Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to reduce the transmission of covid-19 on the prison estate.

The safety of our staff and those in our care remains our top priority and when responding to Covid-19 we have worked closely with Public Health England and been guided by their advice. Closed settings such as prisons pose particular challenges in managing outbreaks, but we have well-developed policies and procedures in place to manage outbreaks and infectious diseases, including COVID-19. This means prisons are well prepared to take immediate action whenever cases or suspected cases are identified.

One of the range of measures HMPPS is taking to limit the spread of the virus in prisons and save lives is to compartmentalise prisoners. This requires establishments to introduce isolation units for the symptomatic, shielding units for the vulnerable, and reverse cohorting to quarantine new arrivals. Social distancing and basic hygiene are also effective controls to reduce transmission and we continue to provide access to the right cleaning and hygiene products in prisons. Other measures have included adapting prison regimes to support social distancing and PPE usage, and expanding the estate with new temporary units.

We have started to rollout regular testing for frontline staff which means we can identify positive cases earlier and will be able to minimise the spread of outbreaks. HMMPS is also rolling out testing for prisoners on reception and transfer.

We continue to work closely with PHE to develop and refine our response to the pandemic.