Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, to where those prisoners occupying the 172 cells referred to in Action Plan: HMP Liverpool, published on 19 January 2018, as being in an unacceptable condition were moved; and whether there has been an increase in two or more prisoners sharing cells at that prison since the inspection which provided the basis for that action plan.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The action plan for HMP Liverpool refers to 172 places [for prisoners] taken out of use at the prison. As these places were taken offline over a period of time and in consultation with the Governor at HMP Liverpool the capacity of the prison has been reduced since the Inspection.
These changes were managed as part of business as usual activity in the prison over a short period of time, this was possible due to the nature of HMP Liverpool’s role as a local prison with their high level of turnover of prisoners. There has been no increase in two or more prisoners sharing cells at the prison since the inspection, either in terms of number of individuals or in terms of percentage of the prison’s total population.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners were occupying the 172 cells referred to in Action Plan: HMP Liverpool, published on 19 January 2018, as being in an unacceptable condition prior to those cells being closed.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The action plan for HMP Liverpool refers to 172 places [for prisoners] taken out of use at the prison. As these places were taken offline over a period of time and in consultation with the Governor at HMP Liverpool the capacity of the prison has been reduced since the Inspection.
These changes were managed as part of business as usual activity in the prison over a short period of time, this was possible due to the nature of HMP Liverpool’s role as a local prison with their high level of turnover of prisoners. There has been no increase in two or more prisoners sharing cells at the prison since the inspection, either in terms of number of individuals or in terms of percentage of the prison’s total population.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans there are for the involvement of the Prison Officers Association and other staff representatives in developing HMP Liverpool’s annual training plan for 2018.
Answered by Rory Stewart
HMP Liverpool have commissioned a training needs analysis to look at the training needs of our staff for 2018-19. The local branch of the Prison Officers Association (POA) at HMP Liverpool will be invited to take part in these discussions by the Governor.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions his Department has had with the Prison Officers Association and other staff representatives on the future of HMP Liverpool.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The POA have been engaged locally by the new Governor of HMP Liverpool, on the issues raised by the inspectorate. The Governor is committed to ongoing engagement as improvement plans are implemented.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to publish his Department's action plan for HMP Liverpool.
Answered by Rory Stewart
HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) undertook an inspection of HMP Liverpool on 4-15 September 2017. The report of that inspection and the corresponding action plan were published on Friday 19 January. The plan sets out our actions to respond to issues which the inspectorate has raised.
The action plan along with the HMIP inspection report for HMP Liverpool can be found on prison finder at http://www.justice.gov.uk/contacts/prison-finder/liverpool
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans his Department has to invest in the refurbishment of prisons in (a) England, (b) the North West and (c) HM Prison Liverpool in the next five years.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The Ministry of Justice resource and capital budget for major (centrally funded) investment in existing prison buildings in England and Wales for 2017/18 is £93.7m. Future years’ budget allocations have not yet been confirmed.
There are around 175 major capital and resource projects underway or planned to start in 2017/18 or 2018/19 in prisons in England. The table below shows the major capital and resource projects in the North West region (including at HMP Liverpool) underway or planned to start in 2017/18 and 2018/19. Projects are subject to reprioritisation depending on the priorities of the estate and confirmed funding. New projects have not yet been confirmed as included in investment programmes from 2019/20 onwards.
Financial Year | Establishment | Project Scope |
2017-18 (underway or planned to start) | Garth | Replace heating system |
Hindley | Re-role works, replacement of heating main, flat roofing and key work building, gym and chapel roofing | |
Kirkham | Regime hangars* | |
Lancaster Farms | Re-role works | |
Liverpool | Fire alarm upgrade, gable end repairs to F&I wings, cell door replacement | |
Manchester | DDA adaptions | |
Risley | Workshop roof replacement | |
Styal | Refurbish gate and visitors’ area | |
Thorncross | Fire safety | |
Wymott | Gate controls, workshop roof, A&B wing refurbishment | |
2018-19 (planned to start) | Haverigg | Fire safety |
Hindley | Fire safety | |
Risley | Fire safety |
The Government stated its ambition for the prison estate transformation programme in the November 2016 Prison Safety and Reform White Paper, which set out that we want a prison estate that is less crowded, better organised, and that is increasingly made up of modern, fit for purpose accommodation.
* Regime Hangars are pre-second world war aircraft hangars within the grounds of the prison.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to tackle (a) violence, (b) drug use, (c) use of drones and (d) use of mobile phones in prison.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The level of violence in our prisons is too high. Illicit trade in items such as mobile phones and drugs – facilitated by supply routes such as drones – is a significant driver of the increase in assaults on staff and other prisoners.
We are fully committed to addressing the increase in violence and assaults by increasing staffing levels and improving prisoner-staff relationships. We are making swift progress in strengthening the frontline, with 20,003 individual prison officers in post at the end of August – an increase of 1,290 since October 2016. Alongside this, we are moving to a new key worker model which will mean every residential prison officer supporting a caseload of around 6 prisoners. This will mean prisoners have a consistent, named officer to challenge and support them away from violence and reoffending. We have invested in 5,600 body-worn cameras across the prison estate, rolled out alongside training in staff interaction with prisoners, to support better relationships and give high-quality evidence to support prosecutions where assaults do take place.
We are likewise determined to tackle the illegal flow of drugs and mobile phones into our prisons. Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) has established national and regional intelligence units, which are working with law enforcement partners to develop intelligence on offenders who are involved in the illicit economy, so that we can carry out operations to find and disrupt criminal activity in prisons. We are building on this by investing £3 million to create an HMPPS Serious Organised Crime Unit, which will work closely with the Home Office and police forces to further disrupt organised crime in prisons.
We are the first jurisdiction in the world to develop tests for psychoactive substances in prisons, and are using these and over 300 trained sniffer dogs in order to detect those using and supplying them. Anyone found with contraband will be subject to disciplinary action and police investigation. We have invested £2 million to equip every prison in England and Wales with technology to strengthen searching and security, including portable detection poles which can be deployed at fixed points such as reception, and extra portable signal detectors to use on the wings to support searches. We are working with mobile network operators to deliver ground-breaking technology, which will stop mobiles smuggled into prisons from working.
We are also bearing down on the supply routes through which illicit items enter prisons. To date, there have been over 40 arrests and 15 convictions of criminals involved in drone activity – resulting in those convicted being sentenced to a total of more than 40 years in jail. In April 2017 we set up a specialist team of prison and police officers to improve our efforts to intercept and capture drones and bring the criminals involved to justice. We are working closely with government partners on the UK’s response to the drone threat and the development of counter drone technology. This is keeping us at the forefront of the work being progressed nationally and internationally to stop criminal use of drones.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many staff at HM Prison Liverpool have suffered injury in each of the last 12 years.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The table below shows how many injuries to staff there have been at HMP Liverpool in each of the last 12 years.
HMP Liverpool | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010* |
Staff Injuries | 152 | 140 | 124 | 76 | 23 | 116 |
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* Data migrated to electronic system
HMP Liverpool | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
Staff Injuries | 209 | 140 | 142 | 174 | 216 | 222 | 119 |
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Note: These figures have been drawn from HMP Liverpool’s incident reporting system. Care is taken when recording and processing the incidents, but the data are not independently verified, and the detail collected is subject to the potential for inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale data recording system.
We are determined to give officers the tools they need to manage violent offenders – investing £2million in body-worn cameras which will act as a visible deterrent against violence and assist with prosecutions, as well as introducing new style handcuffs and piloting PAVA incapacitant spray. Violence against our dedicated staff will never be tolerated which is why we are supporting legislation to increase sentences for those who attack emergency workers, including prison officers.
In addition, more officers on the wings will improve the safety of our prisons. That is why we are investing £100 million to boost the front line. We have already recruited 1,290 extra prison officers over the past year.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will publish the (a) running costs and (b) budget for HM Prison Liverpool in each of the last 12 years.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
Her Majesty’s Prisons and Probation Service (HMPPS), routinely publishes average costs per prisoner, costs per prison place and overall prison unit costs for each private and public sector prison in England and Wales. This information is produced on an annual basis and is published after the end of each financial year.
The most recent published figures for financial year 2016-17 can be accessed on the www.gov.uk website from the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/prison-performance-statistics-2016-to-2017
Individual prison unit costs, including HMP Liverpool’s resource costs, can be found within the Excel document Costs per prison place and cost per prisoner by individual prison establishment in the ‘Cost by Establishment’ tab.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison officers were employed in (a) England, (b) the North West and (c) HM Prison Liverpool in each of the last 12 years.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
Information on the number of prison officers employed in England, North West and HM Prison Liverpool in the last 12 years is contained in table 1 below.
HMP Liverpool was a pathfinder site which meant that it was prioritised for the recruitment of prison officers.
Table 1: Band 3-5 Officers employed in England, the North West and HM Prison Liverpool (Full Time Equivalent), as at 31 March 2006-2017
| England | North West1 | HM Prison Liverpool |
31/03/2006 | 23,621 | 2,216 | 428 |
31/03/2007 | 23,783 | 2,251 | 428 |
31/03/2008 | 24,224 | 2,372 | 407 |
31/03/2009 | 24,877 | 2,363 | 384 |
31/03/2010 | 24,111 | 2,272 | 376 |
31/03/2011 | 23,672 | 2,185 | 338 |
31/03/2012 | 22,073 | 2,027 | 300 |
31/03/2013 | 20,858 | 1,908 | 290 |
31/03/2014 | 17,672 | 1,614 | 262 |
31/03/2015 | 17,641 | 1,625 | 251 |
31/03/2016 | 17,723 | 1,604 | 245 |
31/03/2017 | 17,534 | 1,558 | 280 |
Notes:
1. Information reflects the latest regional prison management structure, which is not the structure in place throughout the time series. The prisons included in the North West region are Buckley Hall, Haverigg, Hindley, Kennet, Kirkham, Lancaster, Lancaster Farms, Liverpool, Preston, Risley, Thorn Cross, Wymott.