Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many trainee probation officers have resigned from the service within (a) one week, (b) one month and (c) three months of starting their role as a trainee probation officer.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The recruitment team has worked extensively to improve candidate experience by broadening the information and communication channels available to potential applicants, to help reduce attrition. This includes interactive webinars for successful candidates to ensure new trainees are starting the role with a clear understanding of their responsibilities, the organisation, and the trainee programme. We have also reviewed the trainee learning and development curriculum to improve learner experience and have launched a refreshed induction in March 2024.
For the period from 16 October 2016 to 31 December 2023, there have generally been two cohorts of Trainee Probation Officers who started training each year. Out of the people undertaking this training:
10 individuals resigned in the period up to one week after the start date of their PQiP training course.
23 resigned in the period of over a week but up to and including one month after the start date of their PQiP training course.
57 resigned in the period of over one month up to and including three months after the start date of their PQiP training course.
For the two cohorts across 22/23 there were 1,514 starters, for the two cohorts across 21/22 there were 1,518 starters and for the two cohorts across 20/21 there were 1,007 starters. We are unable to provide data on 23/24 at the current time as this would pre-empt the next set of published data, which will be released on Thursday 16 May 2024.
Notes:
1. Includes staff on Trainee Probation Officer (PQiP) courses. A considerable majority of these individuals are of the Probation Services Officer grade.
2. Resignation date taken as the last day of service. Date that resignation handed in is not available.
3. Staff who left for other reasons are not included.
5. In order to arrive at this information there had to be some data matching from a trainee probation officer staff list to staff who left to separate out trainees from substantive Probation Services Officers. In instances where data from the staff list was incomplete with data such as relevant staff ID then matching may not have been possible.
6. Data on the number of starters each financial year can be found in the March edition of the Probation Officer Recruitment Annex (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6464f746d3231e001332db9d/annex-probation-officer-recruitment-March-2023_final.ods).
7. It should be noted that a considerable number of trainees withdraw from PQiP training but remain in HMPPS. For information on withdrawal and leaving rates from PQiP training, please see Table Three of Probation Officer Recruitment Annex.
8. In January 2023, a considerable number of PQiPs onboarded early to the Probation Service. For the purposes of this response, we have looked at the time of resignation following the time at which they started their PQiP training course. If any of these individuals left the service before starting their PQiP training course, they have been excluded from this analysis.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many vacancies in the probation service there are as of 16 April 2024, by region.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
I refer the honourable Member to the answer I gave on Wednesday 20 March to Question 18474. Data was provided on the average number of vacancies for the month of December 2023, in line with our latest published workforce statistics (which present data up to 31 December 2023).
We are unable to provide a more up-to-date number of vacancies at the current time (for periods following December 2023) as this would pre-empt the next set of published data, which will be released on Thursday 16 May 2024. Once updated staffing data have been published in May, including data up to 31 March 2024, we will then be able to respond to questions for vacancy data up to and including March 2024.
Recruitment and retention remain a priority across the Probation Service and we have injected extra funding of more than £155 million a year since 2021 to deliver more robust supervision, recruit more staff and reduce caseloads to keep the public safer.
We have recruited a record 4,039 trainee Probation Officers between 2020/21 and 2022/23 and we expect these intakes to qualify by the end of 2024 and begin to take on Probation Officer caseloads.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Answer of 16 May 2023 to question 183900 on Sanitary Products: VAT, what steps he has taken to review whether the zero-rating for VAT on period products is being passed on by retailers to women in the last 12 months.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government monitors publicly available data to assess the extent to which reliefs are passed through after their introduction, and is keen to ensure that the savings achieved through tax reliefs reach the intended recipients. We have engaged with stakeholders over the last 12 months to ensure they commit to passing on the savings realised from the zero-rating of period products, including following the expansion of the relief to period underwear in January 2024.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many vacancies for band (a) three, (b) four and (c) five prison officers there are as of 16 April 2024, by (i) prison and (ii) region.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We are doing more than ever to attract and retain the best staff, including boosting salaries and launching our first-ever nationwide advertising campaign. These efforts are working - we have over 4,800 FTE additional officers between March 2017 and December 2023 and retention rates for prison staff are improving.
Our latest published HMPPS workforce statistics present data up to 31 December 2023. While you have asked for data as at 16 April 2024, we are unable to provide data for periods following December 2023 as this could pre-empt the next set of published Staff in Post data, which will be released on Thursday 16 May 2024. Once updated staffing data have been published in May, including data up to 31 March 2024, we will then be able to consider questions related to vacancy data up to and including March 2024.
In December 2023, across the whole of the Public Sector Prison estate in England and Wales (including the Youth Custody Service) for Band 3-5 Prison Officers, Staff in Post was 63 FTE below the Target Staffing level. This figure is a combination of indicative vacancies at prisons with Staff in Post below their Target Staffing level and the indicative number of surplus staff at other prisons where Staff in Post is above their Target Staffing level. Where possible, prisons with surplus staff are likely to be sending those staff to work on Detached Duty at prisons with vacancies. At times, we have intentionally over-recruited in certain prisons or regions to give the system wider resilience and where prisons are not at their Target Staffing level. Use of Detached Duty, a long-standing mechanism to deploy staff from one prison or region to support another, is also not reflected in the indicative vacancies number.
In December 2023, there were just under 790 FTE Band 3-5 Prison Officer indicative vacancies across individual Public Sector Prison establishments in England and Wales, where Staff in Post was below their Target Staffing level, and just over 720 FTE indicative number of surplus staff across individual Public Sector Prison establishments, in establishments where Staff in Post was above their Target Staffing level.
Table One (below) shows the total Band 3, Band 4 and Band 5 Prison Officer indicative vacancies (FTE) across Public Sector Prisons England & Wales, by region, as of December 2023. Table Two attached shows total Band 3, Band 4 and Band 5 Prison Officer indicative vacancies (FTE) across Public Sector Prisons England & Wales, by region, December 2023.
Table One: Total Band 3, Band 4 and Band 5 Prison Officer indicative vacancies (FTE) across Public Sector Prisons England & Wales, by region (summed from the establishment level in Annex A), December 2023 |
| |||
Region | Band 3 Indicative Vacancies | Band 4 Indicative Vacancies | Band 5 Indicative Vacancies | |
Avon, South Dorset and Wiltshire Prisons | 30 | 6 | 5 |
|
Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk Prisons | 10 | 13 | 6 |
|
Cumbria & Lancashire Prisons | 0 | 6 | 5 |
|
Devon and North Dorset Prisons | 12 | 3 | 0 |
|
East Midlands Prisons | 22 | 7 | 14 |
|
Greater Manchester, Merseyside & Cheshire Prisons | 0 | 8 | 4 |
|
Hertfordshire, Essex and Suffolk Prisons | 11 | 8 | 0 |
|
Kent, Surrey and Sussex Prisons | 59 | 10 | 9 |
|
London Prisons | 13 | 36 | 22 |
|
Long Term High Security Estate - North | 12 | 23 | 7 |
|
Long Term High Security Estate - South | 259 | 49 | 33 |
|
North East Prisons | 0 | 12 | 10 |
|
North Midlands Prisons | 0 | 8 | 7 |
|
South Central Prisons | 48 | 25 | 7 |
|
West Midlands Prisons | 0 | 10 | 15 |
|
Women's Prison Group | 25 | 3 | 9 |
|
Yorkshire Prisons | 4 | 4 | 10 |
|
Youth Custody Services* | - | - | 31 |
|
Wales | 36 | 4 | 1 |
|
| 541 | 237 | 196 | |
* In addition, there were 76 FTE vacancies across the Band 3 and 4 grades combined for the Youth Custody Services. In the Youth Custody Services there are a considerable number of staff employed at Band 3 grade working against the Band 4 target as they work towards becoming Band 4 Youth Justice Workers. As a result, we have merged the Band 3 and 4 grades for these five institutions.
Notes on data in this response
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of people on community sentences were assessed under the offender assessment system as lacking stable accommodation in the last year for which figures are available.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We are delivering our groundbreaking transitional accommodation service, known as Community Accommodation Service – Tier 3 (CAS-3), so prison-leavers who are subject to probation supervision have a guaranteed 12-weeks of basic, temporary accommodation to provide a stable base on release. By January 2023, the proportion of offenders housed on the first night of their release from custody was 7.6 percentage points higher in CAS3 regions versus non-CAS3 regions.
Data for accommodation outcomes on the first night of release from custody, broken down by sentence length, is published in the Community Performance Annual Statistics.
Data for accommodation outcomes for people on community sentences is not collected at commencement of order; however, data from the case management system in relation to accommodation 3 months after commencement is published.
Latest statistics for April 2022 to March 2023 for both are available here: Community Performance Annual, update to March 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Accommodation data for releases from remand could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of people who were released from remand had no fixed address in each of the last three years.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We are delivering our groundbreaking transitional accommodation service, known as Community Accommodation Service – Tier 3 (CAS-3), so prison-leavers who are subject to probation supervision have a guaranteed 12-weeks of basic, temporary accommodation to provide a stable base on release. By January 2023, the proportion of offenders housed on the first night of their release from custody was 7.6 percentage points higher in CAS3 regions versus non-CAS3 regions.
Data for accommodation outcomes on the first night of release from custody, broken down by sentence length, is published in the Community Performance Annual Statistics.
Data for accommodation outcomes for people on community sentences is not collected at commencement of order; however, data from the case management system in relation to accommodation 3 months after commencement is published.
Latest statistics for April 2022 to March 2023 for both are available here: Community Performance Annual, update to March 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Accommodation data for releases from remand could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people that had served sentences of 12 months or less were released from custody without a permanent address in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We are delivering our groundbreaking transitional accommodation service, known as Community Accommodation Service – Tier 3 (CAS-3), so prison-leavers who are subject to probation supervision have a guaranteed 12-weeks of basic, temporary accommodation to provide a stable base on release. By January 2023, the proportion of offenders housed on the first night of their release from custody was 7.6 percentage points higher in CAS3 regions versus non-CAS3 regions.
Data for accommodation outcomes on the first night of release from custody, broken down by sentence length, is published in the Community Performance Annual Statistics.
Data for accommodation outcomes for people on community sentences is not collected at commencement of order; however, data from the case management system in relation to accommodation 3 months after commencement is published.
Latest statistics for April 2022 to March 2023 for both are available here: Community Performance Annual, update to March 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Accommodation data for releases from remand could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of trends in energy bills over the last 24 months for people living in residential properties with third party communal heating systems.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Department does not collect energy bill data for communal heating consumers. We are introducing regulation from Spring 2025 to appoint Ofgem as the heat network regulator and will provide Ofgem powers to monitor communal heat prices. The Government has already invested over £55 million on Heat Network support through the Energy Bills Discount Scheme, which is estimated to have reduced the average bill per supported customer by £1200 over the last year.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison (a) officers and (b) other staff have been (i) investigated, (ii) arrested and (iii) charged in relation to (A) drug smuggling and (B) corruption at HMP Five Wells in the last 18 months.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
There is no place for any form of corruption or unacceptable behaviour in the Prison Service. Such behaviour is contrary to our core values and will not be tolerated. The Ministry of Justice’s Counter Corruption Unit and Tackling Unacceptable Behaviour Unit are working to ensure that professional standards of behaviour are maintained.
In relation to the various items of information requested, it is necessary to consider whether providing information in relation to a small number of cases could lead to the identification of individuals, in a way that would constitute a breach of our statutory obligations under data protection legislation. As we believe that the release of this information would risk such identification, it is not possible to provide the figures requested.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps her Department has taken to ensure that people living in residential properties with third party energy supplies can be covered by the energy price cap.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The price cap was applied to domestic default tariffs to address a specific issue identified by the CMA in how suppliers priced these tariffs. No such issue was identified for commercial contracts, such as those procured by landlords to serve tenants. Consumers supplied via landlords are protected under Ofgem’s Maximum Resale Price Provisions.
On 5 April, Government published a summary of responses to the domestic customers on non-domestic tariffs CfE, summarising the issues identified and the actions being taken to address the issues. Government will consider whether any further actions are required once the current measures being undertaken have embedded.