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Written Question
Prison and Probation Service: Labour Turnover
Wednesday 27th March 2024

Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)

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.


Written Question
Prison Officers
Tuesday 26th March 2024

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

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.


Written Question
Prison Officers: Pension Rights
Friday 22nd March 2024

Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)

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.


Written Question
Prison Officers: Pension Rights
Friday 22nd March 2024

Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)

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.


Written Question
Prisons: Civil Disorder
Wednesday 20th March 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 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.


Written Question
Prisons: Civil Disorder
Wednesday 20th March 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 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.


Written Question
Prisoners' Release
Tuesday 19th March 2024

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

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions his Department had with (a) probation officers, (b) senior probation officers and (c) trade union officials representing probation officers before announcing the extension of the end of custody supervised license scheme.

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

The End of Custody Supervised License (ECSL) Scheme is a targeted measure that will operate in certain areas for a limited period of time where we are moving a prisoner’s release date earlier. We are committed to continue working with the police, prisons, and probation leaders to make further adjustments as required.

Prior to the announcement in Parliament of the extension of ECSL on 11 March, Senior Regional Prison and Probation leaders and Trade Unions were advised of the decision to extend ECSL, to prepare to implement the ECSL changes effectively.


Written Question
Prisons and Young Offender Institutions: Pepper Spray
Friday 15th March 2024

Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)

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.


Written Question
POA: Industrial Disputes
Thursday 7th March 2024

Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of the provisions of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 on the ability of the Prison Officers Association to represent their members in workplace disputes.

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

The provisions of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 (the 2023 Act) do not extend to prison officers, who are not included in the categories listed in section 234B(4) of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, as amended by the Schedule to the 2023 Act. Under section 127 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, however, it would be unlawful for a trade union representing prison officers to induce its members to strike.

As prison officers do not have a right to strike, the Prison Service Pay Review Body (PSPRB) is an independent body which acts as a compensatory mechanism. The PSPRB conducts its own research and considers evidence submitted by the Prison Officers Association before making recommendations to the Government. The Government would only depart from those recommendations in exceptional circumstances.


Written Question
Prison Officers: Training
Thursday 7th March 2024

Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of prison officers are up-to-date on Control and Restraint training, as of 1 March 2024.

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

The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.