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1697791

registered interest
date	21/03/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisons: Travellers
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has made an assessment of the adequacy of the treatment of (a) Romani, (b) Roma and (c) Irish Traveller people in the prison estate.
tabling member constituency	Brentford and Isleworth
tabling member printed	Ruth Cadbury
uin	19893
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/03/2024 answer text <p>His Majesty’s Prison &amp; Probation Service (HMPPS) pursues an evidence-based approach to improving treatment and outcomes for prisoners, people on probation and children in our care from Romani, Roma, and Traveller Communities.</p><p>The HMPPS Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Strategy, first produced in May 2023, was drawn up, and continues to be developed, in consultation with Third Sector partners. It is informed by a range of internal and external reports and data. The strategy is implemented via a comprehensive action plan, which targets key areas for development, including data improvement, family interactions and health inequalities.</p><p>Some specific examples of activity include the further expansion of Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller (GRT) Forums in prisons. Forums are being regularly held in several establishments across the prison estate, providing a supportive platform for communications and helping to respond to local needs. Staff awareness continues to be improved, with Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller specific information embedded into various guides across the organisation, improving the capability of staff to respond to individuals’ needs.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 28/03/2024 15:39:24 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
tabling member	4389 label Biography information for Ruth Cadbury

1697796

registered interest
date	21/03/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prison Officers
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which prisons have used prison officers on detached duty in 2023; and how many (a) officers were deployed to each prison and (b) times those officers were deployed.
tabling member constituency	Brentford and Isleworth
tabling member printed	Ruth Cadbury
uin	19894
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/03/2024 answer text <p>During 2023, 21 prisons received Band 3 officers on National Detached Duty. The table attached shows the average number of detached duty staff deployed at each site in each month.</p><p>It is not possible, without incurring disproportionate cost, to provide the remaining information requested, as this would require a detailed examination of individual records.</p><p>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.</p><p>We have committed to recruiting up to 5,000 additional prison officers across public and private prisons by the mid-2020s.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 26/03/2024 17:34:55 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar attachment 1 file name 2024-03-26 PQ 19894 table.xlsx title Number of detached duty staff deployed
tabling member	4389 label Biography information for Ruth Cadbury

1697836

registered interest
date	21/03/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisoners' Release: Drugs
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps HM Prison and Probation Service take to ensure prisoners released on end of custody supervised licence can continue to access drug addiction treatment programs when they are released from prison.
tabling member constituency	Brentford and Isleworth
tabling member printed	Ruth Cadbury
uin	19895
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/03/2024 answer text <p>We know that supporting offenders to engage in drug and alcohol treatment is vital to reduce reoffending and we are working with health partners on a range of interventions to strengthen continuity of care for prison leavers. We have recruited over 50 Health and Justice Co-ordinators nationwide to improve links between prison and community treatment services, procured 650 laptops to enable prisoners to speak to community treatment providers before release and we are rolling out the Probation Notification Actioning Project (PNAP) which will make probation aware of prison leavers who have been referred to community treatment so probation can support continued engagement.</p><p>The lower-level offenders released on ECSL will have a release plan put together by probation, and where appropriate this release plan will include access to drug and alcohol treatment. It remains at the discretion of the prison service to block or delay the ECSL release of any prisoners where doing so would result in losing access to essential services such as drug and alcohol treatment.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 27/03/2024 13:03:05 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
tabling member	4389 label Biography information for Ruth Cadbury

1697938

registered interest
date	21/03/2024
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 smuggling of (a) drugs and (b) communication devices into prisons.
tabling member constituency	Romford
tabling member printed	Andrew Rosindell
uin	19817
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/03/2024 answer text <p>We are committed to tackling the smuggling of all illicit items into prisons, including drugs and communication devices such as mobile phones.</p><p>We completed the £100 million Security Investment Programme in March 2022, which included funding to bolster physical security measures. This investment delivered 75 additional X-ray body scanners, resulting in full coverage across the closed adult male estate. As of October 2023, we had recorded 46,925 positive indications, helping to tackle the supply of drugs and mobile phones into prisons. We also deployed Enhanced Gate Security to 42 high-risk prisons under this investment, implementing routine searching of staff and visitors. This included 659 dedicated staff, 154 drug sniffing dogs and over 200 pieces of equipment.</p><p>We have 165 drug trace detection machines across the prison estate to prevent the smuggling of drugs, such as psychoactive substances, through the mail. The rollout of an additional 20 next-generation devices was completed in March 2024, meaning every public section prison now has this next-generation equipment.</p><p>X-ray baggage scanners have been installed at 49 sites (45 prisons and 4 learning centres) building on the rollout of our X-ray body scanners, gate security and drug trace detection machines.</p><p>New airspace restrictions took effect on 25 January 2024 to create 400 metre flight restriction zones around all closed prisons and young offender institutions in England and Wales. These will ensure swift action is taken against criminal drone activity, including the smuggling of illicit items.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 28/03/2024 15:32:41 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
tabling member	1447 label Biography information for Andrew Rosindell

1697954

registered interest
date	21/03/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Probation: Resignations
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of new probation officers left the service within a year of joining in each year since 2014.
tabling member constituency	Brentford and Isleworth
tabling member printed	Ruth Cadbury
uin	19896
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/03/2024 answer text <p>A considerable majority of Probation Officers first join the Probation Service as Trainee Probation Officers. During their time as a trainee, they will spend around 15-21 months training before potentially taking up a post as a Band 4 Probation Officer. As a result of this trainee pipeline, there will only be new Probation Officers with less than one year in the Probation Service if they joined the service as a qualified Probation Officer and then left within 12 months.</p><p>Retention of Probation staff is a priority for the service. A national standardised approach to exit interviews has been implemented to better understand the key drivers of attrition and feedback from these interviews helps shape and determine retention interventions at a local and national level.</p><p>The Probation Service is in its second year of a multi-year pay deal for staff. Salary values of all pay bands will increase each year, targeted at key operational grades to improve a challenging recruitment and retention position. The pay increases differ for each job role, but to provide an example Probation Officers will see their starting salary rise from £30,208 in 2021/22 to £35,130 by 2024/25.</p><p>The table below shows only those Probation Officers who joined the service as qualified Probation Officers and so will not include any Probation Officers who joined as trainees (who will all have been in the service for longer than a year by the time they qualify as a Probation Officer). The Probation Service unified in June 2021, bringing together the National Probation Service and Community Rehabilitation Companies. As a result, figures pre- and post-June 2021 are not comparable because of the change in the workforce makeup.</p><p> </p><p>Table 1 - Number of Band 4 Probation Officer joiners to HMPPS and those who left HMPPS within 1 year: 2022-2023</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Year</p></td><td><p>All joiners</p></td><td><p>Staff who left within 1 year</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2022</p></td><td><p>42</p></td><td><p>3</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2023</p></td><td><p>44</p></td><td><p>5</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 27/03/2024 13:04:21 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
tabling member	4389 label Biography information for Ruth Cadbury