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1005865

	registered interest
	date	12/11/2018
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Prison Officers: Recruitment
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many new Officer Certificates under Section 89 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991 have been issued by his Department in each month since January 2018.
	tabling member constituency	Dwyfor Meirionnydd
	tabling member printed	Liz Saville Roberts
	uin	190560
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/11/2018 answer text <p>With regards to when the Ministry of Justice stopped holding data on the number of certified staff and the reasons for doing so, it may help if I explain that the MoJ has never collected this information. Whilst Section 89 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991 confirms that a Prison Custody Officer (PCO) is approved by the Secretary of State for the purpose of performing escort and custodial duties, it does not oblige the Secretary of State to collect or publish the information requested.</p><p> </p><p>The Secretary of State approves PCOs for the purpose of performing escort functions or custodial duties or both and PCO’s are accordingly authorised to perform them. However, there is not a process in place whereby the Secretary of State formally issues certificates to new PCOs, and as mentioned previously, Section 89 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991 does not oblige the Secretary of State to collect or publish such information.</p><p> </p><p>All staffing matters, including the responsibility for ensuring the availability of sufficiently trained and experienced staff to maintain safe and decent prisons, lies with contractors. There is no requirement in the contracts to agree staffing levels with the Ministry of Justice. Therefore, all staff working in privately managed prisons are fully certified and, as such, the figures we hold, and have provided on several occasions, include the funded posts for fully certified staff.</p><p>As you know, each privately managed prison has a full-time on-site Controller employed by HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS). The Controller has regular review meetings with the contractor against a range of performance indicators that will reflect numbers of staff in post, recruitment, training, sickness, and attrition. Any concerns in relation to these performance indicators are discussed at these meetings. Where action is needed, progress is monitored by the Controller and escalated within HMPPS where appropriate action can be taken in accordance with the contract. This may include a requirement for urgent improvement and/or financial deductions.</p> answering member constituency Penrith and The Border answering member printed Rory Stewart grouped question UIN 190556 190557 190561 190939 question first answered 21/11/2018 17:05:17 answering member 4137 label Biography information for Rory Stewart previous answer version 86233 answering member constituency Penrith and The Border answering member printed Rory Stewart answering member 4137 label Biography information for Rory Stewart
	tabling member	4521 label Biography information for Liz Saville Roberts

1005866

	registered interest
	date	12/11/2018
	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, how many officer certificates under Section 89 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991 have been withdrawn by his Department in each month since January 2018.
	tabling member constituency	Dwyfor Meirionnydd
	tabling member printed	Liz Saville Roberts
	uin	190561
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/11/2018 answer text <p>With regards to when the Ministry of Justice stopped holding data on the number of certified staff and the reasons for doing so, it may help if I explain that the MoJ has never collected this information. Whilst Section 89 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991 confirms that a Prison Custody Officer (PCO) is approved by the Secretary of State for the purpose of performing escort and custodial duties, it does not oblige the Secretary of State to collect or publish the information requested.</p><p> </p><p>The Secretary of State approves PCOs for the purpose of performing escort functions or custodial duties or both and PCO’s are accordingly authorised to perform them. However, there is not a process in place whereby the Secretary of State formally issues certificates to new PCOs, and as mentioned previously, Section 89 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991 does not oblige the Secretary of State to collect or publish such information.</p><p> </p><p>All staffing matters, including the responsibility for ensuring the availability of sufficiently trained and experienced staff to maintain safe and decent prisons, lies with contractors. There is no requirement in the contracts to agree staffing levels with the Ministry of Justice. Therefore, all staff working in privately managed prisons are fully certified and, as such, the figures we hold, and have provided on several occasions, include the funded posts for fully certified staff.</p><p>As you know, each privately managed prison has a full-time on-site Controller employed by HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS). The Controller has regular review meetings with the contractor against a range of performance indicators that will reflect numbers of staff in post, recruitment, training, sickness, and attrition. Any concerns in relation to these performance indicators are discussed at these meetings. Where action is needed, progress is monitored by the Controller and escalated within HMPPS where appropriate action can be taken in accordance with the contract. This may include a requirement for urgent improvement and/or financial deductions.</p> answering member constituency Penrith and The Border answering member printed Rory Stewart grouped question UIN 190556 190557 190560 190939 question first answered 21/11/2018 17:05:18 answering member 4137 label Biography information for Rory Stewart previous answer version 86234 answering member constituency Penrith and The Border answering member printed Rory Stewart answering member 4137 label Biography information for Rory Stewart
	tabling member	4521 label Biography information for Liz Saville Roberts

1041266

	registered interest
	date	14/01/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Prisons: Staff
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison staff have been deployed as part of the 10 Prisons Programme from other areas of the prison estate; and if he will list those numbers of staff by prison they have been deployed from.
	tabling member constituency	Dwyfor Meirionnydd
	tabling member printed	Liz Saville Roberts
	uin	208308
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/01/2019 answer text <p>When we need temporary deployment of experienced or specialist staff, we have in place a well-established Detached Duty scheme which ensures the prisons sending staff have the necessary resources to do so safely.</p><p> </p><p>As an extension of this scheme, we are planning to temporarily transfer 31 staff members from the wider prison estate to support the 10 Prisons Project. The supporting prisons were identified as those best placed to assist based on a risk-assessment of resource levels.</p><p> </p><p>We have also provided additional funding for several additional staff in the 10 Prisons to lead their Drugs Strategies, improve searching and work with extra drug-detection dogs that we’ve provided.</p><p> </p><p>A list of prisons providing supporting staff to the 10 Prisons Project is provided below:</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Prison </strong></p></td><td><p><strong>No. supplied</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Brinsford</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Buckley Hall</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Bullingdon</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Cardiff</p></td><td><p>2</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Dartmoor</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Eastwood Park</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Erlestoke</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Frankland</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Full Sutton</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Garth</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Gartree</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Grendon &amp; Springhill</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Hatfield</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Highpoint</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Holme House</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Lancaster Farms</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Leicester</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Lincoln</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Littlehey</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Maidstone</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Manchester</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Preston</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Risley</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Stafford</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Stocken</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Stoke Heath</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Wakefield</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Whatton</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Whitemoor</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Wymott</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency Penrith and The Border answering member printed Rory Stewart question first answered 23/01/2019 17:56:07 answering member 4137 label Biography information for Rory Stewart previous answer version 96839 answering member constituency Penrith and The Border answering member printed Rory Stewart answering member 4137 label Biography information for Rory Stewart
	tabling member	4521 label Biography information for Liz Saville Roberts

1045704

	registered interest
	date	21/01/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Prisons: Drugs
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of prison staff exposed to new psychoactive substances during the course of their work in each year since 2010; and if he will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Dwyfor Meirionnydd
	tabling member printed	Liz Saville Roberts
	uin	210641
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/01/2019 answer text <p>Protecting the health and safety of our prisoners and staff is our priority and I am concerned by reports of the effects of secondary inhalation of psychoactive substances in addition to the harm which prisoners do to themselves by using these drugs.</p><p>We do not have reliable data on the number of incidents where staff may have been exposed to psychoactive substances but we are working closely with Public Health England and other experts to understand the scale of the issue and to ensure our response to the threat is clinically and scientifically appropriate.</p><p>Our internal guidance on controlling the risks of secondary exposure has, though, been substantially revised following consultation and includes detailed information on how to assess and control risk on entry into cells where psychoactive substances have been used.</p><p>Of course, the best way to do address this risk is to keep drugs out of prisons. That is why we have formed a Drugs Taskforce which is working with law enforcement and health partners across government to restrict supply, reduce demand and build recovery. The Taskforce is developing a national Drug Strategy, which will provide all prisons with guidance and examples of best practice to support them in tackling drugs. We are also investing £6 million in 10 of the most challenging prisons, to provide more staff focused on effective searching, drug detection dogs, body scanners and improved perimeter defences.</p><p>Psychoactive substances have presented a particular challenge and in September 2016, we became the first prison service in the world to introduce innovative mandatory drug tests for these substances, a significant step in tackling the supply and use of them. We have made it a criminal offence to possess psychoactive substances in prison, trained more than 300 sniffer dogs specifically to detect them and ensured all prisons have clear guidance on how to detect and prevent attempts to send paper laced with psychoactive substances into prisons.</p> answering member constituency Penrith and The Border answering member printed Rory Stewart question first answered 28/01/2019 16:15:42 answering member 4137 label Biography information for Rory Stewart previous answer version 97322 answering member constituency Penrith and The Border answering member printed Rory Stewart answering member 4137 label Biography information for Rory Stewart
	tabling member	4521 label Biography information for Liz Saville Roberts

1109809

	registered interest
	date	04/04/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Domestic Abuse
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many vexatious or meritless applications were taken out by perpetrators of domestic abuse where the subject of the application was the victim in each of the last three years.
	tabling member constituency	Dwyfor Meirionnydd
	tabling member printed	Liz Saville Roberts
	uin	241071
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/04/2019 answer text <p>The Ministry of Justice does not hold data relating to whether individual cases were taken out on a vexatious basis, as there is no statutory definition for this. In addition, data relating to domestic abuse cases handled by the family courts does not identify whether the applicant has previously been a perpetrator of domestic abuse.</p><p> </p><p>However, it is unacceptable for someone to use court processes to harass or abuse a former partner. The family court has wide powers to manage such situations, including striking out an action it views as an abuse of process, and the power to prevent a person from making further applications without prior permission of the court.</p><p> </p><p>This Government is committed to transforming the response to domestic abuse, and the recently published draft Domestic Abuse Bill and consultation response set out our ambitions in this area. We want to ensure that victims have the confidence to come forward and report their experience, safe in the knowledge that the justice system and other agencies will do everything they can both to protect and support them and their children and pursue their abuser.</p> answering member constituency Penrith and The Border answering member printed Rory Stewart question first answered 12/04/2019 14:09:07 answering member 4137 label Biography information for Rory Stewart previous answer version 113673 answering member constituency Penrith and The Border answering member printed Rory Stewart answering member 4137 label Biography information for Rory Stewart
	tabling member	4521 label Biography information for Liz Saville Roberts