Oral Answers to Questions

Daniel Kawczynski Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd April 2019 Commons Chamber

[Rory Stewart]

Yes, I absolutely can confirm that. In April, their wages will go from £7.83 to £8.21 an hour, which is the national living wage.

[Daniel Kawczynski (Shrewsbury and Atcham) (Con)]

14. What progress he has made on improving the safety of prison officers.

[The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Rory Stewart)]

Protecting our prison officers is vital to having safe prisons. In order to do this, we have doubled the maximum sentence for assaulting a prison officer; we are introducing body-worn cameras; we are rolling out PAVA spray; and we are ensuring, through the training and support we provide for prison officers and the work we do on drugs, that we keep our prisons safe.

[Daniel Kawczynski]

A key factor in the safety of prison officers is the number of these professionals in each prison. In an earlier response, the Minister said that the number was at a higher level than in any year since 2012. What is the number of prison officers at the moment and what plans does he have to increase the number of these professionals over the next 12 months?

[Rory Stewart]

We now have 4,300 additional prison officers, which is the highest level since 2012.