Asked by: Stephen Crabb (Conservative - Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to (a) monitor and (b) improve response times to prisoner medical emergencies.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Prison governors are responsible for ensuring that their establishments respond promptly and appropriately to medical emergencies, and all prison staff must be aware of their responsibilities for responding to a medical emergency (including resuscitation, and ligature removal) and of the local procedures in place to support a streamlined response.
Responses to medical emergencies in prisons are undertaken, and monitored, locally by both prison and healthcare staff, and vary in the degree of seriousness and the level of medical intervention that is required.
The time and type (‘Code Blue’ / ‘Code Red’) of a medical emergency is recorded by prison service staff when it is reported to them by telephone or via radio, and this will initiate a response which will include on-site NHS-commissioned healthcare staff and/or first-aid trained prison staff. Staff will assess what intervention is needed and determine whether hospital treatment is required.
Prison staff will arrange for an ambulance to attend, if needed, and escort it to the nearest, safest point of access to the patient. Arrival and departure times of ambulances are recorded locally. All such instances, including response times, are discussed between prison and healthcare staff. Depending on the seriousness of the emergency, this will be either as part of a full debrief or, on the following day, as part of the regular daily reflection on the previous day’s occurrences.
While arrival and departure times of ambulances are recorded by prisons, the responsibility for their response times lies with the NHS, and, therefore, any questions related to this element of emergency responses should be directed to the Department for Health and Social Care.
Asked by: Stephen Crabb (Conservative - Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison (a) officers and (b) other staff have been (i) investigated and (ii) dismissed in relation to (a) the conveyance of drugs and (b) conducting inappropriate relationships with prisoners in Wales in each year since 2019.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
In each year since 2019, there have been 2 staff in Welsh prisons who were investigated or recommended for dismissal for trafficking through internal disciplinary procedures.
Data relating to staff investigated or recommended for dismissal for having an inappropriate relationship with prisoners/ex-prisoners is held and is provided in table 1 below. The annual HMPPS staff equalities report covers staffing information, including investigations and conduct & disciplinary action, and the latest publication covers data up to 31 March 2023. This data does not include criminal investigations of prison officers or staff by law enforcement.
Table 1: HMPPS staff in Public Sector Prisons1 in Wales who were (i) investigated2 and (ii) recommended for dismissal3,4 for having an inappropriate relationship with a prisoner/ex-prisoner5, in each financial year from 2018/19 to 2022/236(p)
Financial year | Band 3-5 prison officers7 | All other prison staff | ||
Headcount of staff investigated | Headcount of staff recommended for dismissal | Headcount of staff investigated | Headcount of staff recommended for dismissal | |
2018/19 | ~ | ~ | ~ | ~ |
2019/20 | ~ | ~ | ~ | ~ |
2020/21 | ~ | ~ | ~ | ~ |
2021/22 | ~ | ~ | ~ | ~ |
2022/23 | 6 | ~ | ~ | ~ |
Notes
1. Excludes any privately managed prisons.
2. Figures relate to formal investigations with an outcome recorded in the year. Staff subject to at least one investigation that was concluded during the year.
3. Conduct and discipline cases are defined as where a penalty has been imposed on a member of HMPPS staff for a reason of conduct. Staff with at least one conduct and discipline case concluded during the year.
4. A dismissal case is defined as where at least one of the charges relating to an individual is recommended for dismissal. Information on the outcomes of any appeal is not included.
5. Allegations which meet a criminal threshold will be referred to the Police for investigation. If a criminal justice outcome is secured, this will result in a summary dismissal as per PSI 10/2016 Conduct and Discipline and will not be recorded against a specific ‘type’ of misconduct in the Conduct and Discipline data. 6. Financial year runs from 01 April to 31 March. Latest published data on Investigations is up to 31 March 2023. 7. Band 3-5 Officers includes Band 3-4 / Prison Officers (incl specialists), Band 4 / Supervising Officers, and Band 5 / Custodial Managers.
~ denotes suppressed values of 2 or fewer or other values which would allow values of 2 or fewer to be derived by subtraction. Low numbers are suppressed to prevent disclosure in accordance with the Data Protection Act, 2018.
(p) Provisional data. There may be minor changes to figures in future due to additional data being recorded on the reporting system.
Asked by: Stephen Crabb (Conservative - Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to help tackle the illegal entry of (a) drugs and (b) communication devices into prisons by prison staff.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
HM Prison & Probation Service has a zero-tolerance policy of smuggling of contraband into prisons, such as drugs and mobile phones, including by staff. The vast majority of prison staff are hardworking and dedicated.
We are determined to recruit the right people into our frontline positions, which is why they are subject to personnel security vetting which includes criminal record checks during the application process. Before taking up post, new recruits receive specific training to support them and ensure their resilience to corruption.
The £100 million Security Investment Programme (SIP) funded Enhanced Gate Security in 42 high risk sites, meaning we have counter-measures in place to detect and disrupt any staff attempting to smuggle contraband into prisons. The routine searching of staff, use of drug sniffer dogs and metal detectors acts as a deterrent against conveyance. SIP also funded mobile phone blocking and detection capabilities and drug detection units.
Appropriate action is taken towards the minority of staff who engage in corrupt activity. Whenever staff are suspected of wrongdoing, HMPPS’ Counter-Corruption Unit pursues disciplinary action or criminal convictions, working closely with the police.
We have recruited over 100 new staff into HMPPS’ Counter-Corruption Unit, which proactively detects, disrupts, and deters activities of those suspected of wrongdoing and supports prisons and probation services with specialist staff working alongside the police to support their investigations. Regional Prevent teams are dedicated to building staff resilience to corruption through training, awareness-raising and individual support.
Asked by: Stephen Crabb (Conservative - Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to help reduce the number of drug-related deaths in prisons in Wales.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We have a zero-tolerance approach to drugs in all our prisons.
We have an ambitious 10-year Drug Strategy, which sets out our cross-government plan to address illegal drug use. It is underpinned by a record level of additional investment, as part of which the Ministry of Justice is rolling out a range of interventions, including in prisons in Wales, to get offenders off drugs and into recovery. These include:
Alongside the physical deterrents, prisons in Wales have a drug and alcohol intervention service which aims to address the causes of drug and alcohol-related usage and reduce the risk of harm. This is achieved through various means including opiate replacement treatments, psychosocial groups, and counselling.
Following the most recent deaths, HMPPS in Wales has taken further steps, including:
Asked by: Stephen Crabb (Conservative - Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an estimate of the proportion of prison officers who are searched upon entry to prison by an x-ray body scanner.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
HM Prison and Probation Service does not currently have legal permission to use X-ray body scanners on staff working in prisons. As such, no prison officers are searched by an X-ray body scanner upon entry to prison.
All persons may be searched on entry to or within prisons, including prison staff. Arrangements for staff searching are set out in a prisons Local Security Strategy.
The vast majority of staff are hardworking and dedicated. A minority of staff engage in corrupt activity which is often as a result of conditioning and manipulation by prisoners.
Through the Government’s £100 million Security Investment Programme (SIP) we have bolstered prison security, such as physical measures to stop illicit items from entering prisons. These include extending X-ray body scanners to all closed male prisons, and installing Enhanced Gate Security at 42 high risk sites with archway metal detectors and the regular use of sniffer dogs. We have also since installed X-ray baggage scanners at 49 establishments. Additionally, through SIP investment, we have introduced mobile phone blocking and detection capabilities. We have also expanded HMPPS’ Counter Corruption Unit to effectively support the resilience of our hardworking prison officers to coercion by criminals. Furthermore, we have enhanced our partnership working through the development of a Multi-Agency Response to Serious Organised Crime.