Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many staff from each prison establishment he plans to require to be deployed on detached duty at HMP Birmingham in each of the next six months.

HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) 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.

The additional cost of the step-in action, including HMPPS staff, has yet to be finalised. However, it, together with any reduction in the price for cells taken out of operational use, will be recovered from G4S in accordance with the contract.

The deployment of staff between prisons on Detached Duty (DD) is a regular and normal part of prison resourcing. DD allocation is only planned three months in advance and therefore it is not possible to provide data for the next six months. The number of Prison Officers deployed on DD also varies from one week to the next in order to reflect operational circumstances. Tables 1,2, and 3 shows the proposed number of staff deployed to HMP Birmingham from each prison.

Table 1 Prison Officers

Table 2 Custodial Managers

Table 3 Physical Education Officers