Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Prisons Strategy White Paper–Response to Consultation Questions, published in June 2022, what funding his Department plans to allocate for the staff retention package, including on professional supervision for officers and training for staff.

Having experienced staff in our prisons is vital to ensuring prisons remain safe, secure and decent and we have introduced a number of initiatives since the publication of the Prison Strategy White Paper (PSWP).

In late 2021 we launched a retention tool kit to help Governors to tackle the main drivers of attrition in their prisons. We are using the data from this and enhanced exit interviews to better understand why employees leave.

Since April 2022, we have invested in several new initiatives, costing an additional £17 million, to improve the experience of our new joiners and increase retention. These include a new peer-to-peer learning scheme, the introduction of mentors for new prison officers, a supervision pilot in two prisons, and new leadership training in prisons with the highest attrition.

Through the PSWP, we also committed to the development of a suite of learning modules to support the needs of our diverse prison population. Funding for this activity is delivered through a number of budgets across the Department utilising both existing and new funding.