Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Answer of 18 March 2015 to Question 227319, for what reasons Sodexo has increased the number of mainstream prisoners housed with sex offenders in a one-house block.

Sex offenders at HM Prison Northumberland are accommodated separately from mainstream prisoners. On occasion, following a risk assessment, a vulnerable prisoner who is not a sex offender may be removed from the mainstream accommodation for his own protection and placed in the sex offender accommodation.

Work is in progress to reduce the number of other vulnerable prisoners co-located with sex offenders.