Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the prison officer to prisoner ratio was in each (a) government run and (b) private run prison in each of the last eight years.

Prison population statistics and workforce statistics are regularly published. These can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/prison-population-figures-2018

HM Prison and Probation workforce statistics (which contains staffing figures in public sector prisons but not in privately managed prisons) are published quarterly. The latest publication can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/her-majestys-prison-and-probation-service-workforce-quarterly-march-2018

I have attached tables showing the number of funded posts at each privately managed prison and the number of Prison Officers present in Public Sector Prisons, alongside population figures for each establishment. It should be noted that as with all HR databases, extracts are taken at a fixed point in time to ensure consistency of reporting. However, the database itself is dynamic and where updates to the database are made late, subsequent to the taking of the extract, these updates will not be reflected in figures produced by the extract. For this reason, HR data are unlikely to be precisely accurate.

Prison officer numbers are at their highest in five years, which is vital to ensuring prisons are safe, secure and decent. We now have over 3,500 additional staff in post compared to October 2016. The recruitment drive will continue until we reach required levels across the prison estate, ensuring prisons can fulfil their purpose - protecting the public, reducing reoffending and crucially, rehabilitating offenders.