Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison officers have taken long-term sick leave and for what reasons in each of the last five years.

Dedicated prison staff work in an extremely challenging environment in which, on a daily basis, they face unique circumstances unlike most others in the public sector.

We have announced a major shake-up of the prison system with 2,500 extra prisons officers and new security measures to tackle drones, phones and drugs and help make prisons places of safety and reform.

The safety, welfare and wellbeing of our staff is a top priority and we will always ensure prisons have enough staff to run safely and securely.

Long-term sick leave is defined within the Civil Service as periods of absence of more than 28 calendar days. The number of Band 3-5 prison officers to have taken long-term sick leave between 2010/11 and 2014/15 is available in the answer to PQ 37734. Data for 2015/16 is provided below.

Instances^1,2 of Long Term Absence Amongst Band 3 to 5 Prison Officers

2015/16

Notes:

1 Where an officer has two or more periods of absence for the same reason within a year they are counted as one, where the reasons differ they are counted separately.

2 absences that straddle two years are counted in each year.

3 also includes reasons where small numbers (2 or fewer) would otherwise be supressed for data protection reasons.