Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what mental health support his Department provides to people employed in the justice and custodial sector.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) recognises the importance of mental wellbeing and offers a wide range of mental health support to employees working in all its executive agencies and arm’s length bodies, which includes HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) and HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS). This is captured in our Mental Health Strategy. MoJ has a network of Mental Health Allies, trained staff volunteers, working across MoJ to support staff.

MoJ offers all staff access to an Occupational Health (OH) service. For staff working in HMPPS this includes additional access to specialist Mental Health Advisers. All MoJ staff have access to our Employee Assistance Provider (EAP). The service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. It includes:

• six free counselling sessions per year (these can be extended in certain circumstances)
• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Eye Movement Desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) where recommended by our OH providers.
• trauma and critical incident support.
• a range of workshops covering mental health for staff and line managers.

We have dedicated mental wellbeing intranet pages that all staff can access. Content includes, stress support tools and stress risk assessment forms, guidance for managers on how to support employees with mental ill health and links to external organisations. HMPPS offer staff “Live learning” programmes aimed at supporting the mental health of new Prison Officer recruits. Prison Officers are also supported by a variety of peer support groups such as Wellbeing Champions, the Chaplaincy Team, and Care teams.