Found: with contempt. 19.The proposed section 41B, however, is more problematic, insofar as it permits prison

Found: Similar trenchant criticisms have been made by the Prison Officers Association and the Police Federation

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he has taken to help increase the retention rate of staff in HM Prison and Probation Service.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

Safe, decent, rehabilitative prisons require excellent and experienced staff, as does supervising offenders in the community to keep the public safe.

We want them to stay in the Prison Service and to support retention, we have:

• Accepted every penny of the Prisons Service PRB pay recommendations for 2023/24.

• Injected extra funding of more than £155 million a year since 2021 to support Probation staff to deliver more robust supervision.

• Rolled out BWV to every officer, to help protect staff by defusing volatile situations.

• Introduced a New Colleague Mentor scheme to help new recruits feel supported in their early weeks and months.

Retention for prison officers is improving, with the staff resignation rate dropping from around 10.7% to around 8.3% over the last year to December 2023.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which prisons have used prison officers on detached duty in 2023; and how many (a) officers were deployed to each prison and (b) times those officers were deployed.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

During 2023, 21 prisons received Band 3 officers on National Detached Duty. The table attached shows the average number of detached duty staff deployed at each site in each month.

It is not possible, without incurring disproportionate cost, to provide the remaining information requested, as this would require a detailed examination of individual records.

We are doing more than ever to attract and retain the best staff, including boosting salaries and launching our first-ever nationwide advertising campaign. These efforts are working - we have over 4,800 FTE additional officers between March 2017 and December 2023, and retention rates for prison staff are improving.

We have committed to recruiting up to 5,000 additional prison officers across public and private prisons by the mid-2020s.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when the last pre-Fresh Start prison officer with reserved pension rights retired from service.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

Currently there are 11 full time and 181 partially retired operational uniform staff who retained Pre-Fresh Start Reserved Rights Terms under the legacy PCSPS Classic scheme. There are also 19 partially retired Operational Managers who retained Pre-Fresh Start terms under the legacy PCSPS Classic scheme at the date of taking their benefits.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many pre-Fresh Start prison officers with reserved pension rights remain in service.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

Currently there are 11 full time and 181 partially retired operational uniform staff who retained Pre-Fresh Start Reserved Rights Terms under the legacy PCSPS Classic scheme. There are also 19 partially retired Operational Managers who retained Pre-Fresh Start terms under the legacy PCSPS Classic scheme at the date of taking their benefits.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many barricade or prevention of access incidents took place in prisons in England and Wales in each year since 2018.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

A barricade or prevention of access is an incident where one or more prisoners deny access to all or part of a prison, by use of any physical barrier, to those lawfully empowered to have such access.

An incident at height is any incident that takes place above or below ground level where a person could be injured if they fell from that place. Incidents at height come in many forms, ranging from internal incidents (prisoners on the fall arrest netting or climbing over bars) to an external incident (prisoners on the roof).

The information requested can be found in the HMPPS Annual Digest - Protesting Behaviour data tool: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/64c1438a90b545000d3e83c4/7.__Protesting_behaviour_data_tool.xlsx.

These figures have been drawn from the HMPPS Incident Reporting System. Care is taken when processing and analysing returns but the detail is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. Although shown to the last case, the figures may not be accurate to that level.

The national staffing position in prisons is improving, with a substantial increase of over 1,634 Full-Time Equivalent Band 3-5 prison officers in the 12 months ending 31 December 2023.

We are committed to making prisons a safe place to work and providing prison officers with the right support, training and tools to empower them to do their jobs. We are providing targeted support to prisons to operate the Challenge, Support and Intervention Plan (CSIP) which provides a framework for managing violence that is centred around the individual needs of prisoners, helping them to move away from violent behaviours.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents at height occurred in a prison in England and Wales in each year since 2018.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

A barricade or prevention of access is an incident where one or more prisoners deny access to all or part of a prison, by use of any physical barrier, to those lawfully empowered to have such access.

An incident at height is any incident that takes place above or below ground level where a person could be injured if they fell from that place. Incidents at height come in many forms, ranging from internal incidents (prisoners on the fall arrest netting or climbing over bars) to an external incident (prisoners on the roof).

The information requested can be found in the HMPPS Annual Digest - Protesting Behaviour data tool: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/64c1438a90b545000d3e83c4/7.__Protesting_behaviour_data_tool.xlsx.

These figures have been drawn from the HMPPS Incident Reporting System. Care is taken when processing and analysing returns but the detail is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. Although shown to the last case, the figures may not be accurate to that level.

The national staffing position in prisons is improving, with a substantial increase of over 1,634 Full-Time Equivalent Band 3-5 prison officers in the 12 months ending 31 December 2023.

We are committed to making prisons a safe place to work and providing prison officers with the right support, training and tools to empower them to do their jobs. We are providing targeted support to prisons to operate the Challenge, Support and Intervention Plan (CSIP) which provides a framework for managing violence that is centred around the individual needs of prisoners, helping them to move away from violent behaviours.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many times was PAVA spray deployed in (a) Youth Offender Institutes and (b) prisons in each year since 2019.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

PAVA is intended to protect staff and prisoners in very serious assaults. Safe implementation of PAVA use is accompanied by clear and explicit guidance ensuring staff are confident as to when PAVA spray should be used. Staff can use the PAVA spray where there is serious violence or an imminent or perceived risk of it, and there is an immediate need to create a safe and protective environment. It has been rollout out to prison officers in the adult estate only.

PAVA may be deployed by specialist staff, on the authority of the Gold commander, in Young Offender Institutes that hold those under 18 years of age as a tactical option to resolve an incident for the safety of young people and staff.

PAVA has been deployed once in 2019 at Feltham (A). There have been no other uses the under-18 YOI estate.

There has been an increase in PAVA use as HMPPS have rolled out to all adult male prisons and therefore it is available to more staff to respond to violent incidents where appropriate.

The information requested is in the attached tables for adult YOIs and prisons.

Found: Prison officers received some training to identify prisoners under the influence of drugs . 4.86 Each

Found: Prison officers received some training to identify prisoners under the influence of drugs . 4.86 Each

Found: context, including the security situation and recent terrorist incidents and confirmed that police and prison

Found: on the pay and allowances for Prisoner Escorting and Court Custody Service grades, support grades, prison

Found: officers and support grades in the England and Wales Prison Service.

Found: You may also wish to note that t he Committee has also written to the Community Trade Union and the Prison

Found: wish to note that the Committee has also written to the Public and Commercial Services Union and the Prison

Found: The 2022/23 audit of the Scottish Prison Service: Prison Officers' Association Scotland, April 2024 Correspondence

Found: , Good Morning ScotlandPolicing2023-11-07 00:00:00MeetingPhil Fairlie, Assistant General Secretary, Prison