Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison officers have been placed under investigation for (a) less than one month, (b) between one and three months, (c) between three and six months, (d) between six and 12 months and (e) over 12 months due to alleged (i) misconduct and (ii) gross misconduct in each of the last three years.
Table 1a - Number of Prison Officers1,2 (headcount) subject to Conduct and Discipline investigations due to Misconduct, by length of investigation3, 2015/16 to 2017/18
| 2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 |
Less than one month | 123 | 138 | 130 |
Between one and three months | 144 | 162 | 138 |
Between three and six months | 18 | 16 | 18 |
Between six and 12 months | 5 | 11 | 4 |
Over 12 months | ~ | ~ | ~ |
Table 1b - Number of Prison Officers1,2 (headcount) subject to Conduct and Discipline investigations due to Gross Misconduct, by length of investigation3, 2015/16 to 2017/18
| 2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 |
Less than one month | 20 | 19 | 21 |
between one and three months | 111 | 103 | 118 |
between three and six months | 12 | 9 | 12 |
between six and 12 months | ~ | 5 | ~ |
over 12 months | 0 | 0 | 6 |
Notes:
1. Includes Band 3-4 / Prison Officer (incl. specialists), Band 4 / Supervising Officer and Band 5 / Custodial Managers.
2. Staff with at least one conduct and discipline case concluded during the year.
'~ denotes suppressed values of 2 or fewer or other values which would allow values of 2 or fewer to be derived by subtraction. Low numbers are suppressed to prevent disclosure in accordance with the Data Protection Act, 1998.