Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what data his Department holds on the frequency of self-harm incidents among (a) the general prison population and (b) IPP sentenced prisoners.

The Government publishes quarterly statistics on self-harm in prison, and a more detailed annual breakdown, and both are available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/safety-in-custody-quarterly-update-to-december-2018

Information about self-harm incidents up to December 2018 for the general prison population, and broken down by type of custody, including those serving IPP sentences, can be found in table 2.6 of the document entitled Self-harm in prison custody 2004-2018.

The Government is taking unprecedented action to improve safety in prisons, including redoubling our efforts to address the record levels of self-harm. We have recruited over 4,700 more prison officers since October 2016, and we now have the greatest number in post since early 2012. This is allowing us to implement the key worker role, allowing staff dedicated time to provide support to individual prisoners. We are improving support for prisoners in their early days in custody and working to improve the multi-disciplinary ACCT case management process for those at risk of suicide or self-harm.

We have rolled out a revised and improved Introduction to Suicide and Self-harm Prevention course. This is being completed by all new staff and is being delivered as refresher training to all existing staff. 25,000 staff have already begun this training and over 14,000 have completed all six modules.