Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average number of prison officers in post was in each of the prisons in the 10 Prisons Project in (a) the last six months of 2017 and (b) the last six months of 2018.

The Government is taking unprecedented action to improve safety in prisons, including recruiting over 4700 officers since October 2016, and investing an extra £70 million to improve safety, security and decency. As a result, we have 1,500 more prison officers in post than this time last year. The table below provides figures for the average number of prison officers in post in the each of the prisons from the 10 Prisons Project between July and December 2017, and July and December 2018.

Table 1: Average¹ number of band 3-5 prison officers² in post in each of the prisons in the 10 Prisons Project

1. Average of monthly snapshots, taken at the end of the month.

2. Includes Band 3-4 / Prison Officer (incl. specialists), Band 4 / Supervising Officer and Band 5 / Custodial Managers.

These prisons are also part of the 10 Prisons Project, which aims to reduce violence in 10 of our most challenging prisons by reducing the supply of drugs; restoring basic decency and providing the training and support for prison officers to challenge the behaviour that drives violence. The project received an initial £10 million funding to improve security and decency, and bolster leadership capability over a 12-month period.