Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has plans to relocate prison officers to HMP Birmingham from other prisons as a result of the cancellation of the contract with G4S.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The contract with G4S has not been terminated.
HM Prison and Probation Service has (since 20 August) exercised its right under the contract to step in and take over the running of HMP Birmingham for an initial period of six months. This ‘step in’ action means that we can provide additional resources and support to the prison in order to directly address the areas of failure identified, and can subsequently recover the cost of doing so from G4S in accordance with the terms of the contract.
We have already allocated experienced HM Prison and Probation Service officers to bolster existing staffing at HMP Birmingham, and an initial 32 experienced public sector officers have begun working at the prison. We are also strengthening the management team and reducing the prisons population.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has plans to increase the number of prison officers in HMP Birmingham as a result of the cessation of contractual arrangements with G4S.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The contract with G4S has not been terminated.
HM Prison and Probation Service has (since 20 August) exercised its right under the contract to step in and take over the running of HMP Birmingham for an initial period of six months. This ‘step in’ action means that we can provide additional resources and support to the prison in order to directly address the areas of failure identified, and can subsequently recover the cost of doing so from G4S in accordance with the terms of the contract.
We have already allocated experienced HM Prison and Probation Service officers to bolster existing staffing at HMP Birmingham, and an initial 32 experienced public sector officers have begun working at the prison. We are also strengthening the management team and reducing the prisons population.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that the failings identified at HMP Birmingham will not be replicated in (a) HMP Altcourse, (b) HMP Ashfield, (c) HMP Bronzefield, (d) HMP Doncaster, (e) HMP Dovegate, (f) HMP/YOI Forest Bank, (g) HMP Lowdham Grange, (h) HMP Oakwood, (i) HMP/YOI Parc, (j) HMP Peterborough, (k) HMP Rye Hill, (l) HMP Thameside and (m) HMP Northumberland.
Answered by Rory Stewart
We have some good, innovative prisons run by the private sector, which highlights the benefits of a mixed economy approach to this service. We will continue to robustly monitor the contracts of the other privately-managed prisons to ensure that they deliver the highest possible standards in prison care. Each privately managed prison has an on-site Controller who is accountable to a designated HM Prison and Probation Service Senior Contract Manager who is responsible for monitoring whether the contract is being delivered in accordance with agreed contractual delivery indicators, and that the prisons provide safe, decent and secure services, in line with HMPPS performance standards.
G4S run good prisons at Altcourse, Oakwood, Parc and Ryehill. They have struggled to achieve the progress required at Birmingham since the serious concerted indiscipline in December 2016 but we are determined to do what is necessary to improve the performance of the prison.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison officers by length of service of (a) less than 6 months, (b) between 6 months and 12 months and (c) more than 12 months have been (i) dismissed, (ii) excluded, (iii) convicted and (iv) cautioned by the police for smuggling contraband into prisons in each year since 2010.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The vast majority of prison staff undertake their duties with honesty and integrity. However, Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) is committed to investigating and eliminating corruption to ensure prisons are a safe and secure environment for staff, prisoners and visitors.
The requested data is in the table below. This data does not include non-directly employed staff, Prison Custody Officers or other staff employed in the private estate. An asterisk (*) has been used to suppress values of five or less. This is to prevent disclosure of individual information in accordance with our statutory obligations under the Data Protection Act 2018.
Outcome | Length of service | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | Total |
|
| |||||||||||
Dismissals |
| * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | 23 |
|
6 - 12 months |
| ||||||||||
> 12 months |
| ||||||||||
Exclusions |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|
6 - 12 months |
| ||||||||||
> 12 months |
| ||||||||||
Convictions |
| * | * | 0 | * | * | * | * | * | 23 |
|
6 - 12 months | 0 | * |
| ||||||||
> 12 months | 7 | 6 |
| ||||||||
Police Cautions |
| * | * | * | 0 | * | * | * | * | 14 |
|
6 - 12 months | 0 |
| |||||||||
> 12 months | 7 |
| |||||||||
Total Number of staff | 8 | 8 | 10 | 15 | 6 | 3 | 10 | 11 | 71 |
| |
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 14 February 2018 to Question 126904 on Prisons: Repairs and Maintenance, how many outstanding (a) preventative and (b) reactive maintenance actions on the prisons estates (i) at each location and (ii) under each facilities management contract there were on 1 September 2018.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Data for 1 September 2018 is not yet available. I will write to the Rt Hon Member with the information requested once the figures can be provided and will place a copy of my letter in the Library.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Government's news story, Around one million public sector workers to get pay rise, published on 24 July 2018, whether probation officers will receive a pay increase; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Our probation staff do a vital and challenging job reforming offenders and protecting the public.
We have paid the contractual increase for probation staff below the top of their pay band, but have not been able to offer a pay increase for those staff who are already at the top of their pay band.
To help to address the current situation, HMPPS is working closely with the probation trade unions to look at modernising the NPS pay structures and policies.
Any announcement on the pay modernisation and pay increases after the negotiations are complete would be jointly made by HMPPS and the NPS trade unions.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans his Department has to return HMP Birmingham to a private sector body when it has reached the standards required by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons.
Answered by Rory Stewart
G4S will cover the cost of the step-in at Birmingham but the MoJ does not apply financial penalties to its contracts; this practice being unenforceable in contract law. Financial remedies may be applied where a Contractor exceeds the maximum number of performance points accrued following any failure to achieve specified service levels set out in its contract. The contract at HMP Birmingham provides for the above calculation to be performed on a quarterly basis in arrears with any financial deduction recovered from G4S as a credit. The cost of the step-in will not be borne by the tax-payer.
Private sector companies continue to have an important role to play in the justice system, bringing innovation and expertise. We monitor all our strategic suppliers, including G4S, closely. Alongside contract management in departments, government officials meet all strategic suppliers regularly to discuss their financial and strategic situation as well as to discuss performance of government contracts.
HMPPS has stepped in under the terms of its contract to take operational control of HMP Birmingham until February 2019 in order to regain the necessary stability, and we’ll take a view again about its longer-term future at that time.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment his Department has made of ability of G4S to maintain Government contracts as a result of that company's contract to manage HMP Birmingham.
Answered by Rory Stewart
G4S will cover the cost of the step-in at Birmingham but the MoJ does not apply financial penalties to its contracts; this practice being unenforceable in contract law. Financial remedies may be applied where a Contractor exceeds the maximum number of performance points accrued following any failure to achieve specified service levels set out in its contract. The contract at HMP Birmingham provides for the above calculation to be performed on a quarterly basis in arrears with any financial deduction recovered from G4S as a credit. The cost of the step-in will not be borne by the tax-payer.
Private sector companies continue to have an important role to play in the justice system, bringing innovation and expertise. We monitor all our strategic suppliers, including G4S, closely. Alongside contract management in departments, government officials meet all strategic suppliers regularly to discuss their financial and strategic situation as well as to discuss performance of government contracts.
HMPPS has stepped in under the terms of its contract to take operational control of HMP Birmingham until February 2019 in order to regain the necessary stability, and we’ll take a view again about its longer-term future at that time.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what financial penalties his Department plans to impose upon G4S following the Government takeover of HMP Birmingham.
Answered by Rory Stewart
G4S will cover the cost of the step-in at Birmingham but the MoJ does not apply financial penalties to its contracts; this practice being unenforceable in contract law. Financial remedies may be applied where a Contractor exceeds the maximum number of performance points accrued following any failure to achieve specified service levels set out in its contract. The contract at HMP Birmingham provides for the above calculation to be performed on a quarterly basis in arrears with any financial deduction recovered from G4S as a credit. The cost of the step-in will not be borne by the tax-payer.
Private sector companies continue to have an important role to play in the justice system, bringing innovation and expertise. We monitor all our strategic suppliers, including G4S, closely. Alongside contract management in departments, government officials meet all strategic suppliers regularly to discuss their financial and strategic situation as well as to discuss performance of government contracts.
HMPPS has stepped in under the terms of its contract to take operational control of HMP Birmingham until February 2019 in order to regain the necessary stability, and we’ll take a view again about its longer-term future at that time.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many occasions did he (a) hold meetings with, (b) undertake written communications with and (c) telephone members of the Independent Monitoring Board for HMP Birmingham since 1 January 2018.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Since G4S took over the running of HMP Birmingham in 2011, a Controller’s team has been in place consisting of a Controller, a Deputy Controller, and an Assistant Controller. During that time, a total of five different members of staff have been employed in the above posts.
The Secretary of State visited HMP Birmingham personally, in May 2018 where he met with the Chair of the Independent Monitoring Board; the Senior Contract Manager for HMP Birmingham, who manages the Controller; and the Head of Custodial Contracts for HM Prison and Probation Service. I also responded to the Chair of the IMB in May 2018, acknowledging the concerns raised in relation to the prison, and visited HMP Birmingham personally, to follow up on their concerns in August 2018.