Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has issued guidance to prison officers on ensuring political neutrality.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
All civil servants are contractually bound by the Civil Service Code to serve the Government of the day. In HMPPS, this is reinforced through the Outside Activities Policy and the Conduct and Discipline Policy. These require employees to remain politically neutral at all times and to avoid political activity on duty, in uniform or on official premises. Employees are signposted to guidance on conduct for civil servants at each election period and during party conference season to ensure clear expectations of behaviour.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what guidance his Department issues to ensure prison officers follow the civil service code.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The requirement to adhere to the Civil Service Code is set out in all HMPPS employee's employment contracts. In HMPPS, these standards are reinforced through the Outside Activities and the Conduct and Discipline policies, which set behavioural expectations and how any breaches are handled.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will set out whether all grades of prison officers are required to be politically neutral.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
All employees are bound by the Civil Service Code and must serve the Government impartially. The HMPPS Outside Activities Policy requires all employees, including all grades of Prison Officer, to remain politically neutral at all times and they must seek permission to take part in political activities if needed. Employees must not carry out any political activity while on duty, in uniform or on official premises.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of trends in the number of staff in the Prison and Probation Service working from home on the (a) time taken to process cases and (b) quality of service provision.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) offers hybrid working arrangements where business need allows. This is an informal, non-contractual form of flexible working that blends working from a staff member's base location, different MoJ sites and / or from home. Arrangements are agreed between staff members and their line managers and subject to regular review. Some roles, such as those which are prison-based or require direct supervision of people on probation, will not be suitable for hybrid working.
The MoJ routinely publishes a range of data on service delivery in both prisons and probation at https://data.justice.gov.uk/prisons and https://data.justice.gov.uk/probation.