Prisons: Ministers of Religion
(asked on 1st September 2025) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what information His Majesty's Prison and Probation Service holds on (1) the immigration status and (2) the nationalities of prison chaplains.
The immigration status of Prison Chaplains is not held internally by His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS). Immigration status is checked as part of the recruitment and vetting process, and all Prison Chaplains must hold valid right to work and meet the Civil Service Nationality Rules to be eligible for employment in HMPPS.
Table: Chaplaincy staff directly employed(1)(2) by HMPPS in public sector prisons(3), by Nationality(4), as of 30 June 2025.
Nationality | Headcount | Full-time equivalent |
British | 245 | 188 |
English | 38 | 28 |
Irish | 0 | 0 |
Scottish | 1 | 1 |
Welsh | 1 | 1 |
German | 1 | 1 |
Italian | 0 | 0 |
Polish | 1 | 1 |
Other National Identity | 18 | 11 |
Not known/Prefer not to say | 203 | 162 |
Grand Total | 508 | 393 |
Notes:
1. Religious provisions in prisons are also delivered by Chaplains engaged on a sessional basis and by unremunerated Chaplains. The number of non-directly employed Chaplains is not recorded centrally. The table contains information on the number of full time and part time Chaplains directly employed by HMPPS.
2. Unpaid staff, such as those on career breaks and on long term sick or unpaid maternity / adoption leave, are excluded from the data.
3. Only includes staff who are based in public sector prisons.
4. Most staff who joined the Ministry of Justice after 2017 have their nationality recorded but this information is missing from the centralised HR database for the majority of staff who joined before this date. If the nationality composition is different for newer recruits, then the above table might not be representative of all chaplains in post.