Oral Answers to Questions

Chris Green Excerpts

Tuesday 6th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

6. What progress his Department has made on recruiting 2,500 new prison officers.

[Chris Green (Bolton West) (Con)]

14. What progress his Department has made on recruiting 2,500 new prison officers.

[Tom Pursglove (Corby) (Con)]

23. What steps his Department is taking to recruit prison officers.

--- Later in debate ---

[Rory Stewart]

Absolutely. As my hon. Friend points out, this is not just about numbers. Working in a prison is incredibly challenging, and having the experience and the prison craft to do it is vital, so we are putting incentive schemes in place to try to retain our most experienced staff and to understand, when they do leave, why they are doing so.

[Chris Green]

There is a huge opportunity for rehabilitation in prisons, which is often not taken. What rehabilitative capacity will this increase in prison officers create?

[Rory Stewart]

The central objective of bringing in 2,500 extra prison officers is to allow us to pair each individual prison officer with six prisoners, which allows them to develop their individual personal relationship over time through weekly meetings to achieve exactly the rehabilitative and educational objectives needed to reduce reoffending and protect the public.