§ Lord Aveburyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether, in making any decisions on the Prison Service, they will consider the implications for the female establishment.
§ Baroness BlatchResponsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter to Lord Avebury from the Director General of the Prison Service, Mr. Richard Tilt, dated 25th April 1996:
Lady Blatch has asked me to reply to your recent Question asking whether, in making any decisions on the Prison Service, they will consider the implications for female establishments.
The Prison Service is committed to equality of opportunity and to treating all prisoners fairly. However, the service also has a duty to recognise the particular needs of prisoners, including women. Accordingly, 108WA while there is a presumption that policies should apply equally to both male and female prisoners, criteria introduced in January 1996 require that the following factors should be taken into account when devising new policies;
whether there is objective evidence for applying the policy differentially to female prisoners
what is the cost of applying the policy to female prisoners
what are the practical difficulties of applying the policy
and whether it is fair to apply the policy to women.