Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many times a (a) Tornado and (b) national tactical response team was deployed to HMP Lowdham Grange in the last 24 months.

The National Tactical Response Group (NTRG) are a specialist resource that provide intervention options to the Silver and Gold commanders. NTRG is a highly trained team that provide expertise in technical interventions that would carry higher risk of failure or injury, and which require skills and equipment limited only to NTRG staff.

Operation Tornado is a national mutual aid plan by which prisons support one another in the event of a serious incident or occurrence requiring a reinforcement of staff. Operation Tornado is employed by HMPPS for three main reasons:

• In response to a serious incident requiring a reinforcement of staff.
• In response to other events or crisis requiring additional staff, who may not necessarily need to be Tornado trained.
• To aid the transfer of prisoners in the event of a serious incident or the threat of one (with the GOLD commander’s agreement).

In the 24 months from January 2022 there were 3 Tornado activations.

In the 24 months from January 2022 there were 40 national tactical response team deployments.

The Ministry of Justice took over the running of HMP Lowdham Grange on 18 December 2023 for an interim period to improve safety and security at the prison.

The immediate steps to stabilise the prison include:

• Deploying a new Governor to take command of the establishment
• Bringing in experienced HMPPS staff, including prison officers to bolster staffing levels and additional managers to strengthen leadership at the prison
• Launching an immediate review of conditions and compliance at the prison so remedial action can be taken to improve stability, security and safety.