Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many incidents in prisons have required (1) the use of the National Tactical Response Group, (2) the deployment of Tornado teams, and (3) the opening of Gold Command, in each month in 2016 and 2017; and what were the reasons for the action taken in each case.

In 2016 support from the National Tactical Response Group (NTRG) was required for total of 583 incidents occurring in prisons in England and Wales. In the same year, Tornado resources were deployed in response to 19 incidents across the prison estate. Gold Command was opened 66 times to provide national coordination and support to incident management over the course of the year.

At the time of request, in 2017 NTRG support has been required for a total of 386 incidents occurring in prisons in England and Wales. Tornado resources have been deployed in response to 20 incidents across the prison estate. Gold Command has, to date, been opened a total of 36 times this year to provide national coordination and support to incident management across the estate.

A comprehensive month-by-month summary of NTRG,Tornado deployments and Gold Command openings – including incident type– for 2016 and 2017 has been provided in the accompanying spreadsheet.