Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many vacancies there were for band 3 prison officers in the Long Term High Security Estate - South at the start of each year from 2017 to 2023.

Following a period of staffing challenges after the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen a substantial improvement in the national staffing picture within prisons. The number of Band 3-5 prison officers has increased by 1,634 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) between December 2022 - 2023, and resignation rates have fallen over the same period. This is the result of significant efforts across the agency, including substantial increases in pay for staff and launching our first-ever nationwide advertising campaign.

Table One below shows the number of indicative vacancies for Band 3 Prison Officers in the Long Term & High Security Estate (for prisons in the South) for January 2018, January 2019, January 2020, January 2021, January 2022 and January 2023. Data is not held for the period January 2017 and has not been provided.

In reality, many establishments will routinely sit marginally below their Target Staffing level due to normal attrition and time to hire and so we would not expect establishments to run consistently at 100% staffing.

Where prisons are not at their Target Staffing level, these are routinely supplemented (e.g., by using Payment Plus, a form of overtime) which is not accounted for in the indicative vacancy data provided. Use of detached duty, a long-standing mechanism to deploy staff from one prison or region to support another, is also not reflected in the data.

Table One: Total Band 3 Prison Officer Indicative Vacancies across Long Term & High Security Estate (LTHSE) South, January 2018 to January 2023

Notes

• All data is taken from Workforce Planning Tool returns and show the average position across January for each year, adjusted for joiners and leavers in the month.
• Workforce Planning Tool returns are manually completed by Prisons each month and, as with any manual returns, are subject to human error.
• Data shows average resource across the month, adjusted for joiners and leavers in the month.
• The Long Term & High Security Estate South includes: Belmarsh, Isle of Wight, Long Lartin, Swaleside, Whitemoor and Woodhill.
• Indicative vacancies are the difference between Target Staffing levels and Staff in Post at an individual establishment level. Where Staff in Post (FTE) exceeds Target Staffing (FTE) for an establishment, the number of indicative vacancies has been shown as 0 FTE. Indicative vacancies have been summed across establishments to give the number of indicative vacancies for LTHSE South.
• Target Staffing level is the number of staff required to run an optimal regime in each prison. This level is greater than the minimum number of staff required for a prison to operate safely, and includes allowances for staff taking leave, being off sick or being on training.
• The Target Staffing Figures are set on a site-specific basis and vary in size. Over the reporting period in question, Target Staffing levels for the LTHSE estate has increased which in part explains the increase in vacancies.
• Band 3 Prison Officers include 'Prison Officer - Band 3' and 'Prison Officer - Youth Justice Worker - Band 3'.
• Target Staffing levels are established based on a 39-hour working week. Staff in Post (FTE) is set at 1.0 FTE for those on a 39-hour contract / 1.05 FTE for those on a 41-hour contract and 0.95 FTE for those on a 37-hour contract.
• Target Staffing levels cannot be used to directly calculate vacancies due to the discretion governors have to change establishment level staffing requirements through Governors' Freedoms. As a result, the Ministry of Justice does not regularly present vacancy data and the data presented should be treated with caution.
• Staff in Post data used to calculate an indicative number of vacancies does not take into account those on long-term absences (e.g. career breaks / loans / secondments / agency staff or other forms of overtime).
• Where prisons are not at their Target Staffing level, these are routinely supplemented (e.g., by using Payment Plus, a form of overtime) which is not accounted for in the indicative vacancy data provided. Use of detached duty, a long-standing mechanism to deploy staff from one prison or region to support another, is also not reflected in the data.