Prison Officers
(asked on 23rd June 2014) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many staff at (a) prison officer grades and (b) operational support grades were employed at HM Prison Service on 31 March in each of the last 10 years.
The number of prison officers and operational support grade staff that were employed by National Offender Management Services (NOMS) as at 31 March, 2004 – 2009 can be found in the table below
Table: Number of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) Prison Officer Grades and Operational Support Grades in NOMS as at 31 March, 2004 - 2009
Grade | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 |
Operational Support Grades | 7510 | 7280 | 7400 | 7550 | 8020 | 7920 |
Prison Officer | 18880 | 18950 | 19210 | 19360 | 19670 | 20210 |
Senior Officer | 3750 | 3840 | 3870 | 3870 | 3980 | 4090 |
Principal Officer | 1320 | 1300 | 1260 | 1280 | 1300 | 1320 |
Grand Total | 31460 | 31370 | 31730 | 32070 | 32960 | 33540 |
Figures are rounded to the nearest 10 in line with the department’s policy for presenting staffing data. Totals are formed from unrounded parts prior to rounding. For this reason, totals may not equal the sum of their rounded parts.
The number of prison officers and operational support grade staff that have been employed by National Offender Management Services (NOMS) as at 31 March, 2010 – 2014 can be found in table 3 of the Quarterly NOMS Workforce Statistics Bulletin, which can be found at the following website:
The number of prison officers and operational support grade staff that were employed in contracted establishments for the last 10 years is not available via NOMS central databases. Individual contractors are responsible for gathering, monitoring and analysing their own data regarding their staff. However a request has been made to private contractors for the latest data and I will write to you again when I receive this information.
Benchmarking is the best means of delivering value for money for the public purse (on track to deliver £84 million by the end of 2013/2014, savings of £175 million by 2015/2016). It optimises the skills of staff by introducing new ways of working and puts all prison officers in prisoner-facing roles. It has been agreed with the Unions, and the NAO has commented that the wider strategy is the most coherent and comprehensive for many years. It delivers efficiencies whilst ensuring that public sector prisons can operate safely, decently and securely.