Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they intend to take following critical reports by HM Inspectorate of Prisons and Probation; and in particular, whether they intend to review the management of the prison service.

The Government is committed to driving improvement throughout our prison and probation services and the role of HM Inspectorates of Prisons and Probation is critical in ensuring that there is an objective and challenging assessment of our criminal justice systems.

The Government therefore takes HM Inspectorate of Prisons and Probation reports seriously and created a new unit within Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) in August 2017 that is responsible for responding to their recommendations. We have also committed to publishing the action plan responses to HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) reports as a step towards greater transparency.

In addition, in October 2017, we introduced quarterly meetings between senior officials in the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and HMPPS and the Chief Inspector of Prisons (HMCIP) to explore how to make better use of HMIP recommendations.

We have further bolstered this commitment by the introduction of an ‘Urgent Notification’ (UN) process which allows HMCIP to directly notify the Secretary of State on matters of serious concern observed during inspections. The Secretary of State then has 28 days to issue a response.

New structures are being put in place from April 2018 to manage prisons which increases the number of Prison Groups meaning the Prison Group Directors have smaller commands in order to increase their oversight and create more operational grip.