Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Report on a scrutiny visit to HMP Birmingham by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, published on 16 February 2021, what steps he is taking to ensure reverse cohorting units keep prisoners arriving at different times separate from one another for the entire period necessary to prevent the spread of covid-19 into the general prison population.

To manage Covid-19 in prisons, we implemented the HMPPS Cohorting and Compartmentalisation strategy during the first wave of the pandemic. The purpose is to quarantine new arrivals, isolate the symptomatic and positive and shield the vulnerable. The strategy was developed in collaboration with both Public Health England and Public Health Wales, and has been revised and refreshed based on COVID-19 learning on multiple occasions.

The purpose of quarantining is to keep new individuals separate from the wider population to reduce the risk of virus incursion. Cohorting guidelines, developed with PHE, allow for establishments to either quarantine prisoners on a dedicated wing/unit or manage them in a regular cell location but provide a separate regime to ensure there is no mixing between cohorts. In order to manage the risk of incursion, establishments are asked to house new prisoners either in single cells, or in a multiple occupancy cell with individuals who arrived on the same day. This is dependent on security risk assessment. Whilst it is our preferable to do this in all cases, is not always operational deliverable, and establishments are asked to make defensible decisions and record these locally. Sites are able to work with their local outbreak control team or Health protection team to inform these decisions, and with appropriate safeguards such as testing in place.

Cohorting is in operation in all establishments and the vast majority of prisoners are fully quarantined on arrival and transfer. In addition to cohorting, we have also rolled out testing of prisoners on reception and transfer at all establishments.