To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many women in prisons in England and Wales are held (a) more than 50 miles and (b) more than 100 miles from the sentencing court. (172123)

Distance from court area for sentenced women prisoners is set out in the following table:

159 women prisoners had no recorded court or home address.

Information on sentencing court addresses is not available for every prisoner and where not available home area addresses have been used as a proxy.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the (a) certified normal accommodation and (b) total capacity available to house women prisoners was in each year since 1997. (172124)

The information requested is set out in the following table:

Certified normal accommodation is the uncrowded capacity of the women's prison estate and operational capacity is the total number of places in the women's estate.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice on how many occasions women prisoners have been held in police or court cells over the last 12 months. (172125)

Women prisoners are held in police cells, under Operation Safeguard, only in exceptional circumstances. This has occurred on 21 occasions in the last 12 months (an occasion equates to one prisoner on one night).

Prisoners are also sometimes held overnight in police cells as “lockouts”. A lockout is an operational measure normally only used when the designated prison’s reception will be closed before the prisoner’s arrival time. Women prisoners have been held in police cells as “lockouts” on 33 occasions in the last 12 months.

No women prisoners have to date been held in court cells.