Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Ministry of Justice

Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Bridgen Excerpts
Tuesday 18th December 2018

(5 years, 11 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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David Gauke Portrait Mr Gauke
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Of course, a deal was offered to prison officers and rejected a couple of years or so ago, but to come back to the point about morale, it is important that we address violence in prisons. That is why we have increased the number of staff, why we are giving prison officers the tools that they need—for example, PAVA—and why we are determined to ensure that we can turn this increase in violence around.

Andrew Bridgen Portrait Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)
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It is clear that we have an issue with experienced prison officers leaving the service. Can my right hon. Friend reassure the House that, in line with best human resources practices, exit interviews are being conducted with staff before they leave so that we can address the issues that are causing them to leave the service?

David Gauke Portrait Mr Gauke
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My hon. Friend is right to say that that is best practice, and it does happen within the prison service. We are looking at the evidence of the effectiveness of that to ensure that we make best use of it. It is important that we learn from the experiences of prison officers and get their feedback, so that when prison officers do leave, we understand the reasons why.