Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many more prison officers are currently needed in the UK; how they plan to recruit the necessary prison officers; and what success the Unlocked programme has had in contributing to increasing recruitment.

As part of the Prison Safety and Reform White Paper published in November 2016, the Government committed to an increase of 2,500 Prison Officers by the end of 2018.

Between the end of October 2016 (the closest data point in time to when the commitment was made) and the end of March 2018, the number of Band 3 to 5 prison officers (headcount) increased from 18,713 to 21,824; a net increase of 3,111.

It is anticipated that 90 per cent of the new recruits will be on the landings by the summer and all of them will be operational by the end of the year.

The first cohort of 52 graduates from the Unlocked scheme, which encourages the brightest graduates to consider a career in HMPPS, entered the HMPPS workforce in August last year – 15% higher than had been anticipated. Due to the popularity of the programme, up to 115 candidates will be recruited for the 2018 cohort. They are due to join the service in July 2018.”

Under the Prison Safety and Reform agenda, Governors have been given greater responsibility for workforce planning and determining their local organisational structure. This includes the number of officers they employ and Governors can implement changes to shift arrangements and resource deployment providing they remain within the agreed funding envelope.

This empowerment of the Governor’s position is intended to enable them to make best use of resources to support prison safety and develop strategies to reduce reoffending. HMPPS does not set workforce planning arrangements for Scotland and Northern Ireland, as this is a matter for devolved Governments.

The recruitment drive continues across the prison estate, with the same urgency that has secured this remarkable influx of new staff.