant on bodies independent of the Ministry, including other government departments and the judiciary.47 We asked the Ministry about the impact of this decision on cross-government working.48 It … Read more
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17 Recommendation
We asked the Ministry how it could measure progress as it did not yet have...
Recommendation
We asked the Ministry how it could measure progress as it did not yet have milestones. In its reply it claimed that it had looked at 66 commitments from the strategy and given each a Red/Amber /Green rating for progress.51 … Read more
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18 Recommendation
Stakeholders who sit on ABFO told the National Audit Office that without performance measures they...
Recommendation
Stakeholders who sit on ABFO told the National Audit Office that without performance measures they had found it difficult to understand progress at a national level and for different groups of women. They reported that this had limited the ABFO’s … Read more
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19 Recommendation
It is nearly four years since the strategy was published and the Ministry does not...
Recommendation
It is nearly four years since the strategy was published and the Ministry does not yet have an overall plan to evaluate the work it and others have done in this area.56 We asked the Ministry if it had the … Read more
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20 Recommendation
In evaluating the effect of its interventions, the Ministry told us it is difficult to...
Recommendation
In evaluating the effect of its interventions, the Ministry told us it is difficult to attribute changes in the number of women in custody to specific actions, such as the use of out- of-court disposals, pre-sentence reports and community interventions. … Read more
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21 Conclusion
We asked whether the Ministry was looking at savings for the overall system and how...
Conclusion
We asked whether the Ministry was looking at savings for the overall system and how a good outcome for an individual woman can be cost-effective for the taxpayer. The Ministry told us that it had done an analysis on the … Read more
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22 Conclusion
There are many examples of local good practice where organisations work together to help women...
Conclusion
There are many examples of local good practice where organisations work together to help women turn their lives around.64 We asked the Ministry how it is going to identify and disseminate best practice. The Ministry told us that its ‘one-year-on’ … Read more
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