Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many prison officers were in post on (1) 1 January 2011, and (2) 31 December 2016.

As at the 31 December 2010 (the closest available data point in time to the 1 January 2011) there were 24,500 full time equivalent Band 3-5 Prison Officers in post.

As at the 31 December 2016 there were 17,887 full time equivalent Band 3-5 Prison Officers in post.

As we focus on making our jails safe and decent places to support rehabilitation between the end of October 2016 and the end of March 2018 we have increased prison officer numbers by 3,111, which is already significantly over our target of 2,500 additional staff by the end of December 2018. These recruitment efforts form part of a wider drive to ensure that all prisons are fully staffed so that they can deliver safe and decent regimes