Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what number of days of sick leave have been recorded by prison officers in each year since 2010; and what number of those were as a consequence of violence within prisons.

NOMS takes the issue of violence against staff very seriously. It currently has systems in place to deal with perpetrators quickly and robustly, with serious incidents referred to the police for prosecution. It is working closely with the police and CPS to develop a new joint protocol to report crimes in prison, this includes pushing for prosecutions when prison staff are attacked.

NOMS does not currently publish sickness absence rates for prison officers, but these will be published for the first time in the NOMS Workforce Bulletin on 16 February 2017. This data will include data on approved claims for sick leave excusal, whereby a period of absence that can be attributed to an assault at work does not count against the officer's allowance of sick pay.