Asked by: Karen Lumley (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department plans to take to (a) improve retention of and (b) reduce staff turnover among prison officers.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
A core part of our prison safety and reform plan is the recruitment of an additional 2,500 prison officers. In 10 of our most challenging prisons we have already started a recruitment programme, and I am pleased to say that we have already made 348 job offers for those 400 jobs, on top of 1,400 new officer appointed in the last 12 months.
To address the relatively higher numbers of new officers who leave in the first year, we are improving the support that applicants and new prison officers receive, so that they have the opportunity to explore and understand the role of the prison officer before applying and supporting them through to the completion of their training and probation. At 30 of our most challenging recruitment sites we will be giving prison governors greater freedoms to hire the staff right for them, with the expertise and skills they need.
In respect of established staff, higher staffing levels are set to improve the supervision of prisoners, operational resilience and staff engagement with prisoners; all of which will improve prison safety and encourage experienced staff to stay. The percentage of experienced staff is higher now than it was in 2010.
Asked by: Karen Lumley (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information her Department holds on the average number of applicants received for prison officer vacancies.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
A core part of our prison safety and reform plan is the recruitment of an additional 2,500 additional prison officers. In 10 of our most challenging prisons we have already started a recruitment programme. I am pleased to say that we have already made over 300 job offers for those 400 jobs, on top of 1,400 new officers appointed in the last 12 months.
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Karen Lumley (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment she has made of the level of reoffending by former prisoners (a) who have had mental health treatments and (b) in general.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
We know that people with mental health problems are disproportionately represented in the Criminal Justice System, and these conditions require treatment. In our Prison Safety and Reform White Paper published earlier this month, we set out how we will also work with NHS England, Public Health England and the Welsh Government to improve measurement of mental health outcomes. We are committed to meeting the mental health needs of prisoners. All prisons have procedures in place to identify, manage and support people with mental health issues.
Too many prisoners currently go on to reoffend - almost half of all prisoners are reconvicted within a year of release. The cost of reoffending by former prisoners is estimated to be up to £15 billion a year. To tackle this, we are embarking on the most far-reaching prison reforms for a generation. Reforms that will transform how our prisons are run and give prisoners the skills they need to become law-abiding citizens when they are released.
General rates of reoffending are available at www.gov.uk.
Asked by: Karen Lumley (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to her speech of 3 November 2016, on prison reform, what steps her Department is taking to ensure the new 2,500 prison officers are from diverse backgrounds.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
We are determined to attract a diversity of applicants when recruiting to operational and other roles and have put in place a range of measures to increase the potential for this. These include: anonymised selection of candidates for interview, a drive to have diverse interview panels and for all interviewers to undertake training to identify and avoid unconscious bias in the selection of candidates.
Asked by: Karen Lumley (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment she has made of the potential effect on the number of cases of possession of legal highs by prisoners of an increase in the number of prison staff.
Answered by Phillip Lee
We take a zero tolerance approach to drugs in prisons and have implemented a range of initiatives in response to the use of dangerous psychoactive substances. These initiatives include: mandatory drug testing across the prison estate, introducing legislation so that anyone found in possession of psychoactive substances in prisons can face up to two years in prison, and training over 300 drug detection dogs to specifically detect psychoactive substances. We are also working with the Department of Health and other partners to improve our understanding of the risks NPS present for offenders and to provide appropriate information, guidance and support to offenders and those working with them in prison.
The Justice Secretary has been clear that levels of violence in prisons are unacceptable and has announced a major overhaul of the prison system including 2,500 extra frontline prison officers. These extra officers and new safety measures will help us crack down on the toxic cocktail of drugs, drones and mobile phones that are in our prisons. Our measures will create prisons that are places of safety and reform, giving prisoners the education and skills they need to turn their back on crime for good.
Asked by: Karen Lumley (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many LGBTQ prisoners have been (a) diagnosed and (b) received treatment for mental health issues in the last 12 months.
Answered by Phillip Lee
The department does not hold this information, which relates to confidential medical records of patients.
Asked by: Karen Lumley (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to provide support to prison governors providing care for the well-being of prison officers.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
NOMS is committed to provide safe, decent and secure places of work and takes the health, safety and wellbeing of its employees extremely seriously. We recognise that the physical, emotional and social wellbeing of employees is paramount to attracting and retaining our staff that will build a strong and capable organisation. We aim to achieve this by engaging with our employees to provide good quality advice and support, promote responsibility for personal health and nurture a feeling of organisational pride.
In terms of direct support for our staff in NOMS, we have access to an Occupational Health and Employee Assistance Programme that provides a wide range of support arrangements including: comprehensive employee assistance provision which includes 24 hour access to signposting and counselling on a wide range of issues; Trauma Support services; a wide ranging health promotion website and personal wellbeing zone including advice on weight management and stress management solutions. NOMS staff can also self-refer for confidential counselling, up to a maximum of six sessions in any 12 month period. The helpline is open for staff to do this 24 hours, 365 days a year. NOMS has adopted the Health and Safety Executive Stress Management Standards and the NOMS Stress Toolkit has been developed for use by both managers and staff as appropriate. There are also a number of resources available to support staff from Civil Service Learning including an online resilience package.
Asked by: Karen Lumley (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to improve the provision of meaningful employment to prisoners in all categories of prison.
Answered by Andrew Selous
All prisons provide opportunities for prisoners to work and learn new skills to help support their rehabilitation. We work continuously with employers and prisons to create new opportunities for work experience and employment, and our programme of reform will build on this, so that prisons can help offenders get the skills and qualifications they need to make a success of life on the outside.