Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of prison officer entry level training per officer.

HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) operates a centralised recruitment model. Recruitment and training costs are not attributed to individual prisons but are averaged based on a variable cost per hire calculation for all recruitment and training activity. We would not be able to provide a breakdown of the recruitment or training costs by each prison service area as the information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost and would contain commercially sensitive information relating to partner suppliers.

The estimated cost to recruit and train a new Band 3 Prison Officer is around £13,000 as published in the Prison Service Pay Review Body report. Further information can be found on page 55 at: Prison Service Pay Review Body - Twentieth Report on England and Wales 2021 (publishing.service.gov.uk)

Please be aware that the figures contained in the document are subject to regular change due to a number of variables and assumptions used to calculate the figures.