Oral Answers to Questions

Rachel Hopkins Excerpts

Tuesday 14th September 2021 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Hopkins (Luton South) (Lab)]

8. What discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the effect on the (a) recruitment, (b) retention, (c) safety and (d) morale of prison officers of raising the retirement age for that role to 68.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Alex Chalk)]

Our prison officers have done a truly remarkable job during the pandemic, and through their decisive actions and rapid contact tracing, literally hundreds if not thousands of prisoners’ lives have been saved. Although there are no plans to revisit the retirement age, we are pursuing a series of initiatives to boost morale, safety and retention, and ensure that prisons are as secure and rehabilitative as possible.

[Rachel Hopkins]

The Government have previously stated that because of the higher potential for serious injury and fatality among firefighters and police, they do not consider prison officers deserving of the same pension age protections and the right to retire at 60. With serious violence against staff still plaguing our prisons, does the Minister accept that the message received by prison officers is that they will have to wait until one of their own is killed in the line of duty before their safety concerns are taken seriously?

[Alex Chalk]

The hon. Lady makes an important point. Mercifully, during the pandemic violence has come down in prisons, which we welcome. It is also important not to make false comparisons. For example, employee contributions for police officers are at 12%, and 14% for fire officers, and 5.45% for prison officers. Of course we keep such matters under review. We made a generous offer in 2017 to bring forward the retirement date when the taxpayer would pay the entirety of employee contributions, but I regret that that was rejected by the POA.