Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the total number of assaults on (a) prison officers, (b) prison educators, (c) prison instructors, (d) prison health-care staff and (e) other prison staff was across the prison estate in (i) 2012 (ii) 2018.

The Government publishes quarterly statistics on violence 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. The total numbers of assaults on staff in 2012 and 2018 can be found in table 3.1 of Assaults in prison custody 2000 to 2018, and table 3.8 gives a breakdown into assaults on officers and assaults on other staff. I regret that the way this data is recorded means it is not possible to provide the further breakdown requested without incurring disproportionate cost.

The Government is taking unprecedented action to improve safety in prisons. We have recruited over 4,700 more prison officers since October 2016, and we now have the greatest number in post since early 2012. The Challenge, Support and Intervention Plan case management process for prisoners at risk of violence has been mandated for all prisons to help staff to manage violent prisoners and those identified as posing a raised risk of being violent.

We are investing an extra £70 million to improve safety, security and decency, and equipping officers with PAVA incapacitant spray and body-worn cameras to help prevent serious harm to staff and prisoners when dealing with violent incidents. We are improving perimeter security and introducing new x-ray scanners, drug-detection dogs and dedicated search teams to address the supply of drugs that we know are fuelling much of the violence in custody.