Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what lessons have been learned from recent prison officer recruitment campaigns.

As part of the Prison Safety and Reform White Paper, published in November 2016, the Government announced an intention to increase prison officer numbers by 2,500 by the end of 2018. The target was achieved ahead of schedule in March 2018.

The recruitment campaign facilitated a number of improvements and lessons learned have been applied across the department. Key to the success of the prison officer campaign was the:

• Effectiveness of a multi-disciplinary team
• Data led strategic approach that drove efficiencies
• HMRC reference checks that reduced time in security vetting checks
• Use of Civil Service Success Profiles which provided a better understanding of the role with a clearer definition of what success looks like

We continue to work on increasing the diversity of new recruits and ensure that the right people with the right skills are attracted to the careers available across the department.