Prisons: Equality

(asked on 4th July 2022) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many equality staff work in prisons holding (a) men and (b) women by (i) their grade and (ii) the time allocated to their equalities work.


Answered by
Stuart Andrew Portrait
Stuart Andrew
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
This question was answered on 12th July 2022

HMPPS are considering the findings of the IMB / CRA reports and will act accordingly. We recognise that race disparities persist in the Criminal Justice System, and we are committed to actively tackling the impact of this across MoJ. In December 2020 HMPPS launched the Race Action Programme, which will increase the diversity of our workforce, address the risk of bias in our policies and tackle disparity in outcomes for prisoners, people on probation and children in our system.

The Female Offender Strategy also included a clear commitment to look at how the distinct needs of ethnic minority and non-British national women can be better addressed. This is being taken forward by the Female Offender Minority Ethnic working group, which brings together officials and stakeholders to work together to improve outcomes for this cohort of women.

There is no place for racial abuse in prisons, which should be safe, orderly and decent places for both prisoners and staff. As set out in the Prisons Strategy White Paper we are introducing training for staff in women’s prisons to address the diverse needs of all women in their care. This will include cultural competence training to equip our staff with an increased knowledge of the effects of culture, faith and sustaining family relationships for ethnically diverse communities, increasing their confidence and skills in supporting all offenders, including those subjected to racial abuse.

Information on the number, grade and allocated duties of equality staff is not held centrally. The majority of HMPPS PGDs have a dedicated Regional Equality Lead (Band 8 & Full Time) who coordinate activity and drive a regional strategy designed to best represent the unique situations arising in that part of the country, representative of the staff and prisoner population. Profiles for equalities work are decided at a local level to ensure they best fit the nature of individual establishments.

Reticulating Splines