Prison Officers: Dismissal
(asked on 29th January 2024) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what data his Department holds on the number of prison officers dismissed for having intimate relationships with prisoners for each year since 2014.
The number of band 3-5 prisons officers who were recommended for dismissal for having an inappropriate relationship with a prisoner/ex-prisoner is given in table 1 below. It is not recorded centrally whether the relationship was intimate or not.
Inappropriate relationships with prisoner(s) can result in conviction of criminal offence(s). This data does not include summary dismissals as a result of staff being convicted of criminal offences.
Table 1: Number of band 3-5 prison officers1,2 recommended for dismissal3 for having an inappropriate relationship with a prisoner/ex-prisoner, 2013/14 to 2022/23 | |||
(Headcount) | |||
Financial year | Number of band 3-5 prison officers recommended for dismissal | Average band 3-5 officers in post4 | Percentage of band 3-5 prison officers |
2013/14 | 8 | 20,682 | 0.04% |
2014/15 | 5 | 18,732 | 0.03% |
2015/16 | 4 | 19,068 | 0.02% |
2016/17 | ~ | 18,902 | ~ |
2017/18 | 3 | 20,250 | 0.01% |
2018/19 | 11 | 22,870 | 0.05% |
2019/20 | 8 | 23,167 | 0.03% |
2020/21 | 10 | 22,790 | 0.04% |
2021/22 | 13 | 23,054 | 0.06% |
2022/23 | 12 | 22,834 | 0.05% |
Notes |
1. Band 3-5 Officers includes Band 3-4 / Prison Officers (including specialists), Band 4 / Supervising Officers, and Band 5 / Custodial Managers. |
2. Staff with at least one conduct and discipline case concluded during the year |
3. A dismissal case is defined as where at least one of the charges relating to an individual is recommended for dismissal. Information on the outcomes of any appeal is not included. |
4. Average of quarterly snapshots based on headcount of staff. |
~ denotes suppressed values of 2 or fewer or other values which would allow values of 2 or fewer to be derived by subtraction. Low numbers are suppressed to prevent disclosure in accordance with the Data Protection Act, 2018. |
Dismissal due to inappropriate relationship with a prisoner/ex-prisoner is a very rare occurrence given public sector prisons have over 20,000 prison officers in employment.
Over the last few years we have continued to increase in capacity and deliver our counter-corruption strategy. Through the £100m Security Investment Programme announced in August 2019, over 100 new staff were recruited into the Counter Corruption Unit. This includes regional 'Prevent' teams, dedicated to building staff resilience through training, awareness raising and individual support.