Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the timetable is for (a) recruitment and posting of the extra prison officers and (b) the special measures for vulnerable and mentally ill inmates announced in November 2016.

The Justice Secretary announced major reforms to the prison system in the Prison Safety and Reform White Paper published on 3 November, to cut reoffending and help reduce crime.

To achieve this, we are investing more than £100 million to boost the frontline with 2,500 extra staff by the end of 2018. This will help drive forward our reforms to reduce violence, improve standards and increase the staff to prisoner ratio. One of our first steps will be to invest an extra £14 million at 10 priority sites, including HMP Berwyn in Wales, which will pay for an extra 400 prison officers.

Governors are critical to the successful delivery of safe prisons. That is why from April 2017, we are giving governors the power and budget to determine how their prisons are run. This includes governors having the authority to do their own workforce planning, decide what staffing structures best meets their local needs and deciding how to deploy extra staff in prisons.

With regards to special measures for vulnerable and mentally ill inmates, it is vitally important that we provide the appropriate mental health care to prisoners to support their rehabilitation. That is why we are giving prison governors more say in delivering healthcare services in their prisons.

As part of these reforms, we will move to a joint approach to commissioning health services in England. Governors, working closely with local health commissioners and clinical experts, will be involved in the decision making process at each stage of the commissioning cycle. In Wales, where health is a devolved matter, we will liaise with the responsible Local Health Boards and the Welsh Government.

All prisons have procedures in place to identify, manage and support people who are at risk of harm to themselves.

All new intake prison officers receive mental health awareness training as part of their entry level training.