£10m funding to divert vulnerable women from custody
05 November 2009
Justice Minister Maria Eagle has announced the allocation of £6.8m of funding for voluntary organisations to provide extra and enhanced community support for women at risk of offending.
This follows the successful provision of £3.1 million earlier this year for similar projects.
Today’s funding was announced while Maria Eagle was visiting a successful women’s centre in Halifax which helps women offenders, women at risk of receiving a custodial sentence and women at risk of offending.
The grants are part of the government’s strategy following the publication of a major independent report on vulnerable women in the criminal justice system by Baroness Corston.
The funding will be used to divert women from custody and provide services in the community that tackle the causes of offending behaviour for women who are not a danger to public, both pre- and post-conviction.
Maria Eagle MP, Ministerial Champion for Women and Criminal Justice Matters said:
‘This marks a further step forward in the government’s efforts to tackle women’s offending. Many female offenders have an acute combination of complex issues that lie behind their offending: drug and alcohol dependencies, homelessness, domestic violence, unemployment and poor education. Prison does not provide an effective way for women to address these problems – it often only exacerbates problems for them and, more often than not, their children.
‘This women’s centre in Calderdale is an excellent example of a one stop shop and of the work that needs to be taken forward. The funding they have received from the Ministry of Justice will help turn some of these women’s lives around.
‘We recognise that the voluntary sector has the creativity and skills that will be important in making this work a success. These grants will help us develop a network of provision across the country and test out the best ways of helping women turn away from crime. The work of the voluntary sector will be supported by partnerships that include probation, prison and police, but also health and many others with common aims of reducing crime and re-offending, as well as social exclusion.’
£3.1 million has already been awarded in a successful first round. Building on this success the Ministry of Justice will be awarding a further £6.8 million in grants to third sector providers deliver services in the community for women offenders and women at risk of offending. The grants all run until March 2011.
Notes to editors
1. £3.1 million in grants was awarded to the following organisations earlier this year:
- Women in Prison (London)
- WomenCentre (Calderdale and Kirklees)
- Anawim (Birmingham)
- Tyneside Cyrenians (Newcastle upon Tyne)
- Safer Wales (Women’s Turnaround Project)
- Peterborough Women's Centre and Cambridge Women's Resource Centre (partnership bid)
- Asha Centres (Worcestershire).
2. Over £6 million in grants have been offered to the following organisations:
- Nelson Trust (Gloucester)
- Stonham (Plymouth)
- Family Matters (Dorset)
- PACT (Reading)
- Brighton Women’s Centre (Brighton)
- Catch22 3D (Southampton)
- Women in Prison/Surrey Women’s Aid (Woking)
- Herts Women’s Centre (Stevenage, Luton and Watford)
- Stonham (Norfolk)
- DePaul UK/Women@thewell (London)
- Advance Advocacy (London)
- Trust (London)
- Jagonari (London)
- YWCA (Barking and Dagenham)
- Turning Point (Leicester)
- Derby Women’s Work (Derby)
- Addaction (Lincolnshire)
- Escape Family Support (Northumberland)
- Women in Prison/Pankhurst Centre (Manchester)
- Anawim (Birmingham)
- Brighter Futures (Stoke on Trent)
- YWCA (Wolverhampton)
- Hull Women’s Centre (Hull)
- The Cambridge Centre (Scarborough).
3. On 3 February, Maria Eagle announced that the Ministry of Justice will provide £15.6 million of new funding over two years, to invest in the provision of additional services in the community for women offenders, who are not a danger to the public, and women at risk of offending.
The funding will be used to:
- build capacity of one-stop-shop services at women’s centres and other specialist provision for women in the community. Third Sector providers will be able to apply for grants to expand and develop one stop shop services
- further develop bail support services and maximise accommodation opportunities by engaging with existing and new accommodation providers, working with the National Offender Management Service on the occupancy rates of Approved Premises, and exploring other models showing success in supportive accommodation.
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