Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information his Department holds on the number of incidents of prisoners spitting at prison officers in 2016.

The Annual Assaults Statistics published at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/safety-in-custody-quarterly-update-to-december-2016--2 confirm a total of 738 assaults involving spitting.

This published figure provides a total number of assaults by spitting in their entirety, including prisoner on prisoner assaults and those committed against other members of staff than Prison Officers.

I can confirm that of the 738 recorded assaults, 609 of these were assaults on Prison Officers.