Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has plans to relocate prison officers to HMP Birmingham from other prisons as a result of the cancellation of the contract with G4S.
The contract with G4S has not been terminated.
HM Prison and Probation Service has (since 20 August) exercised its right under the contract to step in and take over the running of HMP Birmingham for an initial period of six months. This ‘step in’ action means that we can provide additional resources and support to the prison in order to directly address the areas of failure identified, and can subsequently recover the cost of doing so from G4S in accordance with the terms of the contract.
We have already allocated experienced HM Prison and Probation Service officers to bolster existing staffing at HMP Birmingham, and an initial 32 experienced public sector officers have begun working at the prison. We are also strengthening the management team and reducing the prisons population.