Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the fast track scheme for service leavers and veterans to become prison officers has begun; and what steps are being taken to promote that scheme, including through active outreach with veterans.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
'Advance into Justice,’ the Ministry of Justice fast-track scheme to support service leavers and veterans to become prison officers, was launched on 24 January 2022. The campaign closed on 14 February 2022 and candidates were assessed in March 2022. Those successful at assessment centre are currently progressing through the offer and hire process.
The scheme was promoted in several ways including proactive social media communications in advance of the launch; dedicated candidate webinars to provide information on the role and the assessment process; active outreach at ex-Armed Forces’ recruitment fairs; and working collaboratively with the Career Transition Partnership (CTP) to engage service leavers as they transition from the military into civilian life.
The campaign has received dedicated support from Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS). A specific funding line to deliver campaign marketing, candidate outreach and assessment delivery was not needed as we were able to meet the costs as part of the broader Prison Officer recruitment budget. HMPPS provided operational resources to deliver the assessment centres and funding to support successful applicants with relocation or home to work travel costs is being met from existing budgets up to the advertised thresholds of £12,000 per candidate. The total cost of the campaign will be dependent upon the number of successful candidates who take up post and their agreed individual resettlement needs.
A thorough evaluation review and lessons learnt exercise with key stakeholders will be completed to identify successes and challenges, as well as analysing feedback collected from candidates. In addition, analysis will be conducted to identify any differences in terms of selection performance by those on the scheme, compared to the national prison officer recruitment process, alongside evaluating fairness towards protected characteristic groups. This will be supported by our Occupational Psychology Team.
In the short-term, success will be measured by the number of applications and those who progress to an assessment centre and the number of hires in our target prisons. In the longer-term, we will monitor the retention levels of those appointed via this route as well as their performance in role.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many female veterans are serving custodial sentences.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
As of 30 June 2021, there were 13 females serving a custodial sentence in England and Wales who had declared former military service.
Information on previous service does not distinguish between those who have served in the British Armed Forces or those of another nation. Those who choose to declare previous service may be referring to time spent with the UK forces or with those of another country.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many veterans applied to his Department using the civil service great place to work scheme over the nine month pilot; and how many of those applicants (a) received an interview, (b) were offered a job and (c) went on to accept a role and begin work.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
During the pilot of the Great Place to Work for Veterans scheme the department received:
| Number of applicants |
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Applicants to the scheme | 926 |
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(a) received an interview | 276 |
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(b) were offered a job | 113 |
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(c) went on to accept a role | 50 |
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(d) began work with the Ministry of Justice | Not Available |
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The pilot demonstrated that the initiative was successful in providing greater opportunities to veterans to pursue a career in the Civil Service and will now be rolled out across all Departments. This is one of a number of schemes to support veterans into public sector employment, including specific plans to get more veterans into teaching, the prison service and uniformed services.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many female veterans are subject to (a) community based court orders and (b) probation supervision.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
As of 30 September 2021, the number of female veterans1 subject to community based court orders2 and probation supervision was as follows:
Sentence type | Total |
All court orders2 | 11 |
All probation supervision | 15 |
1. Veteran status can include individuals who have served in foreign Armed Forces as well as UK Armed Service Personnel and those who were in the Territorial Army/reserve. | |
2. Court orders includes all community sentences, deferred sentences and suspended sentence orders with requirements. | |
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There is anecdotal evidence that some offenders may be reluctant to disclose having served in the Armed Forces. Note that we rely on them self-declaring previous military service, either here or abroad, for our data.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many armed forces veterans have been employed by the civil service in his Department in each year since 2010.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Justice has employed 4655 Armed Forces veterans since 2017, the point at which data on their recruitment is first available. The annual breakdown of recruits since 2010 is:
Year | Number of Armed Forces veterans by year the offer was accepted |
2010 | Not available |
2011 | Not available |
2012 | Not available |
2013 | Not available |
2014 | Not available |
2015 | Not available |
2016 | Not available |
2017 | 810 |
2018 | 1286 |
2019 | 857 |
2020 | 727 |
2021 | 975 |
Information prior to 2017 is unavailable for reporting purposes due to a change in applicant tracking system in late 2016 where previous recruitment data was not retained.