Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the (a) average and (b) longest time for a new recruit to receive a full security check and begin work in prison.

The average time for a new prison officer recruit to receive a full security check in 2017 is 46 calendar days. This is for new officer recruits who are recorded as starting work in a Prison (data up to the end of September 2017), who applied between the 1^st January and 30^th September 2017.

The longest time for a new prison officer recruit to receive a full security check in 2017 is 141 calendar days. This is for new officer recruits who are recorded as starting work in a Prison (data up to the end of September 2017), who applied between the 1^st January and 30^th September 2017.