Prison Officers

(asked on 22nd November 2016) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the ratio of prison staff to prisoners in English and Welsh prisons in each year since 2009.


Answered by
Lord Henley Portrait
Lord Henley
This question was answered on 22nd December 2016

Information on prisoner population and staffing levels is published on gov.uk and is copied in the table below.

We are committed to transforming prisons into places of safety and reform, and we have announced a major overhaul of the prison system including the recruitment of 2,500 extra frontline officers.

As an immediate action we have already invested £14 million to provide more than 400 extra staff in ten of the most challenging prisons.

We are also introducing a new scheme to attract top graduates and former servicemen and women into the service, and giving governors greater flexibility over recruitment so they can address staffing quickly.

Prisoner/Officer ratio in public sector prisons in England and Wales, 31 March 2009 to 2016 (Full Time Equivalent)

Year

Prisoner/Staff ratio

31/03/2009

2.9

31/03/2010

3.1

31/03/2011

3.1

31/03/2012

3.4

31/03/2013

3.4

31/03/2014

3.9

31/03/2015

3.9

31/03/2016

3.9

1 Ratio is calculated using the standard approach of dividing the prison population by the number of band 3-5 officers (FTE equivalent)

2 NOMS only holds responsibility for staff in public sector prisons, and only holds figures for these staff accordingly. Staff numbers in private prisons are not the responsibility of NOMS and are not held. Ratios can only be calculated for public sector prisons.

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