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<p>On 20 September the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) published a new policy on pregnancy,
Mother and Baby Units and maternal separation from children up to the age of two in
women’s prisons, which contains a range of reforms for improving the care of pregnant
women. As part of the new policy, we have increased central data collection on self-declared
pregnancies in women’s prisons. We will be publishing annual snapshots in the HMPPS
Annual Digest. The first publication, covering July 2020-April 2021, shows that on
average 26 women self-declared as pregnant each week. During this period, 31 births
took place. Out of these, 28 were in hospital, two in transit to hospital, and zero
in a prison.</p><p>Women in prison should have access to the same range and quality
of healthcare services as they would have access to in the community, including midwifery,
obstetric and health visiting services. These services are commissioned through the
health sector. Care is driven by individual care plans, including birth plans where
women are due to give birth during their time in custody. These are developed by specialist
midwives, prison staff and other relevant agencies dependent on individual needs.</p><p>The
death of Baby A was a tragedy and a range of steps have been taken to prevent it from
happening again. Immediate steps were taken locally at HMP Bronzefield to safeguard
women in children, including a review of commissioning arrangements and provision
of additional information resources on support services. In addition, measures were
put in place in all women’s prisons to ensure immediate estate wide improvements,
including free access to local NHS Pregnancy advice services and additional welfare
checks for all pregnant women in the third trimester.</p><p> </p><p>Centrally, officials
have responded directly to the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) recommendations
with a comprehensive action plan detailing the work that is underway to address learning.
This work is being assured by a Project Board jointly chaired by Executive Director
level SROs in HMPPS and NHS England and NHS Improvement, to ensure whole system improvement.</p><p>The
new HMPPS policy on pregnancy, Mother and Baby Units and maternal separation from
children up to the age of two in women’s prisons, published 20 September, forms an
important part of our national response to the learning from Baby A. This contains
requirements which directly address PPO recommendations.</p><p> </p><p>Sentencing
is a matter for the independent judiciary. However, we recognise the additional physical,
emotional and practical challenges experienced by pregnant women in prison and we
are taking steps to ensure sentencing decisions are more informed. Since the publication
of the Female Offender Strategy in 2018, we have made improvements to the preparation
of pre-sentence reports (PSRs) through a PSR checklist for women and a Pre-Sentence
Pilot that includes the targeting of fuller reports for female offenders. These take
into account individual circumstances relating to pregnancy and caring responsibilities
and the impact that imprisonment has on these.</p>
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