Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service workforce quarterly: June 2021, published on 19 August 2021, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the (a) increase in the leaving rate for Band 3-5 prison officers and (b) fall in the proportion of Band 3-5 prison officers in post with 10 years or more of experience on (i) safety in custody and (ii) rehabilitation of prisoners.

Having experienced staff is vital to ensuring prisons remain safe, secure and decent and support prisoners to lead crime free lives when they are released. HMPPS recognises the importance of retaining staff and is committed to improving retention. We want prison officers to stay and progress their careers and as such have improved our induction processes to ease transition into the job, provide care and support for our staff and offer additional training. Work to develop clear career paths and professionalise the service continues, and this should provide development and promotion opportunities for our experienced staff.

Keeping our staff safe is of utmost importance. As such we are taking action to improve prison safety and security, alongside reforms to overhaul the system to focus on the rehabilitation of offenders. This includes the rolling out of PAVA (a synthetic pepper spray), Rigid Bar Handcuffs and Body Worn Video Cameras to prison officers across the estate which protect our staff and prisoners as they provide high-quality evidence to support prosecutions. We are also currently developing a new Safety Skills training package which will be delivered to new and existing staff.

As part of the Offender Management in Custody (OMiC) model we have introduced a personal key worker for every prisoner. Key workers provide regular personalised support to prisoners to address issues which may lead to violence or self-harm at an early stage. We continue to upskill staff in effective use of ACCT (Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork) and CSIP (Challenge, Support and Intervention Plan), the case management models for reducing suicide and self-harm and violence in prisons.

In the 12 months to March 2021, the number of assaults decreased 40% from the 12 months to March 2021. Prior to the pandemic there was an overall reduction of 8% in assault incidents in the 12 months to March 2020.