Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions he has had with the leadership of the National Offender Management Service on recruitment and retention of staff.
Answered by Damian Hinds
Having experienced staff in our prisons is vital to ensuring prisons remain safe, secure and decent. Ministers receive regular briefings from Prison Service leadership on prison resourcing and proactive measures are being taken to improve recruitment and retention.
There are recruitment campaigns open for all prisons with vacancies and a tailored approach to recruitment advertising is being taken at sites where it is harder to recruit.
We made a significant investment in pay for prison staff through the 2022/23 pay award. This delivered an increase in base pay of at least 4% for all staff between bands 2 to 11, alongside further targeted pay rises for our lowest paid staff of up to £3,000.
Since April 2022, we have also invested in several new initiatives to improve the experience of our new joiners and increase retention. These include a new peer-to-peer learning scheme, the introduction of mentors for new prison officers, piloting additional staff support and supervision in two prisons, and new leadership training in prisons facing retention challenges.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to encourage the creation of apprenticeships in probation services.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The Probation Service has accelerated the recruitment of trainee Probation Officers over the last two years, recruiting 1007 trainees in 2020/21 and 1518 trainees in 2021/22. We have committed to recruiting a further 1500 trainee probation officers in the 2022/23 financial year.
To increase engagement, and reduce attrition, we are launching an engagement tool to target candidates at key stages of the Professional Qualification in Probation (PQiP) recruitment process.
We have increased local outreach to improve awareness of Probation and the roles available, as well as refreshing our marketing and website to ensure we are attracting sufficient applications. We are committed to widening our routes to achieve probation qualifications by developing pathways for existing staff, as well as creating routes for those without a graduate degree.
We have centralised recruitment in six priority regions to streamline and improve the process and speed up the time it takes to hire new staff.
We anticipate the recently agreed three-year pay deal for the Probation Service will improve retention prospects of experienced staff, and provide – particularly those at the top of their pay bands and therefore less likely to have seen increases to pay over the past years – a guaranteed increase to their salaries each year of the pay deal. We also anticipate that increases to the starting salary for all roles will have a positive impact on the attractiveness of the service to potential and new staff.
The Ministry of Justice is committed to offering apprenticeship programmes to new and existing staff at all grades. The apprenticeships are currently offered in a broad range of areas including Operational Delivery and Business Administration. The apprenticeships are also available to probation staff.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to encourage people to enter careers in the probation services.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The Probation Service has accelerated the recruitment of trainee Probation Officers over the last two years, recruiting 1007 trainees in 2020/21 and 1518 trainees in 2021/22. We have committed to recruiting a further 1500 trainee probation officers in the 2022/23 financial year.
To increase engagement, and reduce attrition, we are launching an engagement tool to target candidates at key stages of the Professional Qualification in Probation (PQiP) recruitment process.
We have increased local outreach to improve awareness of Probation and the roles available, as well as refreshing our marketing and website to ensure we are attracting sufficient applications. We are committed to widening our routes to achieve probation qualifications by developing pathways for existing staff, as well as creating routes for those without a graduate degree.
We have centralised recruitment in six priority regions to streamline and improve the process and speed up the time it takes to hire new staff.
We anticipate the recently agreed three-year pay deal for the Probation Service will improve retention prospects of experienced staff, and provide – particularly those at the top of their pay bands and therefore less likely to have seen increases to pay over the past years – a guaranteed increase to their salaries each year of the pay deal. We also anticipate that increases to the starting salary for all roles will have a positive impact on the attractiveness of the service to potential and new staff.
The Ministry of Justice is committed to offering apprenticeship programmes to new and existing staff at all grades. The apprenticeships are currently offered in a broad range of areas including Operational Delivery and Business Administration. The apprenticeships are also available to probation staff.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to ensure that probation services are adequately resourced.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The Probation Service has accelerated the recruitment of trainee Probation Officers over the last two years, recruiting 1007 trainees in 2020/21 and 1518 trainees in 2021/22. We have committed to recruiting a further 1500 trainee probation officers in the 2022/23 financial year.
To increase engagement, and reduce attrition, we are launching an engagement tool to target candidates at key stages of the Professional Qualification in Probation (PQiP) recruitment process.
We have increased local outreach to improve awareness of Probation and the roles available, as well as refreshing our marketing and website to ensure we are attracting sufficient applications. We are committed to widening our routes to achieve probation qualifications by developing pathways for existing staff, as well as creating routes for those without a graduate degree.
We have centralised recruitment in six priority regions to streamline and improve the process and speed up the time it takes to hire new staff.
We anticipate the recently agreed three-year pay deal for the Probation Service will improve retention prospects of experienced staff, and provide – particularly those at the top of their pay bands and therefore less likely to have seen increases to pay over the past years – a guaranteed increase to their salaries each year of the pay deal. We also anticipate that increases to the starting salary for all roles will have a positive impact on the attractiveness of the service to potential and new staff.
The Ministry of Justice is committed to offering apprenticeship programmes to new and existing staff at all grades. The apprenticeships are currently offered in a broad range of areas including Operational Delivery and Business Administration. The apprenticeships are also available to probation staff.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on ensuring that probation services are adequately resourced.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The Probation Service plays a critical role in protecting the public and reducing reoffending. The 2021 Spending Review provided an additional £155m per year to support probation reform. Future decisions on funding will be taken in the course of normal government business, at fiscal events.
The recruitment and retention of staff are key priorities for the Probation Service leadership team and me, and these are subjects of frequent discussion, covering career marketing and attraction, remuneration and benefits, career development paths, and other factors. The recently agreed three-year pay deal is important to our offer.
The Probation Service recruited over 1,000 trainees in 2020/21 financial year and 1,518 trainees in 2021/22.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions he has had with the leadership of the Probation Service on recruitment and retention of staff.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The Probation Service plays a critical role in protecting the public and reducing reoffending. The 2021 Spending Review provided an additional £155m per year to support probation reform. Future decisions on funding will be taken in the course of normal government business, at fiscal events.
The recruitment and retention of staff are key priorities for the Probation Service leadership team and me, and these are subjects of frequent discussion, covering career marketing and attraction, remuneration and benefits, career development paths, and other factors. The recently agreed three-year pay deal is important to our offer.
The Probation Service recruited over 1,000 trainees in 2020/21 financial year and 1,518 trainees in 2021/22.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will review the criteria for awarding compensation for criminal injuries in order for psychological harm caused by stalking to be adequately recognised.
Answered by Edward Argar
The government-funded Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2012 (the Scheme) exists to compensate for serious physical or psychological injury attributable to being a direct victim of a crime of violence. As the Scheme is publicly funded, strict eligibility criteria apply.
When assessing applications, the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority, which administers the Scheme, must be satisfied that injuries were sustained from a "crime of violence", which has a specific meaning under Annex B of the Scheme. In addition to crimes involving physical or sexual assault, the definition also includes threats against a person which caused fear of immediate violence in circumstances which would have caused a person of reasonable firmness to be put in such fear. Injury from behaviour that constitutes stalking, without physical contact, would be eligible if it fell within this definition.
In 2020, we held a public consultation on proposals to make claiming compensation simpler and more accessible for victims of violent crime. Within this, we considered whether the current definition of a crime of violence for the purposes of the Scheme reflects the changing nature of violent crime. Our conclusions and proposals for reform of the Scheme will be shared in due course.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he plans to take steps to help prevent the use of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation by candidates in elections.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The Government will imminently publish its response to the Call for Evidence, which launched earlier this year. This will form the basis for targeted reforms at the earliest opportunity to prevent and deter SLAPPs in any context for which they represent a challenge to the public interest.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to tackle delays in the enforcement of court orders for possession of residential property.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
MOJ and HMCTS have already taken steps to review County Court bailiff capacity and have introduced efficiencies, including the increased use of Warrant of Control Support Centres to reduce the administrative tasks undertaken by bailiffs. This has, and will, free up bailiff resource to focus on other enforcement activity which includes the enforcement of possession orders.
The most recent data for timeliness in landlord possession claims can be found at the following link: Mortgage and Landlord Possession statistics: October to December 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). This shows a consistent improvement in timeliness since the enforcement restrictions lifted at the end of Q2, enabling bailiffs once again to undertake enforcement activity.