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 prison where performance was found to be of serious concern in the Annual Prison Performance Ratings 2017-18 in the last six months of (a) 2017 and (b) 2018.

The table below sets out average numbers of prison officers in each prison where prison was found to be of serious concern during 2017-18.

Table 1: Average¹ number of HMPPS band 3-5 prison officers² in post in each prison where performance was found to be of serious concern in the Annual Prison Performance Ratings 2017-18³.

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.

3. Includes Public Sector Prisons only. Excludes Birmingham and Peterborough which are private prisons.

Every public sector prison has an agreed safe, decent and secure operating level (SDSOL) which reflects the category of prison and the types of prisoners held. The SDSOL is central to the delivery of the regime in every prison. Since April 2017 Governors have been empowered to manage workforce planning locally and use this flexibility to set their own staffing arrangements.

We are recruiting more prison officers across England and Wales as part of the Offender Management in Custody model (OMiC) and to support Youth Justice Reform. The majority of newly recruited Prison Officers are already on the landings, joining our officers who play a vital role in making sure prisons are safe, secure and decent.