Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison officers were off sick at HMP Wandsworth on the first Monday of each month in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Edward Argar
The requested information is shown in the tables below.
Number of Prison Officers at HMP Wandsworth on short-term sick leave, Mar 2023 – Feb 2024:
Date | 6 Mar | 3 Apr | 1 May | 5 Jun | 3 Jul | 7 Aug | 4 Sep | 2 Oct | 6 Nov | 4 Dec | 1 Jan | 5 Feb |
Number of Prison Officers on short-term sick leave | 17 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 12 | 11 | 8 | 12 | 7 | 14 | 14 |
Number of Prison Officers at HMP Wandsworth on long-term sick leave, Mar 2023 – Feb 2024:
Date | 6 Mar | 3 Apr | 1 May | 5 Jun | 3 Jul | 7 Aug | 4 Sep | 2 Oct | 6 Nov | 4 Dec | 1 Jan | 5 Feb |
Number of Prison Officers on long-term sick leave | 14 | 13 | 14 | 8 | 7 | 14 | 11 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 8 |
Note:
Long-term sickness is defined as a period of sickness consisting of 29 or more calendar days.
HMP Wandsworth has robust weekly absence management processes in place to ensure that those who are absent because of sickness are being appropriately managed. This includes a review of all sickness absence (short and long-term), the reason for absences and ensuring appropriate support is being provided where required.
Those on continuing long-term sickness absence will be managed through a Formal Absence Review Meeting with the Governor, to explore whether they are fit to remain employed or if they can return to work in a different role.
HMPPS is focused on reducing its sickness absence rates through the support currently offered to staff and managers, including a comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme that provides the workforce with access to confidential support and counselling services. This is in addition to the organisation’s Occupational Health Service that supports staff and management with medical advice, and HMPPS’ multitude of staff networks that are part of HMPPS’ commitment to ensuring our staff feel supported in their roles.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much has been paid to prison officers at HMP Wandsworth as Payment Plus in each year since 1 January 2020.
Answered by Edward Argar
“Payment Plus” is a form of overtime, used to cover any vacancies and ensure that the minimum staffing level required by the Regime Management Plan is met, and that a safe and decent regime can be delivered.
HMP Wandsworth is being provided with continuing support through local detached duty staff and allocated “Payment Plus” hours. The prison regularly reviews the level of regime it is able safely to deliver and will continue to receive support as required.
The money spent on “Payment Plus” at HMP Wandsworth since 1 January 2020 is provided in the table below:
Period | Payment Plus (£)1 |
1 Jan 2020 – 31 Mar 2020 | 330,917 |
1 Apr 2020 – 31 Mar 2021 | 975,818 |
1 Apr 2021 – 31 Mar 2022 | 860,960 |
1 Apr 2022 – 31 Mar 2023 | 1,261,456 |
1 Apr 2023 – 31 Jan 2024 | 1,209,806 |
1These are provisional figures, which may include work at other establishments by staff based at HMP Wandsworth.
We have committed to recruiting up to 5,000 additional prison officers across public and private prisons by the mid-2020s.
There has been a fall in the resignation rate among Band 3-5 officers, of 2.4 percentage points in the year up to 30 December 2023 compared to the previous year.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 1 February 2024 to Question 11801 on Prison Officers: Labour Turnover, how many and what proportion of prison officers recruited at Wandsworth Prison in 2023 had left the prison service on 9 February 2024.
Answered by Edward Argar
The quarterly HMPPS workforce statistics publication covers staffing information, including leavers, and the latest publication covers data up to 31 December 2023. Figures covering data up to 31 March 2024 are due for publication on 16 May 2024 and therefore this information cannot be released.
In the period from 01 January 2023 to 31 December 2023, there were 113 band 3-5 prison officers who joined HMP Wandsworth. Details of the number and proportion who have left HMPPS as of 31 December 2023 are given in the table below.
Table 1: Status of band 3-5 prison officers (1) who joined (2) HMP Wandsworth between 01 January 2023 and 31 December 2023 - as of 31 December 2023
Remained or left | Headcount | Percentage |
Working in public sector prisons (including YCS) | 106 | 93.8% |
Left HMPPS altogether | 7 | 6.2% |
Total | 113 | 100.0% |
Notes to table 1:
(1) Includes Bands 3-4 / Prison Officer (incl specialists), Band 4 / Supervising Officer and Band 5 / Custodial Managers.
(2) New recruits joining HMPPS - does not include internal transfers or conversions.
Across HMPPS, retention continues to be a priority. Exit interviews have been in place since 2021 to determine the reasons for leaving and appropriate action needed. Retention strategies and toolkits based around drivers of attrition, such as leadership and career progression, have been in place since 2021 to determine appropriate national and local interventions.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many days HMP Wandsworth has been at a (a) red, (b) amber-red and (c) amber-green operating state since 1 February 2023.
Answered by Edward Argar
During the period since 1 Feb 2023, the regime at the prison has been at Green-Amber status for three weeks, and at Amber-Red for 51 weeks. Amber-Red confers that a safe, decent, secure, resilient and sustainable regime is being delivered, including purposeful activities, showers and exercise, and all essential services.
To improve regime delivery there has been significant focus on the recruitment of staff at HMP Wandsworth, with 66 new prison officers currently in training and being deployed to the prison in the coming weeks. In the meantime, HMP Wandsworth is being provided with continuing support through additional “Payment Plus” hours, equivalent to 39 additional prison officers. The Prison will continue to receive support as required and regularly reviews the level of regime it is able safely to deliver.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many assaults against prison staff took place in England in 2023, broken down by prison.
Answered by Edward Argar
We publish the number of assaults against prison staff, broken down by prison, as part of our Safety in Custody statistics, in Table 8e of the summary tables, available at the following link:
Safety in custody: quarterly update to September 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Figures up until September 2023 have been published at the above link, however figures for the whole of 2023 are not due for publication until April 2024 and cannot be released at this time.
We are committed to making prisons a safe place to work and providing prison officers with the right support, training and tools to empower them to do their jobs.
To protect staff and prisoners in very serious assaults, we are continuing to roll out PAVA – a synthetic pepper spray – for use by prison officers in the adult male estate. Staff are able to use the PAVA spray where there is serious violence or an imminent or perceived risk of it.
We have rolled out a new Body Worn Video Camera system which has increased the overall number of cameras across public sector prisons to over 13,000. This enables every operational band 3-5 officer on shift to wear a camera. They are supported by a new Policy Framework which mandates the wearing of the cameras.
The new Body Worn Video Camera system will be fully networked and accessible via current prison IT improving access to footage and the ability to share it with other agencies, with the overall aim of increasing use and transparency. The cameras will provide high-quality evidence to support prosecutions against prisoners who commit assaults.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many days of time off in lieu are prison officers at Wandsworth Prison owed in total as of 25 January 2024.
Answered by Edward Argar
Time off in lieu is given in respect of additional duties performed in excess of an officer’s weekly hours, where such duties cannot be covered effectively by other means.
At HMP Wandsworth, as of 25 January 2024, an average of 13.4 hours was owed per Band 3 prison officer.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many former prisoners were given tents to live in when leaving prison in each year since 2010.
Answered by Edward Argar
There is no official policy to issue tents as part of releasing people from prison, therefore the Ministry of Justice does not collect data on the number of tents issued. As such no information can be provided.
Our Prisons Strategy White Paper set out our plans to reduce reoffending, including improving prison leavers’ access to accommodation. This includes delivering our transitional accommodation service, known as Community Accommodation Service – Tier 3 (CAS-3), which provides up to 84 nights of basic temporary accommodation for prison leavers who would otherwise be homeless.
CAS-3 launched in five initial probation regions in July 2021. The service was expanded to Wales in June 2022, with expansion to the remaining six probation regions in England by the end of last year, to support the thousands of offenders who leave prison homeless.
Between 01 July 2021 and 31 March 2023 5,796 individuals, who would have otherwise been homeless, were accepted on to CAS-3.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of staff safety at prisons operated by HM Prison Service.
Answered by Edward Argar
Prison Officers are some of our finest public servants, and we do not underestimate the challenges faced by everyone working in prisons. We will not tolerate any violence against prison officers – staff must be able to expect a safe and decent work environment.
We are committed to making prisons a safe place to work and providing prison officers with the right support, training and tools to empower them to do their jobs. To protect staff and prisoners in very serious assaults, we have rolled out PAVA – a synthetic pepper spray – for use by prison officers in the adult male estate. Staff are able to use the PAVA spray where there is serious violence or an imminent or perceived risk of it.
We have rolled out a new Body Worn Video Camera system which has increased the overall number of cameras across public sector prisons to over 13,000. This enables every operational band 3-5 officer on shift to wear a camera. The cameras will provide high-quality evidence to support prosecutions against prisoners who commit assaults.
We continue to take action to strengthen the frontline. Between the end of December 2022 to the end of September 2023, the number of prison officers has increased from 21,632, to 23,058 FTE an extra 1,426 additional Full Time Equivalent (FTE) band 3-5 prison officers.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many meetings his Department has held with the Prison Officers Association since 7 September 2023.
Answered by Edward Argar
The Prison Officers Association (POA), as a recognised trade union, has regular engagement meetings with HM Prison & Probation Service.
In the three months since 7 September, more than 50 meetings have taken place at national level. POA branch committees have also met regularly with local management in every public sector prison during this period.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many new prison officers have been recruited at HMP Wandsworth since 7 September 2023.
Answered by Edward Argar
The quarterly HMPPS workforce statistics publication covers staffing information, including joiners. The latest publication covers data for up to the period 30 September 2023.
Workforce statistics after 30 September 2023 is unpublished and cannot be released.
In the period from 7 September 2023 to 30 September 2023, there have been a total of three Band 3 Prison Officers recruited to HMP Wandsworth. These are new starters only and do not include transfers from other prisons.