John Cryer
Main Page: John Cryer (Labour - Leyton and Wanstead)Department Debates - View all John Cryer's debates with the Ministry of Justice
(8 years, 6 months ago)
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Michael Gove
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for bringing that fantastic campaign to the attention of the House. In three simple phrases, he and the organisation sum up what ex-offenders need: work, strong relationships and a place to live.
John Cryer (Leyton and Wanstead) (Lab)
Earlier, the Secretary of State mentioned the recruitment of prison officers. I think that the figure of 420 was used, but that is against a background of a 25% cut in prison officers in the previous Parliament. What is the current shortfall?
Andrew Selous
There is quite good news in this area. We appointed 2,230 prison officers between 30 June 2014 and 30 June 2015. That is a net increase of 420 additional prison officers. We have 600 candidates on the waiting list for when vacancies arise, and prison officer vacancies are at a low of 2.1% compared with 5.2% last December.