My Lords, as the amendments’ explanatory statements make clear, and as the noble Lord, Lord Marks of Henley-on-Thames, identified, the intention is to provide for the establishment of a women’s justice board for England and Wales which mirrors the rather lengthy provisions setting up the Youth Justice Board. I am grateful to the noble Lord for his kind words. I can assure him that I gave his amendment very careful thought, and my approach to it has not been adversely affected by the support given to it by the noble Baroness, Lady Jones of Moulsecoomb. I also heard what my noble friend Lord Attlee said about his role being to help me: with noble friends being so helpful—well, I will leave that one there.
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It is fair to say that this is not a new proposition. The House, as I understand it, has looked at this before. I reassure the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton, that I agree with her about the importance of ensuring that the criminal justice system caters for the special needs of women. I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Pannick, that women in the criminal justice system pose a special challenge. Respectfully, I do not agree that there is a crisis of confidence: we have actually done a lot and we are doing more. The fact that we have to be alert to the special needs of women, however, is common ground across the Committee.
I therefore broadly agree with the proposition that women in the criminal justice system have particular needs, and we need to identify them. For example, they have a higher prevalence of mental health problems and previous experience of abuse than male offenders. Binge drinking and class A drug use are risk factors more strongly associated with reoffending for women than for men. I acknowledge that, at one level, there is a point to be made that the particular differences and challenges faced by children in the criminal justice system, which led to the establishment of the Youth Justice Board, could support the argument that we should have a women’s justice board. The key point, however, is this: unlike for children in the criminal justice system, we do not have a separate legal framework for women in the criminal justice system. Although their needs are special, and we are careful to identify and cater for them, women are managed as part of the adult criminal justice system.
Perhaps I can put it this way: our criminal justice system needs to be gender-neutral but that does not mean that it should be gender-blind. To that extent, I agree with the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss. Women have special needs in the criminal justice system, but that system applies equally to all offenders as a matter of law, while recognising their specific individual circumstances. We remain committed to delivering the female offender strategy, which we set out back in 2018. We have set up the Advisory Board on Female Offenders, which brings together government departments, criminal justice agencies and key external stakeholders. I accept that it is a different model from what is set out in the amendment, but it in fact delivers many of the functions that the proposed women’s justice board would do, without the need for new legislation. We are at the moment refreshing the board’s membership to make sure that it has the right blend of knowledge, skill and experience to support delivery of our overall strategy.
I will add two further points. First, I am concerned about, and conscious of, the time it would take for a new body to be set up and establish relationships with the relevant organisations that would make a real difference. As we have the advisory board up and running, I would rather work with—and improve if need be—the organisations that we currently have. Secondly, there is a cost implication. As a point of comparison, if we are going to look across to the Youth Justice Board, its staff costs alone in the 2019-20 accounts were £5.5 million. I really do not want to divert any money from our primary task of fully delivering the female offender strategy. For those reasons, therefore, which I think are a blend of principle and practicality, I invite the noble Lord to withdraw his amendment.