Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to paragraph 5.17 of the Autumn Statement 2016, how many of the additional prison staff paid for by the £500 million of extra funding to enable the recruitment of 2,500 extra prison officers and wider reforms will be (a) Band 3 to 5 Officers, (b) Operational Support Grade officers and (c) other grades.

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.

As part of these reforms, we are going to empower governors, giving them the freedom to drive forward reform. 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.