Prisoners: Children
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many children have (a) parents and (b) guardians who are imprisoned; and how many of those children are living without an adult guardian.
Answered by Sir Nicholas Dakin
The Government recently published the first official statistics to estimate the number of children affected by parental imprisonment using administrative government data. It's estimated that between 1 October 2021 and 1 October 2022 there were around 193,000 children with a parent in prison. These statistics take a broad view of parental responsibility and include those with caring responsibility, legal guardianship, or primary care for a child, and therefore we are unable to split the data out into separate figures for those with a parent and those with a guardian. The Department for Education who hold responsibility for children, and the Ministry of Justice both fully recognise the importance of being able to identify children with a parent in prison.
Verbatim has judged this answer against the question that was actually asked — answered, partly answered, or evaded. Sign in to see the verdict →