Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which department co-ordinates detached duty in the prison service.

A nationally co-ordinated detached duty scheme has been operating since 21 October 2013. Information on the number of officers serving on detached duty before the introduction of the national scheme is not available.

The national scheme is co-ordinated by the National Offender Management Service.

Information on the average weekly provision of staff, in terms of full time equivalent officers, that were provided as part of the nationally co-ordinated detached duty scheme, is shown in the table below for January to September 2014, which is the date of the latest published HR data.

Table: Average Monthly provision of staff on detached duty to prisons in England & Wales January - September 2014

Staff numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10 in line with the department’s policy for presenting staffing data. Values of 5 or fewer are denoted as ~.

Establishments that have provided staff on detached duty have been able to do so because of surplus staff available, as a result of displacement of staff following prison closures or change of role. Other prisons, without surplus staffing levels have supplied staff for detached duty where this was possible whilst maintaining stable and safe regimes.

Information on the ten establishments which have provided and received the highest number of staff on detached duty between January and September 2014 can be found below.

Table: Average Monthly Provisions and Proportion of the ten prisons providing the largest number or the largest proportion of staff on detached duty in England & Wales January - September 2014

Downview has been closed for the duration of the Detached Duty Scheme. The Verne was closed whilst being converted into an Immigration Removal Centre; it re-opened September 2014.

Table: Average Monthly Provisions and Proportion of the ten prisons receiving the largest number or the largest proportion of staff on detached duty in England & Wales January - September 2014

On some occasions detached duty is organised from a group of establishments at the same time and on these occasions it is not possible to attribute staff to particular establishments.