Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the report by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons on HM Prison Hindley describing the regime as "possibly the very worst" that inspectors had ever seen in this type of prison, what action they are taking to (1) reduce the hours during which prisoners are locked up, (2) increase the hours during which prisoners are able to access education, (3) learn the lessons from cases of self-inflicted death, and (4) improve the governance of the deployment of batons against prisoners.

A detailed action plan is being developed to address the weaknesses identified by the Chief Inspector and will be published in Spring 2017 on the Inspectorate’s web site.

As set out in the Prison Safety and Reform White Paper, this Government will be investing over £100 million to recruit an additional 2,500 frontline staff across the prison estate by the end of 2018. This phased approach is to ensure officers are successfully inducted and can learn from experienced officers. From April 2017, we are giving prison governors the power and budget to determine how their prisons are run and the authority to do their own workforce planning, decide what staffing structures best meet their local needs and deciding how to deploy extra staff in prisons. Governors will also be fully responsible for the education delivered so that they can purchase services most appropriate to their establishment.