Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidences of (a) assault and (b) serious assault were committed against prison staff at (i) HMP Long Lartin and (ii) HMP Whitemoor in each of the last four years.

We publish the number of assaults and serious assaults against prison staff, broken down by establishment, as part of our Safety in Custody statistics, in Table 8e and 8f of the summary tables, available at the following link:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/662a24fb690acb1c0ba7e57c/Safety-in-custody-summary-q4-2023_final_table.xlsx.

Totals for those occurring at HMP Long Lartin can be seen at row 94, and for HMP Whitemoor at row 151.

Improving the safety of staff and prisoners is our priority and while overall assault rates remain below pre-pandemic levels, we will continue to protect our hardworking staff through our £100 million security investment that led to X-ray body scanners, airport style security measures and drug dogs.