§ Baroness Mallalieuasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many women in prison have children aged under five; between five and 10 years old, and between 10 and 16 years old, respectively.
§ The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Blatch):Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the temporary Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter to Baroness Mallalieu front the temporary Director General of the Prison Service, Mr. Richard Tilt, dated 3 February 1996.
Lady Blatch has asked me to reply to your recent Question about women prisoners who have children.
No information is held centrally on this subject. However, a study of women in prison was conducted in November 1994 by the Home Office Research and Statistics Directorate.
Of the 1,766 women interviewed, 234 had children aged under five, 304 had children aged five to nine and 434 had children aged 10 to 16.