Women should be automatically offered pads and tampons in court custody without having to ask, according to senior policing figures, politicians, and legal experts who are calling on the government to urgently address the needs of female detainees.

Inspection reports from court custody facilities carried out in the past two years, examined by BuzzFeed News, have revealed that female detainees are expected to ask when they need menstrual products, even as they endure long, tense waits in the run-up to high-pressured court appearances.

Often they can be left sitting for hours in dirty, graffiti-covered holding rooms, sometimes with men, according to recent reports from Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP). In some instances, women weren't notified that sanitary products were available, let alone offered them.

In an interview with BuzzFeed News, Dame Vera Baird QC, the victims lead for the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, said that requiring detainees to ask for basic provisions is not good enough and that she will ask the secretary of state for justice, David Gauke MP, to make the regular offering of menstrual products part of routine practice.

“You can think of little worse if you are a woman than trying to give evidence on your own behalf when ... you might not have appropriate products available and you are in the middle of your period,” she said.

“Even being anxious about it is not good, when you are there to give your best evidence. [It could] perhaps [make] the difference between you getting convicted and not convicted.”

More than 60% of female offenders are victims of domestic violence, and many have mental health problems, according to the government's own figures. Although these statistics pertain to women detained after sentencing, rather than before, they are indicative of the women who go through court custody.

“Some of these women will be quite vulnerable, not confident, and won't be used to fighting for their rights or demanding what they need, so they probably just put up with it,” Baird said. “It is a dreadful situation to be in.”