Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what industrial disputes are ongoing within (a) her Department and (b) each of the arm’s length bodies connected to her Department; how many (i) staff and (ii) contractors are involved in each dispute; what the form of industrial action is in each dispute; which recognised trade union is involved in each dispute; what the substantive matter is that is being disputed in each case; and what steps she plans to take to end each dispute.

No Ministry of Justice (excluding HMPPS) recognised trade union, or trade union recognised by Ministry of Justice contractors, currently holds a mandate to call industrial action.

HMPPS has one industrial dispute. NAPO (National Association of Probation Officers) is in dispute with HMPPS on pay and workload. Industrial action would potentially range from refusal to work overtime to days of strike action. HMPPS is in full pro-active engagement with NAPO to avert this.

The intention of HMPPS is to resolve the workload situation through resetting the work of probation with some tasks already removed.

On pay, at present, NAPO is content that without prejudice talks for 25/26 will commence in the near future. On workload reduction they are actively engaged in talks with HMPPS.