Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 18 June 2019 to Question 264474 on Prisons: Private Sector, how many of the funded posts for Prison Custody Officers at each privately managed prison were filled as of the dates those figures relate to.

As we have stated previously, all staffing matters, including the responsibility of ensuring the availability of sufficiently trained and experienced staff to maintain safe and decent prisons, sit with contractors. There is no requirement in the contracts to agree staffing levels with the Ministry of Justice. We do not hold the information requested.

Private providers continue to play an important role in the prison estate and I can assure you that performance of all providers is closely monitored and we will not hesitate to take action where standards fall short