There are 47 pregnant women currently in prison across England and Wales, the government has revealed.

The figures, thought to be the first official audit of pregnant prisoners, have been released following the death of a newborn baby whose mother gave birth alone at HMP Bronzefield in Surrey, Britain’s largest female prison.

Speaking at a House of Lords debate on Thursday, Richard Keen, the justice minister, also said that there had been “fewer than five” cases of women having given birth in cells in 2018.

“This distressing incident is a rare occurrence,” Lord Keen said, of the Bronzefield death. “Every step is taken for women to give birth in hospital but, for a small number, this is not possible due to the unpredictability of labour.”

Baby dies in UK prison after inmate 'gives birth alone in cell' Read more

Last month, when approached by the Guardian, the Ministry of Justice declined to give figures on the number of prisoners who are pregnant or the number of babies born to prisoners, saying that it had no central record of the information. The department has not issued figures for how many female prisoners have had babies, the numbers of stillbirths or infant deaths in custody.

Sodexo, the private company that runs HMP Bronzefield, said last month that there were 13 pregnant prisoners at the facility and another 12 at HMP Peterborough, which it also runs. It said that 39 women had given birth while serving sentences or while on remand at the two prisons in the past year.

Sodexo confirmed that the woman whose newborn baby died has now been released on bail. It is understood that she was on remand, rather than serving a sentence, when she gave birth at the end of September.

The death of the baby at Bronzefield prison is the subject of 11 separate investigations, including two police investigations, a clinical review and an inquest.

Speaking at the debate, the Liberal Democrat peer Meral Hussein-Ece said: “This Victorian incident of a woman giving birth alone in a prison cell illustrates the lack of care and support for pregnant women in prison, many of whom should not even be there.”

The MoJ said pregnant prisoners are seen by a midwife at least once a fortnight and should have access to equivalent care to women in the community. Last month the MoJ said extra checks had been introduced for all pregnant women in the prison system, including hourly observations at night for women who are more than 28 weeks’ pregnant.

Naomi Delap, the director of the charity Birth Companions, which supports pregnant women and new mothers in prison, said: “It’s very disappointing that it has taken this death for these limited figures to emerge, despite our repeated calls for data to be gathered and shared. Any births outside a hospital setting are worrying considering the grave risks for mothers and babies. Whatever the circumstances behind each of those births, we believe the majority of pregnant women and their unborn children shouldn’t be in prison facing these risks in the first place.”