Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many equal pay reviews there have been in his Department since 2010; what the dates were of those reviews; and whether his Department plans to undertake an equal pay review in 2019.

The Ministry of Justice conducts regular equality impact assessments on all proposed pay and policy changes and implementation. The MoJ operates a pay and grading structure where pay is defined by job weight and content.

HMPPS is responsible for preparing and submitting the Government’s annual evidence on Prison Officer’s pay to the independent Prison Service Pay Review Body. As part of this process, HMPPS looks at all equality issues based on the proposals and monitor the diversity of the remit group from available data. A full review was conducted in 2012 which resulted in the introduction of a new pay and grading structure and new ways of working (Fair and Sustainable) for Prison Officer grades. Fair and Sustainable was introduced to support pay equality, with salary determined by the requirements of the role based on the Job description.

An Equality Impact Assessment on pay in the National Probation Service was carried out in September 2018 as part of a project to reform its pay structure.