Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) total and (b) full-time equivalent prison officers were employed in (i) HMPPS HQ or NOMS HQ and (ii) area services, in each year since 2010.

The number of band 3-5 officers in post in HMPPS HQ and Area Services each year since 2010 can be found below in table 1. Prison officers are based in HMPPS HQ and area services when they have not been allocated to a prison. These are mainly officers who are on detached duty with no fixed location or are Prison Officer Entry Level trainers. It may also include a few staff redeploying from closing establishments who are allocated to an area office in the HR database before being reallocated to a prison in the database.

Prison Officer Recruitment is undertaken via a central resourcing model, which focuses on each region’s requirement and then tailors adverts, outreach and incentives to meet the recruitment needs. We currently have recruitment activity ongoing for all sites with a current or future recruitment need.

Table 1: Band 3-5 officers¹ employed in HMPPS HQ and Area Services, as at 31 March 2010-2021 and 31 December 2021.

Notes:

1. Band 3-5 Officers includes Band 3-4 / Prison Officers (incl specialists), Band 4 / Supervising Officers, and Band 5 / Custodial Managers.