Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 4 March 2024 to Question 15927 on Prisons: Civil Disorder, whether there is a minimum staffing requirement for Tornado teams.

Operation Tornado is a national mutual aid plan by which prisons support one another in the event of a serious incident or occurrence requiring a reinforcement of staff. Operation Tornado is employed by HMPPS for three main reasons:

• In response to a serious incident requiring a reinforcement of staff.
• In response to other events or crisis requiring additional staff, who may not necessarily need to be Tornado trained.
• To aid the transfer of prisoners in the event of a serious incident or the threat of one (with the GOLD commander’s agreement).

There is no minimum staffing requirement for Tornado teams. HMPPS monitors the number of staff available for deployment and offer training spaces to ensure resilience to respond to serious incidents.