Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 14 March 2024 to Question 17880 on Prisons: Civil Disorder, whether his Department previously had a minimum staffing requirement for Operation Tornado teams in each prison.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Operation Tornado is a national mutual aid plan by which prisons support one another in the event of a serious incident or occurrence requiring a reinforcement of staff. Operation Tornado is employed by HMPPS for three main reasons:
HMPPS aims to have 2,100 volunteers trained in readiness for Operation Tornado. Since the inception of Operation Tornado in the late 1980s, HMPPS has allocated a commitment to each prison for how many Tornado staff they should aim to have trained. HMPPS monitors the number of staff available for deployment and offer training spaces to ensure resilience to respond to serious incidents.
In the event of a serious incident, all prisons, including those who have a commitment of zero, receive the same level of support from the Operation Response and Resilience Unit and Tornado trained staff from other prisons if required.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether HM Prison and Probation Service has made an assessment of the safety of (a) prisoners and (b) prison officers in prisons that do not have Tornado trained staff.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Operation Tornado is a national mutual aid plan by which prisons support one another in the event of a serious incident or occurrence requiring a reinforcement of staff. Operation Tornado is employed by HMPPS for three main reasons:
HMPPS aims to have 2,100 volunteers trained in readiness for Operation Tornado. Since the inception of Operation Tornado in the late 1980s, HMPPS has allocated a commitment to each prison for how many Tornado staff they should aim to have trained. HMPPS monitors the number of staff available for deployment and offer training spaces to ensure resilience to respond to serious incidents.
In the event of a serious incident, all prisons, including those who have a commitment of zero, receive the same level of support from the Operation Response and Resilience Unit and Tornado trained staff from other prisons if required.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison (a) officers and (b) other staff have been (i) investigated, (ii) arrested and (iii) charged in relation to (A) drug smuggling and (B) corruption at HMP Berwyn in the last two years.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
There is no place for any form of corruption or unacceptable behaviour in the Prison Service. Such behaviour is contrary to our core values and will not be tolerated. The Ministry of Justice’s Counter Corruption Unit and Tackling Unacceptable Behaviour Unit are working to ensure that professional standards of behaviour are maintained.
In relation to the various items of information requested, it is necessary to consider whether providing information in relation to a small number of cases could lead to the identification of individuals, in a way that would constitute a breach of our statutory obligations under data protection legislation. As we believe that the release of this information would risk such identification, it is not possible to provide the figures requested.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department collects data on the number of individuals released on the End of Custody Supervised Licence scheme who have committed a criminal offence after their release.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We are constantly monitoring the use of End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) and its impact.
We are taking action to drive down the reoffending rate for all offenders by investing in a wide range of rehabilitative interventions to get them into skills training, work, and stable accommodation. This includes delivering our groundbreaking transitional accommodation service, known as Community Accommodation Service – Tier 3 (CAS-3), so prison-leavers have a guaranteed 12 weeks of basic, temporary accommodation to provide a stable base on release. By January 2023, the proportion of offenders housed on the first night of their release from custody was 7.6 percentage points higher in CAS3 regions versus non-CAS3 regions.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the minimum (a) numbers and (b) grades of staff responsible for HMP Wandsworth are (i) during the night state (ii) when prisoners are unlocked.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested forms part of the prison’s Regime Management Plan, an operational document which provides information to staff on issues relating to the safety and security of the prison. Owing to the sensitivity of these issues, we do not consider that information contained in the document can be placed in the public domain.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to his Department's press release entitled First Rapid Deployment Cells unveiled to boost prison places, published on 3 March 2023, how many such cells have been built.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
As part of our commitment to build 20,000 prison places, the largest prison build programme since the Victorian era, we have so far delivered c.670 Rapid Deployment Cells across 12 sites and we are pushing ahead with hundreds more.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has made an assessment of the adequacy of the treatment of (a) Romani, (b) Roma and (c) Irish Traveller people in the prison estate.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
His Majesty’s Prison & Probation Service (HMPPS) pursues an evidence-based approach to improving treatment and outcomes for prisoners, people on probation and children in our care from Romani, Roma, and Traveller Communities.
The HMPPS Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Strategy, first produced in May 2023, was drawn up, and continues to be developed, in consultation with Third Sector partners. It is informed by a range of internal and external reports and data. The strategy is implemented via a comprehensive action plan, which targets key areas for development, including data improvement, family interactions and health inequalities.
Some specific examples of activity include the further expansion of Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller (GRT) Forums in prisons. Forums are being regularly held in several establishments across the prison estate, providing a supportive platform for communications and helping to respond to local needs. Staff awareness continues to be improved, with Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller specific information embedded into various guides across the organisation, improving the capability of staff to respond to individuals’ needs.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will publish the (a) locations and (b) number of places per location of all planned prison places.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
To date, we have delivered c.5,900 places. This includes our two new prisons HMP Five Wells and HMP Fosse Way. By the end of 2025, we are on track to have delivered around 10,000 places in total. This will include our third new prison, HMP Millsike, delivering c.1,500 places, new houseblocks at HMPs Stocken and Rye Hill, as well as hundreds more Rapid Deployment Cells.
Under current plans, we are scheduled to deliver at the following sites from 21 March 2024:
Programme | Site | Places |
New Prisons | HMP Millsike | 1,468 |
Garth Wymott 2* | 1,715 | |
Gartree 2 | 1,715 | |
Grendon 2 | 1,468 | |
HMP Gartree Houseblock ** | 247 | |
HMP Fosse Way Houseblock | 245 | |
Private prisons – houseblock | HMP Rye Hill | 458 |
HMP Parc** | 320 | |
Houseblocks | HMP Bullingdon | 247 |
HMP Channings Wood | 494 | |
HMP Elmley | 247 | |
HMP Hindley | 494 | |
HMP Highpoint | 741 | |
HMP Wayland | 121 | |
HMP Guys Marsh | 180 | |
HMP Stocken | 214 | |
Refurbishments | HMP Birmingham | 301 |
HMP Norwich | 171 | |
HMP Liverpool | 350*** | |
Rapid Deployment Cells | HMP Erlestoke | 40 |
HMP Foston Hall | 40 | |
HMP The Verne | 40 | |
HMP Northumberland | 60 | |
HMP Springhill | 40 | |
HMP Kirklevington Grange | 153 | |
HMP Prescoed | 80 | |
Category D | HMP Hatfield | 60 |
HMP Leyhill ** | 240 | |
HMP Springhill ** | 180 | |
HMP Sudbury | 120 | |
HMP Ford ** | 420 | |
HMP Standford Hill ** | 240 | |
Small Secure Houseblocks | HMP Brinsford | 120 |
HMP Humber | 120 | |
HMP Lancaster Farms | 240 | |
HMP Morton Hall | 60 | |
HMP Northumberland | 240 | |
HMP Onley | 180 | |
HMP Ranby | 120 | |
HMP Erlestoke | 180 |
* This site is subject to an ongoing planning appeal.
** Delivery at these sites is subject to planning permission.
*** A wing-by-wing refurbishment is ongoing, with some places already delivered.
Any additional sites not listed here are commercially sensitive and information released about these would prejudice the department’s negotiating position and ability to achieve value for money in these developments.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps HM Prison and Probation Service take to ensure prisoners released on end of custody supervised licence can continue to access drug addiction treatment programs when they are released from prison.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We know that supporting offenders to engage in drug and alcohol treatment is vital to reduce reoffending and we are working with health partners on a range of interventions to strengthen continuity of care for prison leavers. We have recruited over 50 Health and Justice Co-ordinators nationwide to improve links between prison and community treatment services, procured 650 laptops to enable prisoners to speak to community treatment providers before release and we are rolling out the Probation Notification Actioning Project (PNAP) which will make probation aware of prison leavers who have been referred to community treatment so probation can support continued engagement.
The lower-level offenders released on ECSL will have a release plan put together by probation, and where appropriate this release plan will include access to drug and alcohol treatment. It remains at the discretion of the prison service to block or delay the ECSL release of any prisoners where doing so would result in losing access to essential services such as drug and alcohol treatment.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of new probation officers left the service within a year of joining in each year since 2014.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
A considerable majority of Probation Officers first join the Probation Service as Trainee Probation Officers. During their time as a trainee, they will spend around 15-21 months training before potentially taking up a post as a Band 4 Probation Officer. As a result of this trainee pipeline, there will only be new Probation Officers with less than one year in the Probation Service if they joined the service as a qualified Probation Officer and then left within 12 months.
Retention of Probation staff is a priority for the service. A national standardised approach to exit interviews has been implemented to better understand the key drivers of attrition and feedback from these interviews helps shape and determine retention interventions at a local and national level.
The Probation Service is in its second year of a multi-year pay deal for staff. Salary values of all pay bands will increase each year, targeted at key operational grades to improve a challenging recruitment and retention position. The pay increases differ for each job role, but to provide an example Probation Officers will see their starting salary rise from £30,208 in 2021/22 to £35,130 by 2024/25.
The table below shows only those Probation Officers who joined the service as qualified Probation Officers and so will not include any Probation Officers who joined as trainees (who will all have been in the service for longer than a year by the time they qualify as a Probation Officer). The Probation Service unified in June 2021, bringing together the National Probation Service and Community Rehabilitation Companies. As a result, figures pre- and post-June 2021 are not comparable because of the change in the workforce makeup.
Table 1 - Number of Band 4 Probation Officer joiners to HMPPS and those who left HMPPS within 1 year: 2022-2023
Year | All joiners | Staff who left within 1 year |
2022 | 42 | 3 |
2023 | 44 | 5 |