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Written Question
Prisoners' Release
Monday 22nd April 2024

Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to ensure prison leavers are aware of the resettlement services available.

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

Effective resettlement of prison leavers is a core part of our efforts to reduce re-offending. This includes making sure someone has a home, family links where appropriate, access to healthcare, a job or further education, and/or access to benefits.

Probation practitioners in the community coordinate the overall rehabilitation of offenders as they leave prison and serve their licence, supported by Pre-Release Teams (PRT) who provide support to address identified immediate resettlement needs and pre-release support for all people in prison. The immediate resettlement needs of all prisoners are assessed on entry to prison and reviewed pre-release.

Utilising both prison-based services and Commissioned Rehabilitative Services (CRS), there is a wide range of resettlement support covering accommodation, employment, dependency and recovery, personal wellbeing and finance, benefit and debt services. CRS also offers a ‘mentoring’ service, which can be delivered pre-release and follow offenders through the gate for those being released on licence to support community integration. Community probation practitioners and PRTs work proactively with prisoners to build pre-release plans and refer into these services to ensure that the right support is in place for release.

In addition, we have also introduced employment hubs where prisoners can access job vacancies and support with applications, and Prison Employment Leads who support with work-readiness and match them to jobs on release.

To further improve awareness for prison leavers, we are introducing Resettlement Passports, which will bring together key information and services that an individual needs in one place to resettle into the community, such as bank accounts, CVs and identity documents to prove the right to work and rent, as well as appointment and contact information to enable prison leavers to engage with resettlement services available.


Written Question
Defence Nuclear Organisation: Vacancies
Monday 22nd April 2024

Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many vacant posts in the Defence Nuclear Organisation have been withdrawn since the introduction of internal restrictions in July 2023.

Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

In response to the Government's policy announcement to implement a cap on Civil Service headcount, the Department is currently reviewing its future Civil Service workforce requirement aligned to this direction. Vacancies are being reviewed as part of workforce planning and prioritisation activity. Until this work is completed it is not possible to provide specific numbers of posts vacant/not being actively recruited.


Written Question
Air Force: Vacancies
Monday 22nd April 2024

Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many and what proportion of vacant posts have been withdrawn from Air Command since the introduction of internal restrictions in July 2023.

Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

In response to the Government's policy announcement to implement a cap on Civil Service headcount, the Department is currently reviewing its future Civil Service workforce requirement aligned to this direction. Vacancies are being reviewed as part of workforce planning and prioritisation activity. Until this work is completed it is not possible to provide specific numbers of posts vacant/not being actively recruited.


Written Question
Strategic Command: Vacancies
Monday 22nd April 2024

Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many vacant posts in Strategic Command are being actively recruited for.

Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

In response to the Government's policy announcement to implement a cap on Civil Service headcount, the Department is currently reviewing its future Civil Service workforce requirement aligned to this direction. Vacancies are being reviewed as part of workforce planning and prioritisation activity. Until this work is completed it is not possible to provide specific numbers of posts vacant/not being actively recruited.


Written Question
Air Force: Vacancies
Monday 22nd April 2024

Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many posts in Air Command are (a) vacant and (b) not being actively recruited for.

Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

In response to the Government's policy announcement to implement a cap on Civil Service headcount, the Department is currently reviewing its future Civil Service workforce requirement aligned to this direction. Vacancies are being reviewed as part of workforce planning and prioritisation activity. Until this work is completed it is not possible to provide specific numbers of posts vacant/not being actively recruited.


Written Question
Prisoners' Release: Employment
Monday 22nd April 2024

Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of prison leavers are employed six months after their release.

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

We know that employment reduces the chance of reoffending significantly, by up to nine percentage points. In order to grow, businesses need skills and labour to fill the nearly one million vacancies in the UK right now. Prison leavers have a role to play in filling those vacancies, particularly in sectors with skills shortages such as construction and hospitality, that the economy needs to grow, while also cutting crime and delivering safer streets. That’s why we’ve invested heavily in delivering key employment reforms across 93 resettlement prisons, including:

  • Prison Employment Leads to match prisoners to jobs;
  • Employment Hubs where prisoners can access job vacancies and support with applications;
  • Employment Advisory Boards – chaired by business leaders and advise prisons on skills delivery.

I am pleased to say that the proportion of prison leavers in employment six months after release more than doubled from 14% in April 2021 to over 30% in March 2023. The next release of this data will be published this summer


Written Question
Prison Officers: Vacancies
Monday 22nd April 2024

Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many vacancies for band (a) three, (b) four and (c) five prison officers there are as of 16 April 2024, by (i) prison and (ii) region.

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

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.

Our latest published HMPPS workforce statistics present data up to 31 December 2023. While you have asked for data as at 16 April 2024, we are unable to provide data for periods following December 2023 as this could pre-empt the next set of published Staff in Post data, which will be released on Thursday 16 May 2024. Once updated staffing data have been published in May, including data up to 31 March 2024, we will then be able to consider questions related to vacancy data up to and including March 2024.

In December 2023, across the whole of the Public Sector Prison estate in England and Wales (including the Youth Custody Service) for Band 3-5 Prison Officers, Staff in Post was 63 FTE below the Target Staffing level. This figure is a combination of indicative vacancies at prisons with Staff in Post below their Target Staffing level and the indicative number of surplus staff at other prisons where Staff in Post is above their Target Staffing level. Where possible, prisons with surplus staff are likely to be sending those staff to work on Detached Duty at prisons with vacancies. At times, we have intentionally over-recruited in certain prisons or regions to give the system wider resilience and where prisons are not at their Target Staffing level. Use of Detached Duty, a long-standing mechanism to deploy staff from one prison or region to support another, is also not reflected in the indicative vacancies number.

In December 2023, there were just under 790 FTE Band 3-5 Prison Officer indicative vacancies across individual Public Sector Prison establishments in England and Wales, where Staff in Post was below their Target Staffing level, and just over 720 FTE indicative number of surplus staff across individual Public Sector Prison establishments, in establishments where Staff in Post was above their Target Staffing level.

Table One (below) shows the total Band 3, Band 4 and Band 5 Prison Officer indicative vacancies (FTE) across Public Sector Prisons England & Wales, by region, as of December 2023. Table Two attached shows total Band 3, Band 4 and Band 5 Prison Officer indicative vacancies (FTE) across Public Sector Prisons England & Wales, by region, December 2023.

Table One: Total Band 3, Band 4 and Band 5 Prison Officer indicative vacancies (FTE) across Public Sector Prisons England & Wales, by region (summed from the establishment level in Annex A), December 2023

Region

Band 3 Indicative Vacancies

Band 4 Indicative Vacancies

Band 5 Indicative Vacancies

Avon, South Dorset and Wiltshire Prisons

30

6

5

Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk Prisons

10

13

6

Cumbria & Lancashire Prisons

0

6

5

Devon and North Dorset Prisons

12

3

0

East Midlands Prisons

22

7

14

Greater Manchester, Merseyside & Cheshire Prisons

0

8

4

Hertfordshire, Essex and Suffolk Prisons

11

8

0

Kent, Surrey and Sussex Prisons

59

10

9

London Prisons

13

36

22

Long Term High Security Estate - North

12

23

7

Long Term High Security Estate - South

259

49

33

North East Prisons

0

12

10

North Midlands Prisons

0

8

7

South Central Prisons

48

25

7

West Midlands Prisons

0

10

15

Women's Prison Group

25

3

9

Yorkshire Prisons

4

4

10

Youth Custody Services*

-

-

31

Wales

36

4

1

541

237

196

* In addition, there were 76 FTE vacancies across the Band 3 and 4 grades combined for the Youth Custody Services. In the Youth Custody Services there are a considerable number of staff employed at Band 3 grade working against the Band 4 target as they work towards becoming Band 4 Youth Justice Workers. As a result, we have merged the Band 3 and 4 grades for these five institutions.

Notes on data in this response

  1. All data is taken from Workforce Planning Tool returns and shows the average position across the month (as of December 2023), adjusted for joiners and leavers in the month.
  2. Data only covers Public Sector Prison establishments (including the four Young Offenders Institutions (Cookham Wood, Feltham, Werrington and Wetherby)) in England and Wales (and the Youth Custody Service) and will not reflect any Band 3 – 5 Prison Officers who are working in headquarters establishments (e.g. area offices), Public Sector Prisons in Wales or Privately Managed Prisons.
  3. Workforce Planning Tool returns are manually completed by staff in prisons each month and, as with any manual returns, are subject to human error.
  4. Indicative vacancies are the difference between Target Staffing levels and Staff in Post across the entire Public Sector Prison estate in England and Wales at prisons (and the Youth Custody Service) with Staff in Post below their Target Staffing level. Indicative surpluses are the difference between Target Staffing levels and Staff in Post across the entire Public Sector Prison estate in England and Wales (and the Youth Custody Service) at prisons where Staff in Post is above their Target Staffing level.
  5. In Table One we have summed indicative vacancies at the Public Sector Prison establishment level to produce the table showing indicative vacancies at the regional level.
  6. Target Staffing level is the number of staff required to run an optimal regime in each prison. This level is greater than the minimum number of staff required for a prison to operate safely, and includes allowances for staff taking leave, being off sick or being on training.
  7. The Target Staffing Figures are set on a site-specific basis and vary in size.
  8. Band 3-5 Officers includes Band 3-4 / Prison Officers (including specialists), Band 4 / Supervising Officers, and Band 5 / Custodial Managers.
  9. Target Staffing levels are established based on a 39-hour working week. Staff in Post (FTE) is set at 1.0 FTE for those on a 39-hour contract / 1.05 FTE for those on a 41-hour contract and 0.95 FTE for those on a 37-hour contract.
  10. Target Staffing levels cannot be used to directly calculate vacancies due to the discretion governors have to change establishment level staffing requirements through Governors' Freedoms. As a result, the MoJ does not currently regularly present vacancy data and the data presented should be treated as indicative.
  11. Staff in Post data used to calculate an indicative number of vacancies does not take into account those on long-term absences (e.g. career breaks) / loans / secondments / agency staff or other forms of overtime.
  12. There will be some prisons in our data who appear to have a surplus of staff at the Band 3 or Band 4 grades whereas in reality some of these staff are temporarily promoted to more senior grades. Temporary promotions will not be visible in this data and so these roles will appear as vacancies.

Written Question
Skilled Workers: Vacancies
Thursday 18th April 2024

Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential reasons for skills shortages.

Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The workforce is more highly qualified than 15 years ago, but adult participation in further education has declined significantly. This has left us with a gap in higher technical skills: only 4% of young people achieve a qualification at higher technical level by 25 compared to 33% who get a degree or above. We know through our work with investors and businesses that we do not have enough technicians, engineers or health and social care professionals to meet our challenges. Therefore, the Government are investing an additional £3.8 billion into skills and further education over this Parliament to help workers develop the skills businesses need.


Written Question
Ministry of Defence: Vacancies
Thursday 18th April 2024

Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many senior responsible owner roles are vacant in his Department as of 15 April 2024.

Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

The Senior Responsible Owner resourcing position is monitored at local levels with formal reporting at the end of each quarter. At 31 March 2024, all of our 50 Government Major Projects Portfolio programmes had a Senior Responsible Owner in place who was accountable for decisions and making progress against the delivery plan.

In three cases these positions were filled temporarily while recruitment action takes place.


Written Question
Vacancies: Romford
Monday 15th April 2024

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to help fill job vacancies in Romford constituency.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

In the constituency and across the London Borough of Havering, the local Romford Jobcentre team are supporting residents into work and helping those in work to progress to higher paid jobs. We are working with local and national employers to help fill vacancies quickly, delivering Sector-Based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs), recruitment days, Job Fairs, and work trials.

The weekly job club in Romford Jobcentre provides support on CV preparation, job applications and interview techniques, along with information sessions on a range of subjects to help customers into work, including information about different employment sectors, advice on childcare, support for those with additional health needs and motivational sessions.

The Jobcentre provides a bespoke service to employers, to match and screen candidates, and offers regular Job Fairs focussed on specific sectors and customer groups, with recent events to coincide with older workers week and national apprenticeship week. The team are also working with the London Borough of Havering to develop local support.

In partnership with the College of North East London we have recently offered SWAPs for local customers to gain skills and enhance their applications for the Logistics and Warehouse sectors. Care Provider Voices deliver a range of adult social care opportunities, with Springboard offering opportunities in the hospitality sector.