Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what funding has been allocated to developing a fast-track recruitment scheme for service leavers and veterans to become prison officers.

'Advance into Justice,’ the Ministry of Justice fast-track scheme to support service leavers and veterans to become prison officers, was launched on 24 January 2022. The campaign closed on 14 February 2022 and candidates were assessed in March 2022. Those successful at assessment centre are currently progressing through the offer and hire process.

The scheme was promoted in several ways including proactive social media communications in advance of the launch; dedicated candidate webinars to provide information on the role and the assessment process; active outreach at ex-Armed Forces’ recruitment fairs; and working collaboratively with the Career Transition Partnership (CTP) to engage service leavers as they transition from the military into civilian life.

The campaign has received dedicated support from Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS). A specific funding line to deliver campaign marketing, candidate outreach and assessment delivery was not needed as we were able to meet the costs as part of the broader Prison Officer recruitment budget. HMPPS provided operational resources to deliver the assessment centres and funding to support successful applicants with relocation or home to work travel costs is being met from existing budgets up to the advertised thresholds of £12,000 per candidate. The total cost of the campaign will be dependent upon the number of successful candidates who take up post and their agreed individual resettlement needs.

A thorough evaluation review and lessons learnt exercise with key stakeholders will be completed to identify successes and challenges, as well as analysing feedback collected from candidates. In addition, analysis will be conducted to identify any differences in terms of selection performance by those on the scheme, compared to the national prison officer recruitment process, alongside evaluating fairness towards protected characteristic groups. This will be supported by our Occupational Psychology Team.

In the short-term, success will be measured by the number of applications and those who progress to an assessment centre and the number of hires in our target prisons. In the longer-term, we will monitor the retention levels of those appointed via this route as well as their performance in role.