Every parliamentary written question tabled by Rebecca Long Bailey this session, with the full answer and department. Back to the MP page.
Showing 1–5 of 5 · Ministry of Justice
When he plans to respond to correspondence from the hon. Member for Salford of 30 October 2025 on deaths in custody and prison management at HMP Forest Bank, reference number MC128673.
The Department apologises for the delay in responding on this occasion and we regret that this falls short of expected standards. We are prioritising this and a response will be issued within the coming week.
How many prosecutions were brought for workplace sexual harassment under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 in each of the last five years.
Statistics collated centrally by the Ministry of Justice on the criminal offences under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 do not separately identify perpetrators prosecuted, convicted or sentenced to crimes involving sexual harassment, or the location of where the offence took place.Collating such information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
What assessment she has made of the adequacy of child safeguarding monitoring after a child’s parent is imprisoned.
HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) has recently reviewed its Child Safeguarding and Prison Public Protection policies, so as to enhance their effectiveness, notably in relation to monitoring and mitigating risks to children. HMPPS staff are required to check if prisoners received into custody have caring responsibilities for any children, to exchange information with Children’s Services and record known safeguarding concerns. There are robust arrangements for monitoring those cases where an adult in prison is identified as posing a risk to children. HMPPS has worked with the Department for Education to review and update the Working Together to Safeguard Children statutory guidance, which was published in December 2023. The updated guidance helps to strengthen the arrangements between HMPPS and local Children’s Services, particularly in relation to responding to child safeguarding concerns and collaborating to improve outcomes for children at risk of abuse or neglect. In July this year we produced the first official statistics on children of prisoners, estimating that over the course of a year around 193,000 children in England and Wales may be affected by a parent being in, or going to, prison. We recognise there is more that can be done to make sure that children with a parent in prison do not fall through the cracks, which is why this Government has committed to ensuring that those young people are identified and offered the support they need.
How many children have (a) parents and (b) guardians who are imprisoned; and how many of those children are living without an adult guardian.
The Government recently published the first official statistics to estimate the number of children affected by parental imprisonment using administrative government data. It's estimated that between 1 October 2021 and 1 October 2022 there were around 193,000 children with a parent in prison. These statistics take a broad view of parental responsibility and include those with caring responsibility, legal guardianship, or primary care for a child, and therefore we are unable to split the data out into separate figures for those with a parent and those with a guardian. The Department for Education who hold responsibility for children, and the Ministry of Justice both fully recognise the importance of being able to identify children with a parent in prison.
What steps she is taking to support the children of people who are imprisoned.
The Government recently published the first official statistics to estimate the number of children affected by parental imprisonment using administrative government data. It's estimated that between 1 October 2021 and 1 October 2022 there were around 193,000 children with a parent in prison. We fully recognise the importance of being able to identify children with a parent in prison to make sure they receive the support they need, which is why a commitment on this was included in our manifesto.The Ministry of Justice is working closely with the Department for Education who hold responsibility for children to determine how effectively identify these children and provide support for both them and for the parent in prison. The support will be informed by learnings from previous interventions and pilots, and engagement both with those with lived experience and organisations from the Voluntary, Charity and Social Enterprise sector.