§ Julie MorganTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to set up a national Women's Justice Board. [119444]
§ Paul Goggins[holding answer 16 June 2003]: We have no plans to establish a separate Board with specific responsibility for women. The Correctional Services Board was established last year to set the overarching strategy for the correctional services and to identify key strategic issues. Within its remit the Board considers how correctional services could be improved to meet the needs of particular groups. The Board's focus so far has been on services for 18 to 20-year olds, but with a view to expanding it to include other groups, which could include women.
We also have the national Criminal Justice Board, with ministers and senior representatives (including agency chiefs) from across the criminal justice system (CJS), who support the delivery of the CJS Public Service Agreement targets on the justice gap and confidence. The Board has specific responsibility for combating inequality and discrimination within the CJS.
The Government are also responding to the need to improve services and provision specifically for women in the criminal justice system, through the Women's Offending Reduction Programme. This promotes gender consideration in the delivery of services, programmes and other interventions and encourages departments and agencies to work together to tackle the factors that affect women's offending.