Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 1 November 2021 to Question 64697, Prisons: Industrial Health and Safety, whether he has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of HMPPS adopting the Safe Inside Prisons Charter published by the Joint Unions in Prisons Alliance and updated in 2021; and if he will make a statement.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) will continue to progress this and to work collaboratively with the Joint Unions in Prisons Alliance (JUPA) who now meet quarterly with to engage on safety matters.

JUPA are aware that it is through our recognised trade unions that we must progress matters of safety which impact on staff. In this respect, the proposed Charter could only be considered if it was to be inclusive of all our recognised trade unions and, also, of the third-party employers who provide contract employees to work in prisons. Currently, this isn’t the case with this proposal. I understand that this aspect has been discussed previously with JUPA.