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1669594

	registered interest
	date	13/11/2023
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Rye Hill Prison
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of implications for his policies of the findings in the 2022-23 annual report of the HMP Rye Hill Independent Monitoring Board that the prison has (a) inadequate resettlement support in place for those leaving and (b) significant challenges to maintaining fair and humane treatment; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of these findings on rates of recidivism.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Zarah Sultana
	uin	1742
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/11/2023 answer text <p>The care and rehabilitation of prisoners are matters that the Ministry of Justice and H M Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) take very seriously. We respond to all issues raised in reports we receive from Independent Monitoring Boards, and take action as appropriate.</p><p> </p><p>The report notes that finding accommodation in Approved Premises can be problematic. We recognise, and are addressing, this issue. In recent years we have undertaken an Approved Premises expansion programme, which has delivered 169 additional spaces, including the first purpose-built site. We are also developing a new digitalised approach to referrals, through a national Central Referral Unit that will oversee assessment for suitability and eligibility, and match individuals to placements, while maximising occupancy and use of Approved Premises capacity across the country. This new approach is being piloted in the North East. Underpinned by the Department’s demand analysis, it will enable HMPPS to improve timeliness and allow greater consistency and responsivity.</p><p> </p><p>The section of the Independent Monitoring Board’s report devoted to fair and humane treatment notes the challenges unavoidably arising from the Covid-19 pandemic, and comments favourably on the prison’s proactive approach in prioritising a return to business as usual, including arranging for prisoners to undertake activity on a daily basis. The report notes that, when interviewed, prisoners were understanding of the need for restrictions and appreciated the efforts the prison had made to return to a normal regime as quickly as possible through the year.</p><p> </p><p>We were encouraged to receive the Board’s comments on the extensive prisoner-led initiatives across a range of topics that have promoted a sense of community and improved staff and prisoner relationships. This can only be beneficial in improving prospects for successful resettlement and rehabilitation on release.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 16/11/2023 13:01:24 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
	tabling member	4786 label Biography information for Zarah Sultana

1700019

	registered interest
	date	12/04/2024
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Prisoners: Foreign Nationals
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many foreign nationals are held in the prison estate by nationality.
	tabling member constituency	East Worthing and Shoreham
	tabling member printed	Tim Loughton
	uin	20833
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/04/2024 answer text <p>Data on how many Foreign National Offenders (FNOs) are held in custody are published in Offender Management Statistics Quarterly: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2023" target="_blank">Offender management statistics quarterly: July to September 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)</a>. For data on the prison population by nationality, see prison population table 1_7.</p><p> </p><p>The latest published data from 31 December 2023 shows that there were 10,423 (3,333 remand, 6,697 sentenced and 393 non-criminal) FNOs held in custody; representing 12% of the total prison population. The most common nationalities after British Nationals in prisons are Albanian (13% of the FNO prison population), Polish (9%), Romanian (7%), Irish (6%) and Jamaican (4%).</p><p> </p><p>The removal of FNOs is a Government priority and my department continues to work closely with the Home Office to maximise the number of deportations.</p><p> </p><p>Published figures show that FNO returns have increased following the pandemic, in the latest 12-month period (ending December 2023) by 27% when compared to the previous 12-month period. Between January 2019 and December 2023 17,795 FNOs have been removed.</p><p> </p><p>The proportion of FNOs held in custody is 12% of the total prison population and has remained stable in recent years while the overall prison population has grown.</p><p> </p><p>On 11 March, the Government set out a plan to increase the number of FNOs removed through:</p><ul><li>The recruitment of 400 additional caseworkers and streamlining the end-to-end removal process;</li><li>Extending foreign national conditional cautions to FNOs with limited leave to remain; and</li><li>Amending deportation policy to enable FNOs given suspended sentences of 6 months or more to be considered for deportation.</li></ul><p> </p><p> </p><p>These actions build on our expansion of the Early Removal Scheme to allow for removal of FNOs up to 18 months before the end of the custodial element of their sentence, and expediting prisoner transfers with priority countries such as Albania and seeking to conclude new transfer agreements with partner countries.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 17/04/2024 16:31:08 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
	tabling member	114 label Biography information for Tim Loughton

1700020

	registered interest
	date	12/04/2024
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Prisoners: Foreign Nationals
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will publish a breakdown of offences committed by foreign nationals held in the prison estate.
	tabling member constituency	East Worthing and Shoreham
	tabling member printed	Tim Loughton
	uin	20834
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/04/2024 answer text <p>The requested information can be found in the attached spreadsheet.</p><p> </p><p>The removal of Foreign National Offenders (FNOs) is a Government priority and my department continues to work closely with the Home Office to maximise the number of deportations.</p><p> </p><p>Published figures show that FNO returns have increased following the pandemic, in the latest 12-month period (ending December 2023) by 27% when compared to the previous 12-month period. Between January 2019 and December 2023 17,795 FNOs have been removed.</p><p> </p><p>The proportion of FNOs held in custody is 12% of the total prison population and has remained stable in recent years while the overall prison population has grown.</p><p> </p><p>On 11 March, the Government set out a plan to increase the number of FNOs removed through:</p><ul><li>The recruitment of 400 additional caseworkers and streamlining the end-to-end removal process;</li><li>Extending foreign national conditional cautions to FNOs with limited leave to remain; and</li><li>Amending deportation policy to enable FNOs given suspended sentences of 6 months or more to be considered for deportation.</li></ul><p> </p><p>These actions build on our expansion of the Early Removal Scheme to allow for removal of FNOs up to 18 months before the end of the custodial element of their sentence, and expediting prisoner transfers with priority countries such as Albania and seeking to conclude new transfer agreements with partner countries.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 17/04/2024 16:32:38 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar attachment 1 file name 2024-04-17 PQ 20834 table.xlsx title Foreign National prisoners
	tabling member	114 label Biography information for Tim Loughton

1700022

	registered interest
	date	12/04/2024
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Prisoners: Foreign Nationals
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many foreign nationals held in the prison estate have previously been detained after conviction.
	tabling member constituency	East Worthing and Shoreham
	tabling member printed	Tim Loughton
	uin	20836
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/04/2024 answer text <p>The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. This is because it would require data linking between prison data and the Ministry of Justice extract of the police national computer.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 22/04/2024 12:19:55 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
	tabling member	114 label Biography information for Tim Loughton

1674029

	registered interest
	date	29/11/2023
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Prison Officers: Labour Turnover
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to increase retention levels of experienced prison officers.
	tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Hall Green
	tabling member printed	Tahir Ali
	uin	4563
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/12/2023 answer text <p>In late 2021, the Ministry of Justice launched a retention toolkit to help Senior Leaders across HMPPS including Governors/Directors to tackle the main drivers of attrition in their departments and improve retention levels. We are using the data from enhanced exit interviews to better understand why experienced Prison Officers are leaving.</p><p> </p><p>We made a significant investment in pay for prison staff through the 2023/24 pay award. This delivered an increase in base pay of at least 7% for all staff between bands 2 to 5 which includes Prison Officers.</p><p> </p><p>Since April 2022, we have invested in several new initiatives to increase retention of our employees including Prison Officers. These include a new peer-to-peer learning scheme, the introduction of new staff mentors to support new Prison Officers in their roles, which takes the pressure off both experienced Prison Officers and managers, and a Career Pathways framework to enable staff to identify their development needs and career aspirations. We are also running supervision pilots in two prisons alongside the introduction of new leadership training, which will contribute to supporting career development and retention of experienced officers.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 08/12/2023 14:14:16 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
	tabling member	4747 label Biography information for Tahir Ali

1680845

	registered interest
	date	09/01/2024
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Probation Service
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of enabling the probation service to share caseloads between regions.
	tabling member constituency	St Austell and Newquay
	tabling member printed	Steve Double
	uin	8750
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/01/2024 answer text <p>The Probation Service supervises both offenders serving community sentences and offenders released from custody who are subject to licence conditions or other types of post-release supervision. The legislation underpinning both types of sentence requires a single officer to own and be responsible for the supervision of that case. The cases are allocated to a practitioner in the Probation Delivery Unit (PDU) in the area in which an offender resides, because of the importance of regular and consistent contact between the offender and their supervisor for managing risk and supporting rehabilitation.</p><p> </p><p>However, other staff can support the supervisor in delivering the sentence. Within PDUs, other practitioners and administrative staff may deliver particular tasks such as referrals to other organisations, report writing or letters to the offender. The Probation Service has experience of such support being delivered beyond PDU boundaries when there are acute pressures. However, the ownership of the case remains with the relevant region.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 16/01/2024 11:11:22 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
	tabling member	4452 label Biography information for Steve Double

1715222

	registered interest
	date	01/05/2024
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Prison Officers: Body Searches
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an estimate of the proportion of prison officers who are searched upon entry to prison by an x-ray body scanner.
	tabling member constituency	Preseli Pembrokeshire
	tabling member printed	Stephen Crabb
	uin	24432
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/05/2024 answer text <p>HM Prison and Probation Service does not currently have legal permission to use X-ray body scanners on staff working in prisons. As such, no prison officers are searched by an X-ray body scanner upon entry to prison.</p><p>All persons may be searched on entry to or within prisons, including prison staff. Arrangements for staff searching are set out in a prisons Local Security Strategy.</p><p>The vast majority of staff are hardworking and dedicated. A minority of staff engage in corrupt activity which is often as a result of conditioning and manipulation by prisoners.</p><p>Through the Government’s £100 million Security Investment Programme (SIP) we have bolstered prison security, such as physical measures to stop illicit items from entering prisons. These include extending X-ray body scanners to all closed male prisons, and installing Enhanced Gate Security at 42 high risk sites with archway metal detectors and the regular use of sniffer dogs. We have also since installed X-ray baggage scanners at 49 establishments. Additionally, through SIP investment, we have introduced mobile phone blocking and detection capabilities. We have also expanded HMPPS’ Counter Corruption Unit to effectively support the resilience of our hardworking prison officers to coercion by criminals. Furthermore, we have enhanced our partnership working through the development of a Multi-Agency Response to Serious Organised Crime.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 10/05/2024 08:59:18 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
	tabling member	1554 label Biography information for Stephen Crabb

1715225

	registered interest
	date	01/05/2024
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Prisons: Drugs and Mobile Phones
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to help tackle the illegal entry of (a) drugs and (b) communication devices into prisons by prison staff.
	tabling member constituency	Preseli Pembrokeshire
	tabling member printed	Stephen Crabb
	uin	24433
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/05/2024 answer text <p>HM Prison &amp; Probation Service has a zero-tolerance policy of smuggling of contraband into prisons, such as drugs and mobile phones, including by staff. The vast majority of prison staff are hardworking and dedicated.</p><p>We are determined to recruit the right people into our frontline positions, which is why they are subject to personnel security vetting which includes criminal record checks during the application process. Before taking up post, new recruits receive specific training to support them and ensure their resilience to corruption.</p><p>The £100 million Security Investment Programme (SIP) funded Enhanced Gate Security in 42 high risk sites, meaning we have counter-measures in place to detect and disrupt any staff attempting to smuggle contraband into prisons. The routine searching of staff, use of drug sniffer dogs and metal detectors acts as a deterrent against conveyance. SIP also funded mobile phone blocking and detection capabilities and drug detection units.</p><p>Appropriate action is taken towards the minority of staff who engage in corrupt activity. Whenever staff are suspected of wrongdoing, HMPPS’ Counter-Corruption Unit pursues disciplinary action or criminal convictions, working closely with the police.</p><p>We have recruited over 100 new staff into HMPPS’ Counter-Corruption Unit, which proactively detects, disrupts, and deters activities of those suspected of wrongdoing and supports prisons and probation services with specialist staff working alongside the police to support their investigations. Regional Prevent teams are dedicated to building staff resilience to corruption through training, awareness-raising and individual support.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 10/05/2024 13:56:19 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
	tabling member	1554 label Biography information for Stephen Crabb

1715226

	registered interest
	date	01/05/2024
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Prison Officers: Wales
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison (a) officers and (b) other staff have been (i) investigated and (ii) dismissed in relation to (a) the conveyance of drugs and (b) conducting inappropriate relationships with prisoners in Wales in each year since 2019.
	tabling member constituency	Preseli Pembrokeshire
	tabling member printed	Stephen Crabb
	uin	24434
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/05/2024 answer text <p>In each year since 2019, there have been 2 staff in Welsh prisons who were investigated or recommended for dismissal for trafficking through internal disciplinary procedures.</p><p>Data relating to staff investigated or recommended for dismissal for having an inappropriate relationship with prisoners/ex-prisoners is held and is provided in table 1 below. The annual HMPPS staff equalities report covers staffing information, including investigations and conduct &amp; disciplinary action, and the latest publication covers data up to 31 March 2023. This data does not include criminal investigations of prison officers or staff by law enforcement.</p><p><strong>Table 1: HMPPS staff in Public Sector Prisons<sup>1</sup> in Wales who were (i) investigated<sup>2</sup> and (ii) recommended for dismissal<sup>3,4 </sup>for having an inappropriate relationship with a prisoner/ex-prisoner<sup>5</sup>, in each financial year from 2018/19 to 2022/23<sup>6(p)</sup></strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td rowspan="2"><p><strong>Financial year</strong></p></td><td colspan="2"><p><strong>Band 3-5 prison officers<sup>7</sup></strong></p></td><td colspan="2"><p><strong>All other prison staff</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Headcount of staff investigated</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Headcount of staff recommended for dismissal</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Headcount of staff investigated</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Headcount of staff recommended for dismissal</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2018/19</p></td><td><p>~</p></td><td><p>~</p></td><td><p>~</p></td><td><p>~</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2019/20</p></td><td><p>~</p></td><td><p>~</p></td><td><p>~</p></td><td><p>~</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2020/21</p></td><td><p>~</p></td><td><p>~</p></td><td><p>~</p></td><td><p>~</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2021/22</p></td><td><p>~</p></td><td><p>~</p></td><td><p>~</p></td><td><p>~</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2022/23</p></td><td><p>6</p></td><td><p>~</p></td><td><p>~</p></td><td><p>~</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Notes</p><p>1. Excludes any privately managed prisons.</p><p>2. Figures relate to formal investigations with an outcome recorded in the year. Staff subject to at least one investigation that was concluded during the year.</p><p>3. Conduct and discipline cases are defined as where a penalty has been imposed on a member of HMPPS staff for a reason of conduct. Staff with at least one conduct and discipline case concluded during the year.</p><p>4. A dismissal case is defined as where at least one of the charges relating to an individual is recommended for dismissal. Information on the outcomes of any appeal is not included.</p><p>5. Allegations which meet a criminal threshold will be referred to the Police for investigation. If a criminal justice outcome is secured, this will result in a summary dismissal as per PSI 10/2016 Conduct and Discipline and will not be recorded against a specific ‘type’ of misconduct in the Conduct and Discipline data. 6. Financial year runs from 01 April to 31 March. Latest published data on Investigations is up to 31 March 2023. 7. Band 3-5 Officers includes Band 3-4 / Prison Officers (incl specialists), Band 4 / Supervising Officers, and Band 5 / Custodial Managers.</p><p>~ denotes suppressed values of 2 or fewer or other values which would allow values of 2 or fewer to be derived by subtraction. Low numbers are suppressed to prevent disclosure in accordance with the Data Protection Act, 2018.</p><p>(p) Provisional data. There may be minor changes to figures in future due to additional data being recorded on the reporting system.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 10/05/2024 13:58:39 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
	tabling member	1554 label Biography information for Stephen Crabb

1715227

	registered interest
	date	01/05/2024
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Health Services: Prisoners
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to (a) monitor and (b) improve response times to prisoner medical emergencies.
	tabling member constituency	Preseli Pembrokeshire
	tabling member printed	Stephen Crabb
	uin	24435
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/05/2024 answer text <p>Prison governors are responsible for ensuring that their establishments respond promptly and appropriately to medical emergencies, and all prison staff must be aware of their responsibilities for responding to a medical emergency (including resuscitation, and ligature removal) and of the local procedures in place to support a streamlined response.</p><p>Responses to medical emergencies in prisons are undertaken, and monitored, locally by both prison and healthcare staff, and vary in the degree of seriousness and the level of medical intervention that is required.</p><p>The time and type (‘Code Blue’ / ‘Code Red’) of a medical emergency is recorded by prison service staff when it is reported to them by telephone or via radio, and this will initiate a response which will include on-site NHS-commissioned healthcare staff and/or first-aid trained prison staff. Staff will assess what intervention is needed and determine whether hospital treatment is required.</p><p>Prison staff will arrange for an ambulance to attend, if needed, and escort it to the nearest, safest point of access to the patient. Arrival and departure times of ambulances are recorded locally. All such instances, including response times, are discussed between prison and healthcare staff. Depending on the seriousness of the emergency, this will be either as part of a full debrief or, on the following day, as part of the regular daily reflection on the previous day’s occurrences.</p><p>While arrival and departure times of ambulances are recorded by prisons, the responsibility for their response times lies with the NHS, and, therefore, any questions related to this element of emergency responses should be directed to the Department for Health and Social Care.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 13/05/2024 08:53:39 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
	tabling member	1554 label Biography information for Stephen Crabb