Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many times a police cell was used to house an inmate as part of Operation Safeguard in each of the last 12 months.

Operation Safeguard is a contingency measure that provides additional headroom for use if prisoners cannot be accepted from the courts or police custody. It is a temporary measure to provide a short-term solution when there are capacity problems in particular areas and should not be regarded as extra prison capacity. When Operation Safeguard is active, tactical and operational governance reviews take place at regular intervals, as agreed with police partners.

The information requested is provided in the table below: