Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of the workforce in prisons in England and Wales are employed by private contractors.

As of 31 March 2025, there were 3,403 prison custody officers in post across the 16 privately managed prisons in England and Wales, employed in roles that are equivalent to Band 3–5 grades used in public sector prisons. This represents approximately 13% of all officer grades in prisons in England and Wales.

A number of non-directly-employed staff – including contractors, volunteers and third-party service providers – also work in HM prisons, in areas, such as education, healthcare and industries. Statistics for these are not collected centrally and could not be obtained without incurring disproportionate cost.