Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many vacancies for band (a) three, (b) four and (c) five prison officers there are as of 16 April 2024, by (i) prison and (ii) region.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We are doing more than ever to attract and retain the best staff, including boosting salaries and launching our first-ever nationwide advertising campaign. These efforts are working - we have over 4,800 FTE additional officers between March 2017 and December 2023 and retention rates for prison staff are improving.
Our latest published HMPPS workforce statistics present data up to 31 December 2023. While you have asked for data as at 16 April 2024, we are unable to provide data for periods following December 2023 as this could pre-empt the next set of published Staff in Post data, which will be released on Thursday 16 May 2024. Once updated staffing data have been published in May, including data up to 31 March 2024, we will then be able to consider questions related to vacancy data up to and including March 2024.
In December 2023, across the whole of the Public Sector Prison estate in England and Wales (including the Youth Custody Service) for Band 3-5 Prison Officers, Staff in Post was 63 FTE below the Target Staffing level. This figure is a combination of indicative vacancies at prisons with Staff in Post below their Target Staffing level and the indicative number of surplus staff at other prisons where Staff in Post is above their Target Staffing level. Where possible, prisons with surplus staff are likely to be sending those staff to work on Detached Duty at prisons with vacancies. At times, we have intentionally over-recruited in certain prisons or regions to give the system wider resilience and where prisons are not at their Target Staffing level. Use of Detached Duty, a long-standing mechanism to deploy staff from one prison or region to support another, is also not reflected in the indicative vacancies number.
In December 2023, there were just under 790 FTE Band 3-5 Prison Officer indicative vacancies across individual Public Sector Prison establishments in England and Wales, where Staff in Post was below their Target Staffing level, and just over 720 FTE indicative number of surplus staff across individual Public Sector Prison establishments, in establishments where Staff in Post was above their Target Staffing level.
Table One (below) shows the total Band 3, Band 4 and Band 5 Prison Officer indicative vacancies (FTE) across Public Sector Prisons England & Wales, by region, as of December 2023. Table Two attached shows total Band 3, Band 4 and Band 5 Prison Officer indicative vacancies (FTE) across Public Sector Prisons England & Wales, by region, December 2023.
Table One: Total Band 3, Band 4 and Band 5 Prison Officer indicative vacancies (FTE) across Public Sector Prisons England & Wales, by region (summed from the establishment level in Annex A), December 2023 |
| |||
Region | Band 3 Indicative Vacancies | Band 4 Indicative Vacancies | Band 5 Indicative Vacancies | |
Avon, South Dorset and Wiltshire Prisons | 30 | 6 | 5 |
|
Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk Prisons | 10 | 13 | 6 |
|
Cumbria & Lancashire Prisons | 0 | 6 | 5 |
|
Devon and North Dorset Prisons | 12 | 3 | 0 |
|
East Midlands Prisons | 22 | 7 | 14 |
|
Greater Manchester, Merseyside & Cheshire Prisons | 0 | 8 | 4 |
|
Hertfordshire, Essex and Suffolk Prisons | 11 | 8 | 0 |
|
Kent, Surrey and Sussex Prisons | 59 | 10 | 9 |
|
London Prisons | 13 | 36 | 22 |
|
Long Term High Security Estate - North | 12 | 23 | 7 |
|
Long Term High Security Estate - South | 259 | 49 | 33 |
|
North East Prisons | 0 | 12 | 10 |
|
North Midlands Prisons | 0 | 8 | 7 |
|
South Central Prisons | 48 | 25 | 7 |
|
West Midlands Prisons | 0 | 10 | 15 |
|
Women's Prison Group | 25 | 3 | 9 |
|
Yorkshire Prisons | 4 | 4 | 10 |
|
Youth Custody Services* | - | - | 31 |
|
Wales | 36 | 4 | 1 |
|
| 541 | 237 | 196 | |
* In addition, there were 76 FTE vacancies across the Band 3 and 4 grades combined for the Youth Custody Services. In the Youth Custody Services there are a considerable number of staff employed at Band 3 grade working against the Band 4 target as they work towards becoming Band 4 Youth Justice Workers. As a result, we have merged the Band 3 and 4 grades for these five institutions.
Notes on data in this response
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support female Welsh prisoners held in English prisons, both during and after their imprisonment, to reintegrate into the community.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
All women’s prisons have an embedded pre-release provision delivered by the Probation Service. The pre-release team liaise with the Community Probation Practitioner as allocated and support pre-release planning activity throughout the sentence. The teams will progress referrals that have been made to Commissioned Rehabilitative Service suppliers, including fast tracking services for women serving short sentences. This provision is provided for Welsh women in English prisons as part of the Women’s Pathfinder Whole System Approach (WSA), with a WSA Service Caseworker based in HMP Eastwood Park and Women's Partnership Integration Coordinators aligned to each Probation Delivery Unit area in Wales, helping to support inter-agency connection and coordination across women's services.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking through the criminal justice system to tackle alcohol and drug-related crime in (a) Stoke-on-Trent and (b) Staffordshire.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
We know that drug and alcohol related crime blights communities and drives reoffending, so it is essential the Criminal Justice System tackles substance misuse and supports offenders into treatment.
This is why MoJ have introduced the Alcohol Abstinence and Monitoring Requirement (AAMR) to tackle alcohol related offending. The AAMR imposes an alcohol ban for up to 120 days, with compliance electronically monitored using an alcohol tag. Published statistics show a compliance rate with the ban of 97.2% for days monitored, since introduction, Electronic Monitoring Statistics Published June 2023 - Gov.uk. We have also introduced alcohol monitoring for offenders leaving custody and during the license period where alcohol misuse is a factor for reoffending; license conditions may be imposed which ban or limit alcohol consumption.
Drug Treatment Requirements can also be imposed as part of a community sentence, which aims to address the underlying causes of drug-driven offending behaviours and improve health outcomes.
All prisoners will also have access to high-quality treatment so they can turn their back on addiction. We are increasing the number of Incentivised Substance Free Living units to up to 100 by March 2025, where prisoners commit to remaining free of illicit drugs with regular drug testing and incentives - there are currently 60 open across the estate, including several in the West Midlands region.
The ongoing recruitment of Drug Strategy Leads based in category C and women's prisons, also allows for the coordination of the strategy’s whole system approach to tackling drugs.
We are recruiting Health and Justice Partnership Coordinators across England and Wales, to improve offender access to substance misuse and health services. These roles work regionally across the West Midlands, covering both Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire.
We know that for prison leavers, continuity of care after release is important. We are rolling out a project that will make probation aware of all person leavers who were in treatment in prison and have been referred to community treatment- enabling them to support appointment attendance. Mobilisation in Stoke on Trent and Staffordshire is underway and due to complete by March 2024.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Streatham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the Young Women's Strategy will include policies to help tackle (a) trauma, (b) gender, (c) age and (d) cultural challenges faced by young women.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Young Women’s Strategy forms part of the Female Offender Strategy Delivery Plan, which sets out what we will deliver over the period 2022-25. We do not yet have a specific publication date.
We are running young women’s residential pilots in two women’s prisons: learning from these will inform the Young Women’s Strategy. We will also be engaging with a wide range of stakeholders, including specialist organisations and young women with lived experience.
The Female Offender Strategy Delivery Plan exemplifies the Government’s commitment to take a gender-specific and trauma-responsive approach that acknowledges the impact of neglect and abuse (as well as other forms of trauma) on health, mental health and behaviour. In developing the Young Women’s Strategy we will have due regard to issues of age and race.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect the report of the National Women’s Prisons Health and Social Care Review to be published.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has advised that they are working with their partners to finalise the review and anticipate publication will be during the Summer of 2023.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the government of Saudi Arabia concerning the judicial treatment of Salma al Shehab and Noura al Qahtani; and concerning their treatment, and the treatment of other women, in Saudi prisons.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We have raised the continued detention of individuals for expressing their political views, including women and women's rights defenders, with the Saudi government. The FCDO is monitoring the cases of Salma al-Shehab and Noura al-Qahtani. I [Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon] most recently raised their cases with the President of the Saudi Human Rights Commission on 11 April. We will continue to raise human rights issues, including individual cases, with the Saudi authorities.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the National Review of Health and Social Care in Women’s Prisons will cover women’s sexual and reproductive healthcare in the prison system.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The National Women’s Prisons Health and Social Care Review, commissioned jointly by His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) and NHS England, is due to report in Spring 2023. The scope of the review includes women’s sexual and reproductive healthcare in prison.
Following a policy review, we began collecting information on the number of babies born to women in the prison estate in 2020-21. National data on pregnancy and births, and on Mother and Baby Units, are now published annually in the HMPPS Annual Digest.
Data on the number of women who are pregnant or who are mothers of babies under two years old who have entered the prison system on remand is not collected or held centrally. Information on prisoners’ caring responsibilities and children living in the community is monitored locally by prison Governors and Directors, to ensure appropriate support can be provided to offenders and their families.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the timetable is for the publication of the report on the National Review of Health and Social Care in Women’s Prisons.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The National Women’s Prisons Health and Social Care Review, commissioned jointly by His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) and NHS England, is due to report in Spring 2023. The scope of the review includes women’s sexual and reproductive healthcare in prison.
Following a policy review, we began collecting information on the number of babies born to women in the prison estate in 2020-21. National data on pregnancy and births, and on Mother and Baby Units, are now published annually in the HMPPS Annual Digest.
Data on the number of women who are pregnant or who are mothers of babies under two years old who have entered the prison system on remand is not collected or held centrally. Information on prisoners’ caring responsibilities and children living in the community is monitored locally by prison Governors and Directors, to ensure appropriate support can be provided to offenders and their families.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to tackle illegal drug use within the prison system.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
As part of the cross-government Drugs Strategy, MoJ received up to £120m funding to get more offenders into treatment. We work closely with NHS England to ensure that all those who need drug treatment in prison have access to a full range of high-quality treatment, with a focus on abstinence-based recovery.
To do this we are rolling out up to 18 new Drug Recovery Wings, providing a dedicated space for prisoners to focus on achieving abstinence from illicit drugs and prescribed substitutes such as methadone. We are also opening 100 Incentivised Substance Free Living Wings, recruiting Drug Strategy Leads in all male category C and women's prisons to coordinate a whole system approach to tackling drugs, as well as Health and Justice Coordinators nationwide to ensure continuity of care for prison leavers.
We have also invested £100m in prison security to prevent drugs from entering prison in the first place through our Security Investment Programme, including reducing the conveyance of illicit items such as drugs and mobile phones.
Asked by: Stuart C McDonald (Scottish National Party - Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of drug-related deaths across the secure estate.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Every death in custody is a tragedy, and we continue to do all we can to keep people safe in prison. We are committed to ensuring all those who need drug treatment in prison have access to a full range of treatment options, including abstinence-based interventions, to support a meaningful recovery and thereby reduce drug related deaths.
As part of the Cross-Government Drug Strategy, the MoJ is investing up to £120m to tackle drugs and support offenders into treatment. This includes working with NHS England to supply life-saving naloxone medication to staff in prisons, to administer to those who have suffered an opiate overdose.
We are also investing in prison security to prevent drugs entering prisons in the first place, recruiting Drug Strategy Leads in all male category C and women's prisons to coordinate a whole system approach to tackling drugs, and rolling out abstinence-based Drug Recovery Wings to help opiate users recover from their substance misuse.