Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he (a) holds information and (b) has received representations on increased recruitment and retention problems for prisons that are located close to but not within the London weighting qualifying area.

My Department has received representations from prisons that are close to London on their challenge of recruiting and retaining prison staff.

We have introduced several initiatives including financial rewards to address this issue.

We are also investing in the development and training of our prison staff and the infrastructure of our prisons, which will empower the Prison Service to meet recruitment and retention challenges.