Asked by: David Baines (Labour - St Helens North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she plans to extend the Prison Service Long Service Medal to operational officers in privately managed prisons.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Prison Services Long Service & Good Conduct Medal is awarded to operational staff in the UK Prison Services on completion of 20 years’ continuous meritorious service, and aligns operational public sector prison staff with comparable organisations such as the Police, Fire and Ambulance Services and the Armed Forces. It is a medal awarded by the Head of State to eligible state employees, details of which are set out in a Royal Warrant.
In 2016, the Cabinet Office confirmed that official medals of this type can only be awarded to staff working in public sector prisons and not those in prisons run by private sector companies. This is in line with the existing criteria used for the award of Long Service & Good Conduct Medals to the other Crown services.