Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether mandatory random drug testing in prisons includes testing for nitrazenes.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
Since February 2024, all prisoners subject to mandatory drug testing in prisons have been tested for fentanyl, a potent synthetic opioid. We are working closely with our contracted drug testing provider to further improve our capabilities to test prisoners for other synthetic opioids, including nitazenes.
Forensic testing of suspected drug finds was made available to all public sector prisons in April 2023. Our contracted forensic analysis provider has capability to detect synthetic opioids including all fentanyls and nitazenes.
All prisons have a zero-tolerance approach to drugs and we are aware of the threat synthetic drugs present. Our current assessment is that there is a low prevalence of Nitazenes in prison custody. However, we are alert to the risks and continue to monitor this.
Our £100 million investment in tough security measures, such as X-ray body scanners, is helping tackle the supply of illicit drugs into prisons.
To prevent the smuggling of drugs through the mail, we have also invested in next-generation drug trace detection machines. As of March 2024, every public sector prison now has this cutting-edge technology.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidences of (a) assault and (b) serious assault were committed against prison staff at (i) HMP Long Lartin and (ii) HMP Whitemoor in each of the last four years.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
We publish the number of assaults and serious assaults against prison staff, broken down by establishment, as part of our Safety in Custody statistics, in Table 8e and 8f of the summary tables, available at the following link:
Totals for those occurring at HMP Long Lartin can be seen at row 94, and for HMP Whitemoor at row 151.
Improving the safety of staff and prisoners is our priority and while overall assault rates remain below pre-pandemic levels, we will continue to protect our hardworking staff through our £100 million security investment that led to X-ray body scanners, airport style security measures and drug dogs.
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 officers were deployed on detached duty to (a) HMP Long Lartin and (b) HMP Whitemoor in each of the last four years.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
Staff are deployed on national detached duty (NDD) as a tactical response to support prisons which require it, to cover staffing shortfalls or to meet other operational requirements. NDD is a vital contingency measure to assist H M Prison & Probation Service to maintain good order and security in prisons
The table below shows the average monthly deployment of full-time equivalent NDD staff to the two prisons between October 2022 and April 2024. HMP Whitemoor is no longer receiving NDD support. Except as shown in the table, no NDD staff were deployed to either site during the past four years.
Date | HMP Whitemoor | HMP Long Lartin |
Oct 2022 | 0 | 13.2 |
Nov 2022 | 0 | 36.25 |
Dec 2022 | 0 | 40.2 |
Jan 2023 | 0 | 40 |
Feb 2023 | 0 | 41 |
Mar 2023 | 0 | 37.4 |
Apr 2023 | 0 | 44.5 |
May 2023 | 0 | 61.6 |
Jun 2023 | 0 | 60.5 |
Jul 2023 | 4.5 | 55.75 |
Aug 2023 | 23.4 | 61.2 |
Sep 2023 | 31.25 | 65.5 |
Oct 2023 | 30 | 64 |
Nov 2023 | 31 | 65.4 |
Dec 2023 | 28.5 | 57 |
Jan 2024 | 27.5 | 46.75 |
Feb 2024 | 23.2 | 32.6 |
Mar 2024 | 13.25 | 27.5 |
Apr 2024 | 7.5 | 27 |
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department have made a risk assessment of prison officer vacancies in the Long Term High Security Estate.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
We closely monitor staffing levels across the estate via a number of internal governance forums, which assess the vacancy levels for individual prisons and across regions and functions, including the Long Term High Security Estate (LTHSE). Vacancies are one of a number of contributory factors that determine HMPPS' assessment of risk and stability within prisons. We will always ensure that prisons are sufficiently staffed to deliver safe and secure regimes. Where establishments feel that their staffing levels will affect stability or regime, including because of vacancies, there are a number of ways they can maximise the use of their own resource and seek support from other establishments in the short term, through processes managed nationally at Agency level. These include overtime payments and support via Detached Duty staff from other prisons.
We are continuing recruitment activity at all sites with a current or future need, including in the LTHSE. Nationally, we have seen a substantial improvement in the national staffing picture within prisons over the past year. The number of Band 3-5 prison officers increased by 1,634 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) between December 2022 and December 2023, and resignation rates have fallen over the same period. This is the result of significant efforts across the agency, including substantial increases in pay for staff, our first-ever nationwide advertising campaign, incentivized recruitment schemes where we incentivised applicants to relocate to ‘harder-to-staff’ sites, and the Prison Officer Alumni Network, where we have fast-tracked former staff back into the service.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what representations she has made to NICE on the availability of Enhertu.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The Department meets regularly with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to discuss a range of issues, including access to medicines. The NICE has recommended Enhertu, also known as trastuzumab deruxtecan and made by Daiichi Sankyo, for use through the Cancer Drugs Fund, for the treatment of HER2-positive metastatic or unresectable breast cancer. It is available to eligible National Health Service patients in England, in line with the NICE’s recommendations.
The NICE is currently evaluating Enhertu for the treatment of HER2-low metastatic or unresectable breast cancer. Following negotiations between NHS England and the company, which concluded without a commercial agreement to make it available at a cost-effective price for the NHS, the NICE published final draft guidance on 5 March 2024, that does not recommend it as an option for this indication. The NICE remains open to further discussions with NHS England and the company, and currently expects to publish final guidance on 15 May 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 people were released under the Release following Risk Assessed Recall review process between 7 September and 31 December 2023.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
In the case of recalled standard determinate sentence and extended sentence offenders, the Secretary of State has an executive power to re-release them, if he considers that the statutory release test is met - that is, that it is no longer necessary on the grounds of public protection for the offender to remain confined. Thus, the Secretary of State’s power is exercised with regard to the same test to which the Parole Board has regard.
The power is exercised by officials in the Public Protection Group (PPG), in His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service under approved delegated authority. In exercising that power, PPG works closely with the Probation Service, in order to put in place a robust risk management plan before a final decision is made to re-release the prisoner.
The number of recalled offenders released using the Secretary of State’s re-release power for each year between 2017 and 2023 is set out in the table below. Executive re-release was refreshed and relaunched as Risk Assessed Recall Review (RARR) on 30 May 2023. Between 7 September and 31 December 2023, 89 people were released following a RARR.
Year of issuing the decision | Number of releases |
2017 | 1,584 |
2018 | 1,386 |
2019 | 957 |
2020 | 725 |
2021 | 464 |
2022 | 92 |
2023 up to May | 20 |
The figures in these tables have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing. As such, figures are subject to change as information is updated.
Data source: Public Protection Unit Database (PPUD)
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 were released under the executive release scheme in each year between 2017 and 2023.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
In the case of recalled standard determinate sentence and extended sentence offenders, the Secretary of State has an executive power to re-release them, if he considers that the statutory release test is met - that is, that it is no longer necessary on the grounds of public protection for the offender to remain confined. Thus, the Secretary of State’s power is exercised with regard to the same test to which the Parole Board has regard.
The power is exercised by officials in the Public Protection Group (PPG), in His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service under approved delegated authority. In exercising that power, PPG works closely with the Probation Service, in order to put in place a robust risk management plan before a final decision is made to re-release the prisoner.
The number of recalled offenders released using the Secretary of State’s re-release power for each year between 2017 and 2023 is set out in the table below. Executive re-release was refreshed and relaunched as Risk Assessed Recall Review (RARR) on 30 May 2023. Between 7 September and 31 December 2023, 89 people were released following a RARR.
Year of issuing the decision | Number of releases |
2017 | 1,584 |
2018 | 1,386 |
2019 | 957 |
2020 | 725 |
2021 | 464 |
2022 | 92 |
2023 up to May | 20 |
The figures in these tables have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing. As such, figures are subject to change as information is updated.
Data source: Public Protection Unit Database (PPUD)
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many police detectives are employed by the counter corruption unit in HM Prison and Probation Service.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
No Police Detectives are directly employed by HMPPS. HMPPS has, however, funded 20 dedicated Police Detectives employed in Police Regional Organised Crime Units, to support in the investigation of corruption within the organisation.
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 there were for band 3 prison officers in the Long Term High Security Estate - South at the start of each year from 2017 to 2023.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
Following a period of staffing challenges after the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen a substantial improvement in the national staffing picture within prisons. The number of Band 3-5 prison officers has increased by 1,634 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) between December 2022 - 2023, and resignation rates have fallen over the same period. This is the result of significant efforts across the agency, including substantial increases in pay for staff and launching our first-ever nationwide advertising campaign.
Table One below shows the number of indicative vacancies for Band 3 Prison Officers in the Long Term & High Security Estate (for prisons in the South) for January 2018, January 2019, January 2020, January 2021, January 2022 and January 2023. Data is not held for the period January 2017 and has not been provided.
In reality, many establishments will routinely sit marginally below their Target Staffing level due to normal attrition and time to hire and so we would not expect establishments to run consistently at 100% staffing.
Where prisons are not at their Target Staffing level, these are routinely supplemented (e.g., by using Payment Plus, a form of overtime) which is not accounted for in the indicative vacancy data provided. 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 data.
Table One: Total Band 3 Prison Officer Indicative Vacancies across Long Term & High Security Estate (LTHSE) South, January 2018 to January 2023
Month | Indicative vacancies (FTE) |
Jan-18 | 104 |
Jan-19 | 14 |
Jan-20 | 62 |
Jan-21 | 86 |
Jan-22 | 127 |
Jan-23 | 323 |
Notes
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 18 April 2024 to Question 21066 on Prisons: Civil Disorder, how may Tornado trained officers each prison should aim to have trained.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
Operation Tornado is a national mutual aid plan by which prisons support one another in the event of a serious incident or occurrence requiring a reinforcement of staff. Operation Tornado is employed by HMPPS for three main reasons:
HMPPS aims to have 2,100 volunteers trained in readiness for Operation Tornado. Since the inception of Operation Tornado in the late 1980s, HMPPS has allocated a commitment to each prison for how many Tornado staff they should have trained. HMPPS monitors the number of staff available for deployment and offer training spaces to ensure resilience to respond to serious incidents.
In the event of a serious incident, all prisons, including those who have a commitment of zero, receive the same level of support from the Operation Response and Resilience Unit and Tornado trained staff from other prisons if required.
The requested information is in the table attached.