Prison Officers

(asked on 12th June 2018) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department classifies prison officers as members of the uniformed services.


Answered by
 Portrait
Rory Stewart
This question was answered on 19th June 2018

Prison officers are classified as a uniformed service and are required to respond to emergencies on a daily basis as part of their duties and so may also be classified as “emergency workers” in some instances. The Ministry of Justice defines prison officers as emergency workers only for the purposes Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Bill which is due to have its second reading in the House of Lords on June 29. This means that the provisions the Bill introduces also extend to Prison Officers.

I strongly support the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Bill which will double the maximum sentence for an attack on our emergency service officers. That applies to an attack on the police, an attack on members of the fire service, an attack on health workers, and an attack on prison officers, who do such incredible work on behalf of the public.

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