Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have died in custody while under an imprisonment for public protection sentence with an initial tariff of less than five years.

The table provides details of the total number of prisoners that have died in prison custody while serving Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences with an initial tariff of less than five years.

Every death in custody is a tragedy, and we are committed to learning lessons from these deaths wherever possible. Most of the deaths were from natural causes but some were self-inflicted, and the Government is taking unprecedented action to improve safety in prisons, including redoubling our efforts to prevent such deaths. 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, providing staff dedicated time to support individual prisoners.

We are improving support for prisoners in their early days in custody and developing a new version of the multi-disciplinary ACCT case management process for those at risk of suicide. We have rolled out a revised and improved Suicide and Self-Harm Prevention course. This is being completed by all new staff and as refresher training by all existing staff. Nearly 25,000 staff have already begun this training and over 14,000 have completed all six modules.

Whilst we are focused on giving all prisoners serving IPP sentences opportunities to progress towards release, public protection must remain our priority. A range of initiatives are in place, as part of the joint action plan, co-owned by HM Prison and Probation Service and the Parole Board, which are having a positive impact on the progression of those serving an IPP sentence.