Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the attack on a prison officer at HMP Swansea on 12 June 2021, what steps he is taking to limit access for prisoners to razor blades.

Violence against our hard-working prison officers is unacceptable and will never be tolerated.

A taskforce with a remit to undertake a review of the management of razors and ceramics across HMPPS has now restarted following a pause due to the impact of COVID-19.

Prior to the pandemic we saw a continued decrease in assaults in prisons, and in the 12 months to December 2020, assaults were down 34%.

We work closely with the police and Crown Prosecution Service to bring the perpetrators to justice. We are committed to making prisons a safe place to work and providing prison officers with the right support, training and tools such as PAVA pepper spray and body-worn cameras to empower them to do their jobs safely.

We are also spending £100 million to bolster prison security, clamping down on the weapons, drugs and mobile phones that fuel violence and crime behind bars.