Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of staffing levels in prisons.

We recognise the need to recruit and retain staff to keep our prisons secure. We have invested significantly in increasing staff numbers, recruiting an additional 4,581 (full time equivalent) prison officers between October 2016 and September 2019, surpassing our original target of 2,500.

Since April 2017, governors have been empowered to manage workforce planning locally, and set their own staffing arrangements, including the number and grade of operational prison officers and other staff to be employed within their financial resource envelope. A ‘detached duty’ scheme is also in place to ensure that those prisons with urgent staffing needs can be prioritised.

We will continue to recruit officers and we are investing £100 million to bolster security, to ensure prisons are safe and decent for both staff and prisoners.