Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department has spent on training prison officers on the use of PAVA spray.

We do not hold specific training costs for PAVA training. PAVA training is incorporated into Use of Force training, which is mandatory of all prison officers and as such it is not possible to isolate specific training costs.

We are committed to the rollout of PAVA to support our hardworking prison officers to do their jobs. PAVA is just one part of our approach to improve prison safety. PAVA spray is explicitly for the protection of staff, the protection of those in our care or to facilitate the safe withdrawal of staff. It will be used in exceptional circumstances where a member of staff is faced with serious violence, or the perceived threat of serious violence.