Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many times the National Tactical Response Group has been deployed in each year since 2018.

The National Tactical Response Group (NTRG) are a specialist resource that provide intervention options to the Silver and Gold commanders. NTRG is a highly trained team that provide expertise in technical interventions that would carry higher risk of failure or injury, and which require skills and equipment limited only to NTRG staff.

Operation Tornado is a national mutual aid plan by which prisons support one another in the event of a serious incident or occurrence requiring a reinforcement of staff. Operation Tornado is employed by HMPPS for three main reasons:

• In response to a serious incident requiring a reinforcement of staff.

• In response to other events or crisis requiring additional staff, who may not necessarily need to be Tornado trained.

• To aid the transfer of prisoners in the event of a serious incident or the threat of one (with the GOLD commander’s agreement).

The table below lists how many times NTRG and Tornado Teams have been deployed, and how many staff were available for Operation Tornado at the end of each year since 2018.

N.B. there was a reduction in staff available for Operation Tornado as training was reduced due to the COVID 19 pandemic.