Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether suitable internet connections have been installed at (a) Redcar, Cleveland and Middlesbrough PDU and (b) other offices of the North East Probation Service.

Ensuring that probation offices have Wi-Fi connectivity is a priority for the Ministry of Justice. We plan to ensure that all offices, including those in the North East region, are covered by the end of 2023-24.

All the probation offices have internet connectivity as a matter of course; however, this is in many cases cabled connection and it is the Wi-Fi activity we are now targeting as a priority.

Where wireless connectivity is required by probation staff or partners in sites without Wi-Fi, the current workaround, where 4g signal permits it, is for end users to the tether to the internet through MiFi or work mobile phone devices.