Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many vacancies were there in the high security estate on 1 May in each year since 2010; and what the vacancy rate was on each date.

Following a period of staffing challenges after the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen a substantial improvement in the national staffing picture within prisons. The number of Band 3-5 Prison Officers increased by 1,396 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) between 31 March 2023 and 31 March 2024, and resignation rates have fallen over the same period. This is the result of significant efforts across the agency, including substantial increases in pay for staff and launching our first-ever nationwide advertising campaign.

However, challenges remain in some sites and where we see persistent staffing challenges, we take a targeted approach, supporting prisons with tailored recruitment and marketing support. Where establishments experience temporary staffing shortfalls, they can seek support through processes managed nationally at an Agency level via the Strategic Enhanced Resourcing Support (SERS) panel. All applications to the SERS panel are considered thoroughly and support available includes overtime payments and detached duty staff from other establishments.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) only holds indicative vacancy data for prisons going back to 2017. As a result, we have presented the average number of indicative vacancies for the month of May for each year from 2017 to 2023. The Staff in Post dataset we use for comparison with Target Staffing presents a month average position (rather than looking at staffing on a particular date), adjusted for joiners and leavers in month. Indicative vacancy data for May 2024 is not currently available, but we have provided the Staff in Post increase from Table 15 of the published statistics for the Long Term & High Security Estate from 30 June 2023 to 31 March 2024 for context (HM Prison and Probation Service workforce statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)). Target Staffing levels cannot be used to directly calculate vacancies due to the discretion governors have to change establishment level staffing requirements through Governors' freedoms. As a result, the MoJ does not regularly present vacancy data (hence use of the term indicative vacancies) and the data presented should be treated with caution.

An indicative vacancy (FTE) has been calculated as the difference between Target Staffing (FTE) and Staff in Post (FTE). In Table One we have netted off surpluses and deficits between grades and establishments to give an overall net number of indicative vacancies. This means that deficits for some grades and establishments will have been offset by surpluses at other grades and establishments. The indicative vacancy rate has been calculated as the number of indicative vacancies (FTE) divided by overall Target Staffing (FTE) across the Long Term & High Security Estate. The data included covers both operational and non-operational roles.

Where prisons are not at their Target Staffing level, these are routinely supplemented (e.g., by using Payment Plus, a form of overtime) which is not accounted for in the indicative vacancy data provided. Use of detached duty, a long-standing mechanism to deploy staff from one prison or region to support another, is also not reflected in the data.

Table One: Total Indicative Vacancies across Long Term & High Security Estate, May 2017 to May 2023

*Due to a re-role of prisons, HMP Aylesbury has been excluded from the Long Term & High Security Estate for 2017 and 2023.

Looking at all staff grades for the Long Term & High Security Estate between 30 June 2023 and 31 March 2024, there was an increase of 376 FTE.

Notes

1. We do not hold readily accessible and consistent data prior to March 2017. May 2024 data is not yet available (and will not be available until the HMPPS Workforce Statistics publication on 15 August), but we have provided the Staff in Post increase from Table 15 of the published statistics for the Long Term & High Security Estate from 30 June 2023 to 31 March 2024 for context.
2. Data have been taken from Workforce Planning Tool returns and show the average position across May for each year, adjusted for joiners and leavers in the month.
3. Workforce Planning Tools are manually completed by Prisons each month and, as with any manual returns, are subject to human error.
4. The Long Term & High Security Estate includes: Belmarsh, Frankland, Full Sutton, Garth, Gartree, Isle of Wight, Long Lartin, Manchester, Swaleside, Wakefield, Whitemoor and Woodhill. Aylesbury is also included between 2018 and 2022.
5. Indicative vacancies are the difference between Target Staffing and Staff in Post at the overall LTHSE level.
6. Target Staffing (FTE) is the number of staff required to run an optimal regime in each prison. This level is greater than the minimum number of staff required for a prison to operate safely, and includes allowances for staff taking leave, being off sick or being on training.
7. The Target Staffing figures are set on a site-specific basis and vary in size. Target Staffing figures have been set based on a 39-hour contract or 37-hour contract depending on the job in question.
8. All staffing grades (both operational and non-operational) have been included in this analysis. For some operational grades where Target Staffing levels have been established based on a 39-hour working week, Staff in Post (FTE) is set at 1.0 FTE for those on a 39-hour contract / 1.05 FTE for those on a 41-hour contract and 0.95 FTE for those on a 37-hour contract.
9. Target Staffing levels cannot be used to directly calculate vacancies due to the discretion governors have to change establishment level staffing requirements through Governors' freedoms. As a result, the MoJ does not regularly present vacancy data and the data presented should be treated with caution.
10. Staff in Post data used to calculate an indicative number of vacancies does not take into account those on long-term absences (e.g. career breaks / loans / secondments / agency staff or other forms of overtime).
11. The above totals are a combination of indicative vacancies at prisons with Staff in Post below their Target Staffing Figure and indicative surplus staff at other prisons where Staff in Post is above their Target Staffing Figure (both following netting off of surpluses and deficits between grades within an establishment). Some prisons with surplus staff are sending proportions of those staff to work on Detached Duty at prisons with vacancies, and therefore netting some of these indicative vacancies against surpluses provides a more reasonable reflection of the overall national or regional position.