Asked by: Lord Bishop of Rochester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many (1) prisoners, and (2) staff, were (a) suspected of having, (b) confirmed as having, (3) hospitalised as a result of, and (4) died from, COVID-19 in prisons in England, broken down by region.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
The data requested can be found below and is correct as of Friday 19 June.
Please note, for the number of staff suspected of having Covid-19 the guidance was changed on 20 April so that symptomatic staff members could be identified separately. Before 20 April all staff members who were isolating under the PHE guidance were counted and those who were symptomatic could not be identified specifically. This may have slightly overestimated the number of symptomatic staff before 20 April. For some regions this data has been backdated so the total number of staff suspected of having Covid-19 is known.
On 24 April, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, announced the rollout of Covid-19 testing for all essential workers and symptomatic members of their household, including prison staff.
From 15 April, due to the sufficient availability of testing supplies all symptomatic prisoners were tested.
Region | Staff suspected of having Covid-19 | Staff confirmed as having Covid-19 | Staff hospitalised as a result of Covid-19 | Staff deaths as a result of Covid-19 |
Region1 | 1,337 | 150 | 8 | 2 |
Region2 | 1,126 | 178 | 8 | - |
Region3 | 1,973 | 210 | 13 | - |
Region4 | 845 | 54 | 6 | - |
Region5 | 1,015 | 71 | 9 | 1 |
Region6 | 2,417 | 91 | 13 | 3 |
Region7 | 2,482 | 144 | 10 | 2 |
Total | 11,195 | 898 | 67 | 8 |
Region | Prisoners suspected of having Covid-19 | Prisoners confirmed as having Covid-19 | Prisoners hospitalised as a result of Covid-19 | Prisoner deaths as a result of Covid-19 |
Region 1 | 612 | 81 | ~ | 2 |
Region 2 | 488 | 58 | 7 | 3 |
Region 3 | 725 | 118 | 10 | 4 |
Region 4 | 455 | 19 | ~ | 3 |
Region 5 | 252 | 18 | 10 | 5 |
Region 6 | 513 | 54 | 9 | - |
Region 7 | 419 | 54 | 8 | 4 |
Total | 3,464 | 402 | 51 | 21 |
Regions by prison group:
Region 1 – Cumbria and Lancashire; Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire
Region 2 – Yorkshire; Tees and Wear
Region 3 – North Midlands; West Midlands; East Midlands
Region 4 – Avon and South Dorset; South Central; Devon and North Dorset
Region 5 – Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk; Hertfordshire, Essex and Suffolk
Region 6 – London; Kent, Surrey and Sussex
Region 7 – Long Term and High Security Estate
Notes
- Staff suspected of having Covid-19 have been calculated as staff who are on sickness absence or showing symptoms. There may be other staff with suspected Covid-19 who are in the self-isolating category not included here.
- Prisoners suspected of having Covid-19 have been calculated as prisoners recorded as displaying symptoms.
- Some staff or prisoners may be counted twice if they have had two periods of symptoms.
- Confirmed staff cases are self-reported.
- Staff and prisoner hospitalisations have been calculated as those who have tested positive and have been hospitalised. The hospitalisation may not have been as a result of Covid-19 in some cases, and there may be other cases where Covid-19 has not been confirmed which are included here.
- These numbers include all historic cases, many of which are now closed.
- Data for staff deaths represents individuals that have been confirmed as having Covid-19, though it is not necessarily the cause of death.
- Data for prisoner deaths represents individuals where Covid-19 is suspected to be the cause.
- These tables include silver command regions 1 to 7 which cover prisons in England, but also include 2 STCs and 1 IRC.
- Staff figures contain both directly and non-directly employed staff.
- The symbol ~ denotes suppressed values of 4 or fewer to avoid the risk of identifying individuals.
- These figures have been drawn from the daily HMPPS Covid-19 reports. Care is taken when processing and analysing the returns but the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system.
The Ministry of Justice has started publishing a weekly release of Covid-19 related statistics. This includes confirmed Covid-19 cases in prisoners and children in custody; and deaths among prisoners and children in custody where Covid-19 is suspected to be the cause.
The statistics release can be found here each Friday: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hm-prison-and-probation-service-covid-19-statistics
Please note, this publication provides statistics for prisons across England and Wales, the data in the tables above relates to prisons in England only.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Rochester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of any increase in court activity on the level of COVID-19 infection amongst the prison population.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
All new receptions into prison including those received from the courts are screened for signs and symptoms of Covid-19 by healthcare professionals and are quarantined in a Reverse Cohorting Unit (RCU) until it is safe to be moved.
On 2 June, this Government published the National Framework for Prison Regimes and Services which sets out the conditional roadmap for the gradual resumption of services and regimes in prisons. One of the key objectives highlighted in this document is to ensure that we have enough space to receive from the courts and sufficient capacity to meet overall demand, while managing the risks of infection through the continued implementation of our compartmentalisation strategy.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Rochester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government in which prisons prisoners can access video calls; and what is the level of provision of facilities to make such calls in each of those prisons.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
The Government recognises the importance of maintaining family ties and following the cancellation of social prison visits it has moved quickly to keep prisoners in touch with their family members by other means.
Following a successful trial at HMP Berwyn, Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) is introducing secure video calling to prisons and young offender institutions (YOIs) across England and Wales to maintain vital family contact for prisoners and young offenders during the coronavirus pandemic.
As of 5 June we have deployed equipment to 20 establishments. (HMP Berwyn, HMP Bronzefield, HMP Buckley Hall, HMP Chelmsford, HMP Deerbolt, HMP Downview, HMP Durham, HMP Eastwood Park, HMP Full Sutton, HMP Garth, HMP High Down, HMP Hull, HMP Send, HMP Stocken, HMP Swinfen Hall, HMP Wayland, HMYOI Cookham Wood, HMYOI Feltham,HMYOI Werrington, HMYOI Wetherby).
Details of establishments where families can book calls is updated as they go live on GOV.UK and social media for families. The level of provision to offer calls will differ by establishment based on local circumstances.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Rochester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government to what extent each prison in England and Wales has implemented (1) the compartmentalisation strategy, (2) protective isolation units and shielding units, and (3) reverse cohorting units.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
We continue to implement our compartmentalisation strategy: isolating the symptomatic, quarantining new arrivals and shielding the vulnerable. This strategy has shown early signs of success in reducing transmission in the prison estate.
As of 15 June, 96% of prisons have fully implemented compartmentalisation. Broken down by unit, 98% have fully implemented protective isolation units; 98% have fully implemented shielding units; and 98% have fully implemented reverse cohorting units.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Rochester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many prisoners (1) have displayed, or (2) are currently displaying, symptoms of COVID-19; and of those, (a) how many, and (b) what proportion, have been tested. [T]
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
As of Friday, 29 May our management information shows that there were 162 prisoners currently showing symptoms of Covid-19. Of those, 85 (52%) had been tested. Our records show that a further 3450 prisoners had previously displayed symptoms of Covid-19 where cases are now closed. Of those, 1447 (or 42%) had been tested.
Tests are conducted on symptomatic prisoners on site, as directed and advised by PHE. The testing capacity and availability is dependent on local commissioning services, therefore the numbers of those tested varies by establishment. This means that the total number of cases at any establishment can include clinically diagnosed but untested cases, as well as those who have a confirmed COVID-19 positive result.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Rochester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the freeze on Local Housing Allowance on levels of homelessness in England.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
We have made no assessment of the impact of the policy to freeze Local Housing Allowance rates upon levels of homelessness.
There is no clear evidence to suggest that the policy is contributing to increased homelessness. Further the latest statistics show that the number of homelessness acceptances in England has decreased slightly over the past year and the figures are very similar to the homelessness acceptances when the freeze commenced.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Rochester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of the private rented sector is affordable to those on Housing Benefit or Universal Credit.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
This information is not available. Affordability is dependent on many factors, for example rent levels in the area the claimant lives, the size of their household and other sources of income they may receive in addition to their housing benefit or universal credit entitlement.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Rochester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the publication of the review of Islamist extremism in prisons and the probation and youth justice services, in what ways they plan to change the vetting of prison chaplains and build on existing good practice, including vetting to counter-terrorism level.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
Prison chaplains of all faiths make a valuable contribution to offender management, both in the provision of pastoral care and theological education, and as a safeguard against the spread of extremist ideologies. There are established pre-appointment checks in place for all prison chaplaincy positions, including Counter Terrorist Check (CTC) security clearance and the scrutiny of professional credentials.
The Government response to the review into Islamist Extremism included a commitment to strengthen the due diligence process for the recruitment of prison chaplains. This policy is still being developed, and will supplement rather than replace existing arrangements. The checks can be applied to all prospective prison chaplains, of any faith, before a final offer of employment is made.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Rochester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many prisoners have been identified as having been radicalised whilst in custody in England and Wales since the beginning of 2014.
Answered by Lord Faulks
Radicalisation is a process rather than an event and therefore it is not possible to identify with any certainty which prisoners have been radicalised specifically during their time in prison.
Extremism is one of the biggest threats facing this country. That is why the Justice Secretary commissioned a review of Islamist extremism in prisons.
As we have made clear, the report has been received and a summary document will be published in due course.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Rochester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they are having with prison chaplains, including those of Muslim and Christian faith, to address concerns about radicalisation and extremism in prisons.
Answered by Lord Faulks
Prison staff regularly discuss issues relating to radicalisation and extremism with prison chaplains of all faiths, both at a local and regional level. Prisoners who are identified as holding extremist views or being vulnerable to radicalisation are managed through a range of interventions to tackle and disrupt extremist behaviour.
Last year the Justice Secretary commissioned A review of extremism in prisons
As we have made clear, the report has been received and a summary document will be published in due course.