Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many band three to five prison officers with three or more years’ experience left the prison service by each prison in each quarter from 2010 to 2018.

The number of band 3-5 prison officers who left the prison service with less than three years’ experience, by prison, can be found in the accompanying excel table.

We want prison officers to stay and progress their careers. We are working hard to retain staff, including by giving them the biggest pay award in a decade last year and by providing additional training. We’ve also improved induction processes to ease new officers’ transition into the job, and all staff can make use of services including 24/7 counselling, trauma support and occupational health assessments.

These measures are part of the work we are doing directly with Governors to address local issues and ensure experienced staff and new recruits remain in the service.