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<p>On 27 June we published our female offender strategy, which sets out the Government’s
commitment to a new programme of work for female offenders. We want to see fewer women
in custody, especially on short-term sentences, and a greater proportion of women
managed in the community successfully.</p><p> </p><p>We recognise that short custodial
sentences do not deliver the best results for all offenders, particularly female offenders,
and that there is persuasive evidence that short custodial sentences of less than
12 months are less effective in reducing reoffending than community penalties.</p><p>
</p><p>That is why, as part of the strategy, we have committed to working with local
and national partners to develop a pilot for ‘residential women’s centres’ in at least
five sites across England and Wales. The aim of the pilot will be to develop a robust
evidence base about what could be effective, sustainable and scalable models for improving
outcomes for female offenders and reducing the numbers and frequency of women entering
and re-entering custody on short custodial sentences. We will take a consultative
approach to identifying the most suitable sites, and designing and delivering the
pilot models.</p><p> </p><p>We are also investing £5m over two years in community
provision for women. As part of this, we have launched an initial £3.5m grant competition
for 2018/19 and 2019/20 for community services and multi-agency, whole system approaches
across England and Wales. The grant competition for 2018/19 will close on 29 August
this year. We recognise that the availability and sustainability of women-specific
provision, such as women’s centres, is essential for ensuring that we can deliver
the vision we have outlined in the strategy.</p>
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