Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 14 November 2023 to Question 1244 on Pentonville Prison: Education, how (a) many hours of teaching time were lost and (b) much money was recovered from education providers as a result of prison education classes not going ahead in HMP Pentonville in each of the last two quarters.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We have introduced robust contractual levers into the current education contract which has seen a decrease in the teaching time lost through the education provider. The introduction at site level of Heads of Education, Skills and Work will increase the focus on ensure operational staff are able to ensure learners arrive in education.
The table below sets out the information requested for HMP Garth, HMP Bristol, HMP Pentonville, and HMP Ranby, for the first quarter of 2023-24. The data for Quarter 2 are in the process of quality assurance and validation, and are not currently available.
The education contract for HMP Five Wells is not managed by HMPPS. The information requested in relation to HMP Five Wells is therefore not available.
Quarter 1 2023-24
Prison | Education hours lost |
Garth | 397.5 |
Bristol | 187 |
Pentonville | 496 |
Ranby | 812 |
Prison | Amount recoverable from the provider (£) |
Garth | 4,998 |
Bristol | 1,681 |
Pentonville | 10,612 |
Ranby | 17,906 |
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the report by the Independent Monitoring Board entitled Annual Report of the Independent Monitoring Board at HMP Pentonville, published on 26 September 2023.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
HMP Pentonville was most recently inspected by HM Inspectorate of Prisons in July 2022. The inspectorate’s report was published on 18 October 2022. It can be viewed here: HMP Pentonville (justiceinspectorates.gov.uk).
Following consideration of matters highlighted in the recently published report by the prison’s Independent Monitoring Board, HM Prison and Probation Service has scheduled a Living Conditions Audit to be undertaken at HMP Pentonville and will be able to report its findings in due course.
HM Prison and Probation Service carries out a programme of audits across the prison estate, to ensure adequate operational standards are being maintained within individual establishments. This includes an audit of living conditions, which assesses whether the establishment provides safe, clean and decent living conditions that are in a good state of repair and fit for purpose.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of living conditions inside Pentonville Prison.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
HMP Pentonville was most recently inspected by HM Inspectorate of Prisons in July 2022. The inspectorate’s report was published on 18 October 2022. It can be viewed here: HMP Pentonville (justiceinspectorates.gov.uk).
Following consideration of matters highlighted in the recently published report by the prison’s Independent Monitoring Board, HM Prison and Probation Service has scheduled a Living Conditions Audit to be undertaken at HMP Pentonville and will be able to report its findings in due course.
HM Prison and Probation Service carries out a programme of audits across the prison estate, to ensure adequate operational standards are being maintained within individual establishments. This includes an audit of living conditions, which assesses whether the establishment provides safe, clean and decent living conditions that are in a good state of repair and fit for purpose.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Answer of 19 October 2023 to Question 202800 on Prisons: Education, how many and what proportion of prison education classes in HMP Pentonville did not go ahead due to a lack of (a) teachers and (b) prison officers in the last two quarters.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information collected on performance against the education contract does not include the number of classes cancelled. The table below shows the number and proportion of planned learner places lost in each of the first two quarters of 2023-24 at HMP Five Wells, HMP Garth, HMP Bristol, HMP Pentonville and HMP Ranby owing to a lack of teachers (Ed), or for operational reasons (Op). Operational reasons include, but are not limited to, staffing shortages.
Our improved Prisoner Education Service with specialist staff, tougher targets and increased focus on employment will be more effective at cutting crime and keeping the public safe. We have created a new Head of Education Skills and Work roles in every prison, working hand in glove with the Governor to provide tailored education plans to meet the needs of their jail.
Prison | Places lost (Ed) Q1 | Places lost (Op) Q1 | Places lost (Ed) Q1 (%) | Places lost (Op) Q1 (%) | Places lost (Ed) Q2 | Places lost (Op) Q2 | Places lost (Ed) Q2 (%) | Places lost (Op) Q2 (%) |
Bristol | 8 | 258 | 1 | 22 | 20 | 552 | 1 | 36 |
Garth | 130 | 96 | 8 | 6 | 24 | 368 | 2 | 26 |
Five Wells | 84 | 374 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Pentonville | 238 | 673 | 15 | 42 | 56 | 723 | 1 | 13 |
Ranby | 0 | 365 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 45 | 0 | 2 |
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of prison officers at Pentonville Prison attended their shift on 17 July 2023.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
On 17 July 2023, 1,179 prisoners were held at HMP Pentonville. 83 Band 3 Prison Officers were on duty in the prison on that day. Staffing levels were above the minimum staffing level required by the prison’s Regime Management Plan to deliver a safe and decent regime.
Other staff were not in attendance for the following reasons:
It should be noted that these figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large-scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
The data is collated to reflect individuals that attended throughout the day, this will be culmination of varying shifts throughout the period.
The numbers who were on duty includes all staff that attended for all/part of a shift in the establishment, including any additional payment shifts & night duties. Those recorded in the category of ‘Other absences’ can include staff on Medical Appointments, Restricted Duties, Phased Return, Secondment, Maternity leave, Jury Service, Official Duty, Parental Leave, Suspension, Bedwatch, working at a different grade, time off in lieu and remote working.
We have taken a series of measures to increase the prison workforce. Despite a challenging labour market, the 12 months ending 30 June 2023 saw an increase of 701 Full Time Equivalent Band 3-5 prison officers. This means we now have 4,000 more prison officers than in March 2017. We are committed to recruiting up to 5,000 prison officers across public and private prisons by the mid-2020s.
We recently increased the pay of the vast majority of frontline officers by 7 per cent. Combined with other pay rises, this means starting pay for prison officers has increased since 2019 from £22,293 to £30,902 (on the basis of a national rate, 37 hour week with unsocial hours) or £23,529 to £32,851 (on the basis of a national rate, 39 hour week with unsocial hours).
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners were held at Pentonville Prison on 17 July 2023.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
On 17 July 2023, 1,179 prisoners were held at HMP Pentonville. 83 Band 3 Prison Officers were on duty in the prison on that day. Staffing levels were above the minimum staffing level required by the prison’s Regime Management Plan to deliver a safe and decent regime.
Other staff were not in attendance for the following reasons:
It should be noted that these figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large-scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
The data is collated to reflect individuals that attended throughout the day, this will be culmination of varying shifts throughout the period.
The numbers who were on duty includes all staff that attended for all/part of a shift in the establishment, including any additional payment shifts & night duties. Those recorded in the category of ‘Other absences’ can include staff on Medical Appointments, Restricted Duties, Phased Return, Secondment, Maternity leave, Jury Service, Official Duty, Parental Leave, Suspension, Bedwatch, working at a different grade, time off in lieu and remote working.
We have taken a series of measures to increase the prison workforce. Despite a challenging labour market, the 12 months ending 30 June 2023 saw an increase of 701 Full Time Equivalent Band 3-5 prison officers. This means we now have 4,000 more prison officers than in March 2017. We are committed to recruiting up to 5,000 prison officers across public and private prisons by the mid-2020s.
We recently increased the pay of the vast majority of frontline officers by 7 per cent. Combined with other pay rises, this means starting pay for prison officers has increased since 2019 from £22,293 to £30,902 (on the basis of a national rate, 37 hour week with unsocial hours) or £23,529 to £32,851 (on the basis of a national rate, 39 hour week with unsocial hours).
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of mental health support provision inside Pentonville Prison.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Mental health services at HMP Pentonville are continuously assessed through peer review, quality visits by the healthcare provider Practice Plus Group in conjunction with NHS England (London Region) and internal auditing procedures. Quarterly assurance meetings take place between NHS England and Practice Plus Group.
Mental health services at the prison were revised as part of New Models of Care in 2022, a pan London remodelling of prison healthcare services with the aim of improving patient safety, enhancing responsiveness to patient need and ensuring that services available met the needs of patients in prison. The New Models of Care have been fully embedded into the new healthcare contract at HMP Pentonville, which commenced in May 2023.
In addition, the prison had a full HM Inspectorate of Prisons and Care Quality Commission inspection in July 2022 which made one recommendation in respect of mental health waiting times for initial assessment. A subsequent Independent Review of Progress visit in March 2023 found that reasonable progress had been made against this recommendation.
The healthcare team at HMP Pentonville has a dedicated patient engagement lead who conducts regular patient focus groups to gain an understanding of the views of the patient group, in respect to quality and availability of services. In addition, User Voice were commissioned by NHS England in August 2023, to undertake a patient focus group specifically around mental health services in HMP Pentonville, to enhance the current understanding of the experiences of people using mental health services in the prison and to identify areas where further improvement could be made.
Mar. 11 2010
Source Page: Review of prison transfers prior to HMCIP inspection. 32 p.Found: Review of prison transfers prior to HMCIP inspection. 32 p.
Mentions:
1: Lord Bellamy (Con - Life peer) The other is standard recall, where offenders are recalled to prison and remain in custody until the - Speech Link
2: Lord McNally (LD - Life peer) The Minister knows the crisis in our prison system. - Speech Link
3: Lord Bird (XB - Life peer) When I go to Pentonville, the first thing I ask is, “How many people did well at school?” - Speech Link
4: Lord Bellamy (Con - Life peer) We know that a large number of people in prison, particularly in the male estate, are dyslexic. - Speech Link
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 14 December 2023 to Question 5663 on Garth Prison: Education, how (a) many hours of teaching time were lost and (b) much money was recovered from education providers as a result of prison education classes not going ahead in HMP (i) Garth, (ii) Bristol, (iii) Pentonville and (iv) Ranby during the second quarter of the 2023-24 financial year.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We have introduced robust contractual levers into the current education contract which has seen a decrease in the teaching time lost through the education provider. The introduction at site level of Heads of Education, Skills and Work will increase the focus on ensure operational staff are able to ensure learners arrive in education.
The table below shows the number of planned learning hours lost in the second quarter of 2023-24 due teacher vacancy or sickness (Ed), or for operational reasons (Op), at HMP Bristol, HMP Garth, HMP Pentonville and HMP Ranby.
Learning hours lost, 1 July – 30 September 2023
HMP | Hours lost (Ed) | Hours lost (Op) |
Bristol | 263 | 134 |
Garth | 183 | 140 |
Pentonville | 53 | 507 |
Ranby | 8 | 376 |
Total | 507 | 1157 |
*These are preliminary data and have not yet been reconciled with the provider
In total, 507 hours of teaching were lost owing to a failure by the provider to deliver against the commissioned provision. £60,047 has been recovered from the providers. The cost of hours lost for operational reasons is not recoverable from the provider.