Question to the Ministry of Justice:
What progress his Department has made on recruiting 2,500 new prison officers.
We have met our target to recruit an additional 2,500 prison officers ahead of schedule; at the end of December 2018 we had a net increase of 4,767 FTE Band 3 to 5 prison officers since we began at the end of October 2016.
It is the highest number of officers in post since 31 March 2012.