Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to improve working conditions for prison officers.

Prison officers work in difficult environments every day, with some of the most challenging people in our society and we recognise their critical importance in keeping the public safe. We strive to ensure that they work in safe and decent conditions.

To protect staff from serious assaults, PAVA, a synthetic pepper spray, is available for prison officers to use in the adult male estate. Over 13,000 next generation Body Worn Video Cameras are available across public sector prisons, meaning every Band 3-5 officer can wear a camera whilst on shift. This provides high-quality evidence to support prosecutions against those who commit assaults on staff.

We provide extensive mental health support, including a 24-hour helpline, confidential counselling, and online wellbeing services. Our Trauma Risk Management practitioners and Care Teams provide further support following any incidents while on duty. The Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) offers confidential 24/7 telephone helpline for counselling and provides a range of wellbeing and health promotion workshops. We offer a range of services to support staff wellbeing, which include Care Teams and Mental Health Allies, who are trained to provide support and signposting to any member of staff involved in an incident within the prison or when conducting official duties, present in all public sector prisons.

We recognise prison officers deserve a fair reward for their challenging work. That is why one of the first actions of this Government was accepting the independent pay review body recommendations for 2024/2025, delivering a 5% pay rise, raising officers’ starting salaries to over £34,000. We value the work of our recognised Trade Unions in representing the views of their members, and Ministers will continue to engage with them to improve working conditions going forward.