Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information his Department holds on the (a) number and (b) proportion of prison staff who have been tested for covid-19.

The Department of Health and Social Care is solely responsible for testing for Covid-19 both in the community and in secure settings. As such, we do not hold data on staff testing.

On 24 April, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, announced the rollout of Covid-19 testing for all essential workers and symptomatic members of their household, including prison staff, those working in Approved Premises (APs) and probation staff (including private sector service providers) in England. We have referred over 4,000 HMPPS staff for testing to date.

In Wales, testing for prison, AP and probation staff and symptomatic members of their household is being delivered through local resilience forum arrangements and through local health boards.

What we do know is the number of confirmed cases among those who have been tested, which was 947 as of Friday, 5 June. This data is self-reported.