Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of frontline prison staffing levels in the context of current prison population projections.

As prison capacity expands, total staffing requirements are increasing. The department carefully monitors resourcing levels to ensure that we can manage current staffing levels and make accurate predictions around future needs. Work is ongoing to define the workforce need in association with the new prisons and expansion projects.