Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of (a) prison and (b) probation staff have undertaken suicide prevention training.

All new prison officers receive training in suicide and self-harm prevention as part of their seven-week Foundation training course.

For existing prison staff, there is a dedicated training module on suicide and self-harm. The training provides an understanding as to the context of self-harm and suicide within prisons, as well as the purpose and implementation of the Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT) process which is used to support prisoners identified as being at risk of suicide or self-harm.

Responsibility for delivering this training sits locally with prisons, therefore it is not possible to accurately assess the overall numbers who have received this training, due to local variations in how training is recorded.

There are two suicide prevention learning packages for Probation Staff as part of the current core national offer. One is a Zero Suicide Alliance package for all staff. The other is a package aimed at new entrant learners undertaking Professional Qualification in Probation (PQiP) and new Probation Service Officers which was developed internally as part of a broader Introduction to Mental Health.

The Introduction to Mental Health learning is designated as required for those undertaking the Professional Qualification in Probation (PQiP) and new Probation Service Officers (PSOs) in sentence management, both in custody and the community and is also accessed by established staff. The product contains knowledge modules around suicide and self-harm awareness.

The core national offer referenced is a comprehensive learning package which was recently introduced. Staff who were in post prior to this would have completed other core learning programmes.

It is important to note that whilst we collate completion figures for the current core learning, this does not represent the totality of suicide and self-harm prevention learning received by staff.

This is due to regionally organised activities and previous learning opportunities where data is not nationally held.