Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the reasons for which Wales has a proportionally higher prison population per 100,000 than England.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Prison capacity and population movements are managed nationally across England and Wales. There are over 5,500 prison places in Wales including a 2,000 place prison, HMP Berwyn, which opened in 2017. Geographically HMP Berwyn is near to the Northwest of England and holds a significant number of prisoners sentenced by courts in that region as well as prisoners originating in Wales.
UK nationals have a nationality of British. While holding an individual close to their home is an important consideration in the placement of prisoners, HMPPS does not identify or record prisoners as English or Welsh. Someone with an address in England may consider themselves to be Welsh, while someone with an address in Wales may not.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of devolving (a) probation services and (b) youth justice to Wales.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government has considered the question of the devolution of justice to Wales and is clear that it is in the interests of the people of Wales for justice to remain a reserved matter, including in respect of probation services and youth justice.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make a comparative assessment of the use of (a) imprisonment and (b) community-based alternatives by (i) Welsh and (ii) European courts.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Criminal justice systems in other countries, including Europe, vary. Comparing the rates of imprisonment and community-based alternatives by Welsh courts compared to European equivalents would be unlikely to be directly comparable.
When developing criminal justice policy, the Ministry of Justice considers international examples and practice where appropriate.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an estimate of the number and proportion of probation officers that have workloads that are too high in each region.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
HMIP report Caseloads, Workloads and Staffing Levels in Probation Services, March 2021 is publicly available. This indicates a recommendation that caseloads should not exceed 50.
Region by region analysis is shown below. As of 8th November 2023, 98% of Probation Officers hold less than 50 cases.
Region | Total number of Band 4 Probation Officers | No. of Band 4 Probation Officers with under 50 cases (= | % of Probation Officers with under 50 cases (= | No. of Probation Officers with over 50 cases (>50) | % of Probation Officers with over 50 cases (>50) |
East Midlands Region | 217 | 215 | 99.08 | 2 | 0.92 |
East of England | 277 | 260 | 93.86 | 17 | 6.14 |
Greater Manchester | 213 | 213 | 100 | 0 | 0 |
Kent Surrey Sussex Region | 177 | 172 | 97.18 | 5 | 2.82 |
London | 459 | 436 | 94.99 | 23 | 5.01 |
North East Region | 225 | 225 | 100 | 0 | 0 |
North West Region | 335 | 335 | 100 | 0 | 0 |
South Central | 176 | 174 | 98.86 | 2 | 1.14 |
South West | 233 | 232 | 99.57 | 1 | 0.43 |
Wales | 275 | 275 | 100 | 0 | 0 |
West Midlands Region | 371 | 370 | 99.73 | 1 | 0.27 |
Yorkshire and The Humber | 394 | 391 | 99.24 | 3 | 0.76 |
Grand Total | 3352 | 3298 | 98.39 | 54 | 1.61 |
Individual officers will hold a mixture of cases corresponding to their available capacity at the time, their experience and specific expertise. The Probation Service is committed to providing a quality service in order to achieve its mission of protecting the public, supporting victims and reducing reoffending.
We have implemented a Prioritisation Framework to support demand management on priority areas of delivery where there are workload and staffing challenges. We continue to run centralised recruitment campaigns in priority regions to help bolster the number of applications and improve time to hire for key operational roles. We have also offered financial support to incentivise staff to move permanently to areas with the most significant staffing challenges.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Question 30 of the oral evidence given by the Minister for Prisons and Probation to the Justice Committee on 24 October 2023, HC 1929, what estimate he has made of staffing underspends in the Probation Service.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
We are not forecasting a staffing underspend in the Probation Service for this financial year.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the ratio of staff to prisoners in prisons in Wales was (a) in each of the last three years and (b) for the most recent period in which data is available by prison.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the (a) operational and (b) actual accommodation capacity was for prisons in Wales (i) in each of the last three years and (ii) for the most recent period in which data was available, by prison.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The operational capacity is the actual capacity of a prison. It is the total number of prisoners that an establishment can hold taking into account control, security and the proper operation of the planned regime. It is determined by Prison Group Directors as set out in the Certified Prisoner Accommodation Policy Framework.
The operational capacity of all prisons in England and Wales is published monthly here: Prison population statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
The data for prisons in Wales for the last Friday in September between 2020 and 2023, has been replicated below.
Prison Name | Operational Capacity September 25th 2020 | Operational Capacity September 24th 2021 | Operational Capacity September 30th 2022 | Operational Capacity September 29th 2023 |
Berwyn | 1801 | 1810 | 1820 | 2000 |
Cardiff | 749 | 779 | 768 | 779 |
Parc | 1693 | 1689 | 1685 | 1815 |
Swansea | 396 | 468 | 458 | 452 |
Usk / Prescoed | 484 | 514 | 520 | 536 |
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the operational capacity was of prisons in Wales (a) in each of the last three years and (b) for the most recent period in which data was available, by prison.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The operational capacity is the actual capacity of a prison. It is the total number of prisoners that an establishment can hold taking into account control, security and the proper operation of the planned regime. It is determined by Prison Group Directors as set out in the Certified Prisoner Accommodation Policy Framework.
The operational capacity of all prisons in England and Wales is published monthly here: Prison population statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
The data for prisons in Wales for the last Friday in September between 2020 and 2023, has been replicated below.
Prison Name | Operational Capacity September 25th 2020 | Operational Capacity September 24th 2021 | Operational Capacity September 30th 2022 | Operational Capacity September 29th 2023 |
Berwyn | 1801 | 1810 | 1820 | 2000 |
Cardiff | 749 | 779 | 768 | 779 |
Parc | 1693 | 1689 | 1685 | 1815 |
Swansea | 396 | 468 | 458 | 452 |
Usk / Prescoed | 484 | 514 | 520 | 536 |
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the impact on (a) staff and (b) prisoner health and safety of the power cut affecting the HMP Berwyn estate in October.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
HMP Berwyn experience a power failure that affected the internal electrical system. The cause of the incident was a breakdown between the mains electrical system and the generator which meant that when the power cut occurred the generator did not activate.
The impact on the staff and prisoners was minimised by the speed at which the power was restored. The health and safety of all concerned was preserved through the use of contingency measures and a back-up solution had been agreed in the event that the matter could not be resolved.
The Senior Management Team and Facilities Services provider secured an Engineer to site and there was a resolution just after 3:00pm the same day.
The permanent solution for this matter is in progress at the establishment and we do not envisage further issues once this and the residual systems reset required following the incident are complete.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the emergency measures in place at HMP Berwyn in case of power outage.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
HMP Berwyn experience a power failure that affected the internal electrical system. The cause of the incident was a breakdown between the mains electrical system and the generator which meant that when the power cut occurred the generator did not activate.
The impact on the staff and prisoners was minimised by the speed at which the power was restored. The health and safety of all concerned was preserved through the use of contingency measures and a back-up solution had been agreed in the event that the matter could not be resolved.
The Senior Management Team and Facilities Services provider secured an Engineer to site and there was a resolution just after 3:00pm the same day.
The permanent solution for this matter is in progress at the establishment and we do not envisage further issues once this and the residual systems reset required following the incident are complete.