Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to improve prison safety for people from ethnic minorities.

Ensuring the safety of every member of staff and prisoner is a key priority and we set out ambitious plans to strengthen our approach to safety in the Prisons Strategy White Paper.

We are committed to understanding and tackling disparities that emerge in the treatment of and outcomes for ethnic minority prisoners. This is why in December 2020 we launched the Race Action Programme, which aims to increase the diversity of our workforce and address the risk of bias in our policies.

On 13 December HM Inspectorate of Prisons published a thematic report on the experiences of adult black male prisoners and black prison staff. A number of key issues were identified, and the department is committed to ensuring that the necessary improvements are made to drive forward positive change. As an immediate response to the report the department is establishing an expert group of HMPPS leaders to ensure engagement from all stakeholders and develop priorities nationally and regionally. Building on the work already in place to improve outcomes, a comprehensive action plan will be formed to provide robust short-, medium- and longer-term responses to the findings with full consultation with leaders, staff and prisoners to ensure their voices are heard as we decide on next steps.