My Lords, what we have heard this afternoon from noble Lords and in particular from my noble friend Lord Ramsbotham—to whom we already owe a considerable debt of gratitude for the powerful insight into the penal system that he has brought to this House—is deeply disturbing. If your Lordships needed any further convincing of the importance of retaining a separate and fully independent inspector of prisons, what my noble friend and other noble Lords have said today must have made that case crystal clear. Of course, we shall return to that debate during the Committee stage of the Police and Justice Bill.

The Government's recent closure of two women's prisons can only be explained by their need to house ever more male prisoners as we creep closer to complete saturation point in all prisons. As we have heard, the latest closure has left the West Midlands completely without a women's prison. As I understand it, Brockhill was a new, purpose-built prison with treatment facilities expressly designed to meet the complex needs of vulnerable women. Moreover, as the noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, said, the Majority of its inmates' homes were within a reasonable distance, which meant that those women prisoners remained secure, in a purpose-built prison, within reasonable contact distance of their families. No longer. One wonders where they are now. I suspect—indeed, I fear—that they are scattered around the country constantly on the move. I hope that the Minister will be able to give us a rather more satisfactory answer than that which I fear.

Given the Government's recent emphasis on the need to rethink their policy to deal with women offenders, their recent actions are all the more puzzling. There have been the Styal prison suicides; the many incidents of self-harm; the fact that the number of women imprisoned has almost doubled—the figure has been repeated again—from 2,600 in 1997 to 4,409 last Friday, up from 3 per cent to 6 per cent of the prison population; and the setting up of the year-long review, under the leadership of the noble Baroness, Lady Corston. All those facts have prompted the acceptance by the Government of the need for a different approach.

Yet here we are only two days away from the end of June, the date by which we were promised an interim report from the Corston review, but the Home Office, as we have heard, apparently no longer even has a separate unit to deal with women offenders. So it seems quite clear that women have become the group worst hit by the prison accommodation crisis. Whether or not a women's justice board will ever be achieved, it is clearly essential that someone is there to be held accountable, and quickly.

We all know that, although some offenders must be imprisoned, the intended rehabilitation side of prison is not working. It is only too well known that two-thirds of prisoners are currently reconvicted within two years. In 1992, that figure was half of all prisoners, which was bad enough.

The noble and learned Baroness, Lady Hale—perhaps significantly the only woman so far to have become a Law Lord—put her views on women in the prison system very clearly when delivering the Longford lecture last December. Her view—confirmed by my noble friend Lord Ramsbotham—is that the whole working of the prison system is predefined by exclusively male perceptions, which are nevertheless applied to women, despite important differences in their temperament, physique, make-up and lifestyle. That absolutely confirms my perception from some years ago, when I served as a member of the Parole Board.

There are several reasons why I—and, clearly, other noble Lords—believe that the way in which women are treated should be made far more relevant to their lives and their needs. First, although the percentage that they represent is small, women are likely to be the most vulnerable members of the general prison population. They are more likely to have suffered violence and sexual abuse in their early days. In Care, concern and carpets, the Howard League reports that 50 per cent have experienced domestic violence and 33 per cent have suffered sexual assault. So, naturally, they are more in need of specialist help and treatment.

Secondly, because women are still the main carers in the family, they have a greater importance for the family unit's survival. Indeed, many need urgent guidance in parenting skills, as well as the specialist medical help—which so many other noble Lords have mentioned—to deal with their almost inevitable psychological problems and addictions. Some 80 per cent of women prisoners suffer from diagnosable mental health problems, and 66 per cent are drug and alcohol addicts.

The third reason is that the majority of offences committed by women are in the less serious category. Both the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Hale, and the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips, have been critical of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, which they believe has increased the number of women imprisoned due to the more severe sentences that are now required for repeat, relatively minor offences, such as shoplifting, as we have heard. Women shoplifters are, apparently, twice as likely to be locked up for that offence as they were 15 years ago.

The noble and learned Baroness, Lady Hale, proposed in her lecture far more locally provided community sentences for women, combined with the necessary education and treatment. That would certainly have my backing. If this does happen, and if training and job experience could be included, perhaps the cycle of deprivation could at last begin to be reversed. For those women who sadly must be imprisoned, the Howard League's recommendation that a special prison adjustment unit be established in all prisons to help women prisoners to adjust to prison life, at least for their first 48 hours, is surely essential. As your Lordships know, many of the suicides mentioned took place during the first days of imprisonment. I hope that the Minister will have good news for us on this point.

Far more education, mental health and drink and drug treatment facilities are needed to deal with women's underlying need for support. At present—this is almost unbelievable—apparently only 2 per cent of the prisons budget is spent on education and training. Yet 70 per cent of all prisoners are functioning well below acceptable literacy levels, as we know, and the mental health and drug treatment facilities are completely and disgracefully inadequate.

Finally, we return to the need to concentrate help on vulnerable families from the earliest possible age. The Government have tried to make this a priority, and I congratulate them on that because that is where the maximum effort and resources are needed. We must give all children from disturbed and deprived backgrounds, but with particular attention paid to girls, the best possible chance to fulfil their potential and the five outcomes set out in Every Child Matters. When your Lordships think of the huge cost to the public purse of each citizen who ends up in prison, that must make every possible kind of sense.