Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that foreign-born prison officers undergo appropriate (a) vetting and (b) background checks before appointment.

Eligibility for employment in the Civil Service, including with regard to nationality, is set out in the Civil Service Nationality Rules (CSNRs). All applicants applying to work in the Ministry of Justice or its agencies must meet the CSNRs and must have a valid right to work in the United Kingdom and have successfully completed pre-employment checks.

All candidates, regardless of nationality, are subject to a series of background checks, which assess them against a range of legislative requirements and security-related factors that are pertinent to anyone working within H M Prison Service. These include confirmation of identity, right to work in the UK, a criminal records check, declaration of any offender connections, employment reference enquiries and a financial vulnerability assessment.

All directly employed prison staff, including prison officers, must have a minimum security clearance of Enhanced Level 2. A range of additional digital vetting and social media checks are also conducted in relation to prison officer recruits.

For all prison officers working in prisons in the Long-Term and High Security Estate, an additional National Security Vetting Check at Counter Terrorist Check level is required, as a minimum.