Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to hold discussions with representatives of the main banks on the potential merits of agreeing a new banking framework with the Post Office for the period after 2025.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is supportive of industry initiatives that assist access to in-person banking. These include the Post Office Banking Framework, which allows personal and business customers to carry out everyday banking services at 11,500 Post Office branches across the UK.
Negotiations between the banking industry and the Post Office regarding any future Banking Framework are commercial discussions and the Government has no role.
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
Asked by: Naz Shah (Labour - Bradford West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to prevent the closure of local post offices.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Government is committed to ensuring the long-term sustainability of the Post Office network and has provided over £2.5 billion in funding to support the Post Office network over the past decade and is providing a further £628 million for the Post Office between 2022 and 2025.
The Post Office network is not in decline. As CEO Nick Read confirmed recently, the network is as large as it has been for about five years with around 11,700 branches. Government continues to monitor Post Office's network numbers and performance, and Post Office publishes an annual network report.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many formal complaints from Post Office sub-postmasters about the Horizon software that was updated in 2017 (1) have been made, and (2) still need to be resolved, about discrepancies and cash shortfalls in individual post offices; and in what towns and cities these complaints were made.
Answered by Lord Offord of Garvel - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
This is an operational matter for Post Office Limited. Post Office however continues to make improvements to the system and will be moving away from Horizon to a new cloud-based IT system. Government recently announced that it is providing £103 million to help with the development of the replacement for the Horizon IT system and to ensure Horizon is maintained while that replacement is rolled out.
Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether Ministers approved the contracts to implement the Horizon system in Post Offices.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Horizon IT Inquiry considered the procurement of the Horizon IT system during Phase 2. We should wait for the Inquiry to report.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 27 February 2024 to Question 14837 on Absent Voting, how are postal ballot sweeps are undertaken; and what guidance is provided to Returning Officers.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Royal Mail conducts ‘sweeps’ of all primary (and where requested, secondary) mail centres on the evening of polling day by identifying and pulling out postal vote envelopes, which are specially marked to support this process. All incoming mail collected from post-boxes goes via the delivery offices and should be at the mail centres later that day, before sweeps take place. Any postal vote envelopes pulled out at mail centres are provided directly to the relevant local returning officers. Royal Mail liaises directly with each local elections office regarding the organisation of postal ballot sweeps.
Guidance on working with Royal Mail and other mail delivery partners is provided by the Electoral Commission and is available on their website (https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/guidance-returning-officers-administering-local-government-elections-england/planning-election/managing-contractors-and-suppliers/working-mail-delivery-partners).
Sweeps for Police and Crime Commissioner and UK Parliamentary elections are paid for centrally from the Consolidated Fund and are planned for the Police and Crime Commissioner and local elections on 2 May 2024 and for the next UK Parliamentary general election.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 27 February 2024 to Question 14837 on Absent Voting, whether postal ballot sweeps will be undertaken at local delivery offices on the evening of (a) 2 May 2024 and (b) General Election polling day.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Royal Mail conducts ‘sweeps’ of all primary (and where requested, secondary) mail centres on the evening of polling day by identifying and pulling out postal vote envelopes, which are specially marked to support this process. All incoming mail collected from post-boxes goes via the delivery offices and should be at the mail centres later that day, before sweeps take place. Any postal vote envelopes pulled out at mail centres are provided directly to the relevant local returning officers. Royal Mail liaises directly with each local elections office regarding the organisation of postal ballot sweeps.
Guidance on working with Royal Mail and other mail delivery partners is provided by the Electoral Commission and is available on their website (https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/guidance-returning-officers-administering-local-government-elections-england/planning-election/managing-contractors-and-suppliers/working-mail-delivery-partners).
Sweeps for Police and Crime Commissioner and UK Parliamentary elections are paid for centrally from the Consolidated Fund and are planned for the Police and Crime Commissioner and local elections on 2 May 2024 and for the next UK Parliamentary general election.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent steps he has taken to help ensure that people living in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England have access to banking services.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government believes that all customers, wherever they live, should have appropriate access to banking and cash services, and is monitoring this issue closely. It is imperative that firms recognise the needs of all their customers, including those who need to use in-person services.
UK banking customers can access banking services through a number of different channels. This includes in branches, Post Offices or Banking Hubs, as well as via telephone banking and through digital means such as mobile or online banking.
The Post Office allows personal and business customers to carry out everyday banking services at 11,500 Post Office branches across the UK.
Banking Hubs are an initiative which enable customers of participating banks to access cash and banking services in shared facilities. Over 100 Banking Hubs have been announced so far, including in Stone, Cheadle and Pershore in the wider West Midlands region, and the Government hopes to see these all open as soon as possible.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Penrith and The Border)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the accessibility of banking services to rural communities.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government believes that all customers, wherever they live, should have appropriate access to banking and cash services, and is monitoring this issue closely. It is imperative that firms recognise the needs of all their customers, including those who need to use in-person services.
UK customers can access banking services through a number of different channels. This includes in branches, Post Offices or Banking Hubs, as well as via telephone banking and through digital means such as mobile or online banking.
The Post Office allows personal and business customers to carry out everyday banking services at 11,500 Post Office branches across the UK. The Post Office is required by the Department for Business & Trade to ensure that 95% of the total rural population across the UK is within 3 miles of their nearest Post Office.
Banking Hubs are an initiative which enable customers of participating banks to access cash and banking services in shared facilities. Over 100 Banking Hubs have been announced so far, and the Government hopes to see these all open as soon as possible.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he has taken to work with stakeholders to help ensure that people in (a) England and (b) Romford constituency can access physical banking facilities in their local area.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government believes that all customers, wherever they live, should have appropriate access to banking and cash services, and is monitoring this issue closely.
Though the closure of bank or building society branches are commercial decisions, it is imperative that firms recognise the needs of all their customers, including those who need to use in-person services.
Guidance from the FCA sets out its expectation of firms when they are deciding to reduce their physical branches or the number of free-to-use ATMs. The FCA’s guidance is clear that firms are expected to carefully consider the impact of planned branch closures on their customers’ everyday banking and cash access needs, and put in place alternatives, where this is reasonable.
UK customers can access banking services through a number of different channels. This includes in branches, Post Offices or Banking Hubs, as well as via telephone banking and through digital means such as mobile or online banking.
The Post Office allows personal and business customers to carry out everyday banking services at 11,500 Post Office branches across the UK. Banking Hubs are an initiative which enable customers of participating banks to access cash and banking services in shared facilities. Over 100 Banking Hubs have been announced so far, and the Government hopes to see these Hubs open as soon as possible.