Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many psychologists were employed in prisons on average in each year since 2010.

The quarterly HMPPS workforce statistics publication covers staffing information, and the latest publication covers data up to 31 December 2023. The average number of psychologists is given in table 1 below.

Table 1 - Average number of psychologists¹ in HMPPS ² for each calendar year from 2010 to 2023

(full-time equivalent)

Notes

1. Only including staff in HMPPS bands 5 to 11 and will include trainee psychologists. Staff in groupworker or administrative roles in psychology at bands 3 and 4 are excluded.

2. Psychologists employed in the Probation Service are not included.