Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of the funding allocated to his Department in Budget 2018 will be used to tackle violence in prisons.

We have committed to spending £30m to make improvements to the safety and decency of our prison estate and address the drivers of violence in prisons. We will do this through enhancing security and tackling drugs and continue our programme of decency upgrades. This latest investment is on top of the £40m announced over the summer, meaning a total of £70m is already being directed to tackling drugs and violence, and improving the basic conditions of our prisons.

But the Foundation of managing violence in prisons is of course our front line operational staff, whose work and service constitutes approximately £812m of our budget.*

* Front line operational staff defined as public sector Band 3 prison officers, Band 4 specialist officers and Band 5 Custodial Managers, across England and Wales, includes adults and youth prisons.