Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which external speakers have given speeches at events run by his Department for service people since 2019.
Answered by Andrew Murrison
The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has hired Graham Potter to give a speech to service people in the Falkland Islands in the last 12 months.
Answered by Andrew Murrison
The Ministry of Defence has not hired Graham Potter to provide a speech to Service personnel in the Falkland Islands over the last 12 months.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much has been paid to prison officers at HMP Wandsworth as Payment Plus in each year since 1 January 2020.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
“Payment Plus” is a form of overtime, used to cover any vacancies and ensure that the minimum staffing level required by the Regime Management Plan is met, and that a safe and decent regime can be delivered.
HMP Wandsworth is being provided with continuing support through local detached duty staff and allocated “Payment Plus” hours. The prison regularly reviews the level of regime it is able safely to deliver and will continue to receive support as required.
The money spent on “Payment Plus” at HMP Wandsworth since 1 January 2020 is provided in the table below:
Period | Payment Plus (£)1 |
1 Jan 2020 – 31 Mar 2020 | 330,917 |
1 Apr 2020 – 31 Mar 2021 | 975,818 |
1 Apr 2021 – 31 Mar 2022 | 860,960 |
1 Apr 2022 – 31 Mar 2023 | 1,261,456 |
1 Apr 2023 – 31 Jan 2024 | 1,209,806 |
1These are provisional figures, which may include work at other establishments by staff based at HMP Wandsworth.
We have committed to recruiting up to 5,000 additional prison officers across public and private prisons by the mid-2020s.
There has been a fall in the resignation rate among Band 3-5 officers, of 2.4 percentage points in the year up to 30 December 2023 compared to the previous year.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing funding for the legal teams of the families involved in the Essex mental health independent inquiry.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The Department announced on 28 June 2023 that the Essex Mental Health Inquiry was converted to a statutory inquiry under the Inquiries Act 2005. This is now known as the Lampard Inquiry.
This is an independent inquiry and the decision to make payment of any legal fees for work on the statutory inquiry is a matter for the Chair, Baroness Kate Lampard. As such, the Department does not get involved with the decision to award fees for legal work on this inquiry. The Department has no legal basis for payment of any legal fees incurred for any work before the conversion of the inquiry to a statutory footing.
The Chair of the inquiry launched a public consultation on the terms of reference for the inquiry in November 2023, whereby families and other stakeholders had the opportunity to represent their views on the proposed terms of reference. My Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, would welcome a meeting with the families to discuss the terms of reference. The meeting will be arranged in due course.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she plans to meet families involved in the Essex mental health independent inquiry to discuss the terms of reference for that inquiry.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The Department announced on 28 June 2023 that the Essex Mental Health Inquiry was converted to a statutory inquiry under the Inquiries Act 2005. This is now known as the Lampard Inquiry.
This is an independent inquiry and the decision to make payment of any legal fees for work on the statutory inquiry is a matter for the Chair, Baroness Kate Lampard. As such, the Department does not get involved with the decision to award fees for legal work on this inquiry. The Department has no legal basis for payment of any legal fees incurred for any work before the conversion of the inquiry to a statutory footing.
The Chair of the inquiry launched a public consultation on the terms of reference for the inquiry in November 2023, whereby families and other stakeholders had the opportunity to represent their views on the proposed terms of reference. My Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, would welcome a meeting with the families to discuss the terms of reference. The meeting will be arranged in due course.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when she last met with the families involved with the Essex Mental Health Statutory Public Inquiry.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The Department announced on 28 June 2023 that the Essex Mental Health Inquiry was converted to a statutory inquiry under the Inquiries Act 2005. This is now known as the Lampard Inquiry.
This is an independent inquiry and the decision to make payment of any legal fees for work on the statutory inquiry is a matter for the Chair, Baroness Kate Lampard. As such, the Department does not get involved with the decision to award fees for legal work on this inquiry. The Department has no legal basis for payment of any legal fees incurred for any work before the conversion of the inquiry to a statutory footing.
The Chair of the inquiry launched a public consultation on the terms of reference for the inquiry in November 2023, whereby families and other stakeholders had the opportunity to represent their views on the proposed terms of reference. My Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, would welcome a meeting with the families to discuss the terms of reference. The meeting will be arranged in due course.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of the total morbidity burden in England is accounted for by mental health.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
According to the most recent Global Burden of Disease publication, mental health problems accounted for 15.4% of the total burden of disease in England in 2019.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 1 February 2024 to Question 11801 on Prison Officers: Labour Turnover, how many and what proportion of prison officers recruited at Wandsworth Prison in 2023 had left the prison service on 9 February 2024.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
The quarterly HMPPS workforce statistics publication covers staffing information, including leavers, and the latest publication covers data up to 31 December 2023. Figures covering data up to 31 March 2024 are due for publication on 16 May 2024 and therefore this information cannot be released.
In the period from 01 January 2023 to 31 December 2023, there were 113 band 3-5 prison officers who joined HMP Wandsworth. Details of the number and proportion who have left HMPPS as of 31 December 2023 are given in the table below.
Table 1: Status of band 3-5 prison officers (1) who joined (2) HMP Wandsworth between 01 January 2023 and 31 December 2023 - as of 31 December 2023
Remained or left | Headcount | Percentage |
Working in public sector prisons (including YCS) | 106 | 93.8% |
Left HMPPS altogether | 7 | 6.2% |
Total | 113 | 100.0% |
Notes to table 1:
(1) Includes Bands 3-4 / Prison Officer (incl specialists), Band 4 / Supervising Officer and Band 5 / Custodial Managers.
(2) New recruits joining HMPPS - does not include internal transfers or conversions.
Across HMPPS, retention continues to be a priority. Exit interviews have been in place since 2021 to determine the reasons for leaving and appropriate action needed. Retention strategies and toolkits based around drivers of attrition, such as leadership and career progression, have been in place since 2021 to determine appropriate national and local interventions.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many days HMP Wandsworth has been at a (a) red, (b) amber-red and (c) amber-green operating state since 1 February 2023.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
During the period since 1 Feb 2023, the regime at the prison has been at Green-Amber status for three weeks, and at Amber-Red for 51 weeks. Amber-Red confers that a safe, decent, secure, resilient and sustainable regime is being delivered, including purposeful activities, showers and exercise, and all essential services.
To improve regime delivery there has been significant focus on the recruitment of staff at HMP Wandsworth, with 66 new prison officers currently in training and being deployed to the prison in the coming weeks. In the meantime, HMP Wandsworth is being provided with continuing support through additional “Payment Plus” hours, equivalent to 39 additional prison officers. The Prison will continue to receive support as required and regularly reviews the level of regime it is able safely to deliver.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much his Department has paid in compensation to affected Equitable Life policyholders as of 8 February 2024.
Answered by Bim Afolami
The Government allocated £1.5 billion to the Equitable Life Payment Scheme. Before it ceased operations in 2016, the Scheme issued £1.12 billion in tax-free payments to nearly 933,000 policyholders. The remainder of the £1.5 billion has been set aside for future payments to the With-Profits Annuitants. Further information is available in the Final Report on the Scheme. (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/equitable-life-payment-scheme-final-report).
At 31 December 2023, the total value of payments made by the Equitable Life Payment Scheme was £1,330,835,466.52.