Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 1 May 2019 to Written Question 247090, Prison Officers: Resignations, for what reason private prison operators are not required to supply data relating to the length of service of their employees.

Information on numbers of staff employed at privately-managed prisons is commercially sensitive. The contracts between the Ministry of Justice and private prison providers require the contractor to be responsible for all staffing matters, including ensuring the availability of sufficiently trained and experienced staff to maintain safe and decent prisons. There is no requirement in the contracts to inform the Department of staffing levels in privately managed prisons, nor to agree those levels with the Department.

Each privately managed prison has a full-time on-site Controller employed by HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) whose role it is to monitor performance at the prison across a range of indicators.