Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether contingency plans for staffing in private prisons includes moving staff across different prisons to fill any gaps; and if he will publish his Department's contingency plans for staffing in private prisons.

Staffing is the responsibility of private prison operators as they are responsible for the daily operational running of individual prison establishments. They have their own contingencies that allows movement across the different prisons that they operate and from their wider business. In addition, we have contingences and contractual mechanisms that allow operators to request support from HM Prison Service, if any prison is not able to operate safely. These arrangements have been reviewed and updated to reflect Covid-19 challenges that have affected all prisons. We do not publish our contingency plans with privately managed prisons as these form part of the commercial contracts that we have with them.

The Ministry of Justice does not hold information centrally on the number of courses presently taking place, or the proportion enrolled at privately managed prisons. Data is, however, held about the overall course completion at each site.