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1668576

	registered interest
	date	08/11/2023
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Open Prisons: Prisoners' Transfers
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Answer of 26 October 2023 to Question 203862 on Open Prisons: Prisoners' Transfers, what the criteria were for male prisoners to be deemed eligible for the Restricted Open Estate Transfer scheme; and if he will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Brentford and Isleworth
	tabling member printed	Ruth Cadbury
	uin	825
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/11/2023 answer text <p>The Restricted Open Estate Transfer (ROET) scheme was active from 25 September to 9 October. Eligibility for ROET was limited to prisoners serving a standard determinate sentence with an automatic release point at the halfway point of their sentence who were between 7 and 28 days away from their conditional release date. Fewer than 50 lower risk offenders were transferred as they progressed towards moving back into the community at the end of their sentence. Any prisoners showing concerning or violent behaviour were excluded.</p><p>Prisoners in the following categories were deemed ineligible for ROET:</p><ul><li>Foreign National Offenders (FNOs) who are liable for deportation;</li><li>Prisoners currently serving a sentence for any sexual offence or subject to the notification requirements of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (sex offenders’ register) on release</li><li>Prisoners currently serving a sentence for a terrorist or terrorist connected offence</li><li>Prisoners currently serving a sentence of 4 or more years for a violent offence;</li><li>Category A prisoners (status of the prisoner, not the prison)</li><li>Category B prisoners (status of the prisoner, not the prison)</li><li>Prisoners currently serving a recall</li><li>Prisoners currently remanded in custody on other matters</li><li>Multiple Agency Public Protection Act 2 and 3 cases</li><li>Prisoners who are very high risk of serious harm (non-MAPPA cases)</li><li>Prisoners whose victims are subject to the Victim Contact Scheme</li></ul><p> </p><p>Prisoners should be excluded if their current behaviour or any known risk factors would make a current recategorisation decision inappropriate. These factors are:</p><ul><li>Anyone who had shown violent behaviour in jail or who could not be managed effectively in a Category D prison could be excluded.</li><li>Prisoners currently or in the last 14 days located in segregation, unless the prison is satisfied that the circumstances of their segregation should not prevent their recategorisation – for instance those segregated at their request for their own protection.</li><li>Prisoners on the E-list.</li><li>Prisoners deemed locally to be ‘wholly unacceptable’ and therefore escalated via Silver Commanders to Gold for consideration.</li></ul> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 15/11/2023 14:04:38 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
	tabling member	4389 label Biography information for Ruth Cadbury

1668639

	registered interest
	date	08/11/2023
	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 and Recruitment
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what meetings Ministers in his Department have had with Prison Governors on the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of prison officers ion the last 12 months.
	tabling member constituency	Brentford and Isleworth
	tabling member printed	Ruth Cadbury
	uin	828
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/11/2023 answer text <p>Ministers engage with prison Governors on a regular basis and recruitment and retention are discussed frequently in meetings and on visits. The previous Prisons Minister had visited 24 prisons in the last 12 months.</p><p> </p><p>Recruitment is managed centrally for Band 3 Prison Officers.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 17/11/2023 11:50:34 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
	tabling member	4389 label Biography information for Ruth Cadbury

1668565

	registered interest
	date	08/11/2023
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Prisoners' Release
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what guidance his Department (a) publishes and (b) plans to publish on the End of Custody Supervised Licence.
	tabling member constituency	Brentford and Isleworth
	tabling member printed	Ruth Cadbury
	uin	824
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/11/2023 answer text <p>Guidance on End of Custody Supervised Licence has been issued to operational staff and partners who need the information in order to implement it effectively. There are no plans to publish the guidance.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 14/11/2023 18:05:58 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
	tabling member	4389 label Biography information for Ruth Cadbury

1668527

	registered interest
	date	08/11/2023
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Prisoners' Release
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what (a) guidance his Department has provided to and (b) discussions his Department has had with Prison Governors on the early release of prisoners 18 days before their planned release under Section 248 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003.
	tabling member constituency	Brentford and Isleworth
	tabling member printed	Ruth Cadbury
	uin	821
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/11/2023 answer text <p>Operational guidance for End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) was issued to governors. Governors implementing ECSL were briefed on the scheme and provided with training before its introduction.</p><p> </p><p>All governors were invited to a call to discuss the scheme following its introduction and weekly calls are held with Prison Group Directors. Daily calls are held with operational leads in Prison Group Directors’ offices, and governors and their staff can access support on ECSL from central teams.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 15/11/2023 14:08:28 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
	tabling member	4389 label Biography information for Ruth Cadbury

1668638

	registered interest
	date	08/11/2023
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Prison Officers: Dismissal
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison officers were dismissed from employment for what reasons in the last 12 months.
	tabling member constituency	Brentford and Isleworth
	tabling member printed	Ruth Cadbury
	uin	827
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/11/2023 answer text <p>The HM Prison and Probation Service workforce quarterly publication covers staffing information, including the number of leavers by reason for leaving by grade. The latest publication covers data up to 30 September 2023. The figures requested can be found in Table 14b of this publication and have been reproduced below:</p><p><strong>Table 1: Band 3-5 Prison Officer dismissals by reason in the 12 months to September 2023</strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Reason for leaving</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Headcount</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Dismissal – Unsatisfactory attendance/Medical Inefficiency*</p></td><td><p>360</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Dismissal – Conduct</p></td><td><p>97</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Dismissal – Poor performance</p></td><td><p>4</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Dismissal Other</p></td><td><p>4</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Total</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>465</strong></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><strong>*‘</strong>Medical Inefficiency’ is a technical term which has been used to ensure the terminology in this response is aligned with the definitions used in published workforce statistics.</p><p>Notes to Table 1:</p><ol><li>Band 3-5 Prison Officers includes Band 3-4 / Prison Officer (incl specialists), Band 4 / Supervising Officer and Band 5 / Custodial Managers.</li><li>Figures relating to current financial year are provisional, and may be subject to change in future.</li><li>As with all HR databases, extracts are taken at a fixed point in time, to ensure consistency of reporting. However the database itself is dynamic and where updates to the database are made late, subsequent to the taking of the extract, these updates will not be reflected in figures produced by the extract. For this reason, HR data are unlikely to be precisely accurate.</li></ol> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 17/11/2023 15:36:30 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
	tabling member	4389 label Biography information for Ruth Cadbury

1668637

	registered interest
	date	08/11/2023
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Prison Officers: Vacancies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison officer positions were vacant in (a) June, (b) July, (c) August, (d) September and (e) October 2023.
	tabling member constituency	Brentford and Isleworth
	tabling member printed	Ruth Cadbury
	uin	826
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/11/2023 answer text <p><strong>Total Band 3-5 Prison Officer indicative vacancies (FTE) across Public Sector Prison Establishments in England &amp; Wales, June 2023</strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Month</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Indicative vacancies (FTE)</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jun-23</p></td><td><p>879</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>We have only provided data for June 2023, aligning with the most recent data published in the HMPPS Workforce Quarterly Statistics (scheduled for 16 November 2023). This is because vacancy figures, whilst not published are linked to information that will be released shortly and could therefore prejudice the proper release of that data. Therefore we are only able to provide a limited response.</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.</p><p>These efforts are working - we have hired over 4,000 additional officers since March 2017 and retention rates for prison staff are improving.</p><ul><li>All data is taken from Workforce Planning Tools and shows the average position across the month, adjusted for joiners and leavers in the month.</li><li>Data only covers prison establishments and will not reflect any Band 3 – 5 Prison Officers who are working in headquarters establishments.</li><li>Workforce Planning Tool returns are manually completed by staff in prisons each month and, as with any manual returns, are subject to human error.</li><li>Indicative vacancies are the difference between Target Staffing and Staff in Post across the entire England &amp; Wales prison estate.</li><li>Target Staffing is the number of staff required to run an optimal regime in each prison. This level is greater than the minimum number of staff required for a prison to operate safely, and includes allowances for staff taking leave, being off sick or being on training.</li><li>The Target Staffing Figures are set on a site-specific basis and vary in size.</li><li>Band 3-5 Officers includes Band 3-4 / Prison Officers (including specialists), Band 4 / Supervising Officers, and Band 5 / Custodial Managers.</li><li>Target Staffing levels are established based on a 39-hour working week. Staff in Post (FTE) is set at 1.0 FTE for those on a 39-hour contract / 1.05 FTE for those on a 41-hour contract and 0.95 FTE for those on a 37-hour contract.</li><li>Staff in Post data used to calculate an indicative number of vacancies does not take into account those on long-term absences (e.g. career breaks) / loans / secondments / agency staff or other forms of overtime.</li><li>Where prisons are not at their Target Staffing level, these are routinely supplemented (e.g., by using Payment Plus, a form of overtime) which is not accounted for in the indicative vacancy data provided. 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 data.</li><li>The above 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. In reality, prisons with surplus staff are likely to be sending those staff to work on Detached Duty at prisons with vacancies, and therefore netting vacancies against surpluses is a fair reflection of the overall national position.</li></ul> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 17/11/2023 11:51:42 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
	tabling member	4389 label Biography information for Ruth Cadbury

1668526

	registered interest
	date	08/11/2023
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Prisoners' Release
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were released from prison 18 days early under section 248 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 in the last 12 months.
	tabling member constituency	Brentford and Isleworth
	tabling member printed	Ruth Cadbury
	uin	820
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/11/2023 answer text <p>As the Lord Chancellor set out in his statement of 16 October, End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL), first implemented on 17 October 2023, uses s248 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 to remove onto licence some prisoners up to 18 days in advance of their automatic release date. Its use is targeted, and it will only operate in certain areas for a limited period of time.</p><p> </p><p>Data on Prison releases are routinely published as part of the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-april-to-june-2023" target="_blank">Offender Management Quarterly Statistics</a>, the latest available data goes to June 2023. The number of releases under s248 is not included in this publication but we are currently reviewing what statistics we routinely publish.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 15/11/2023 14:07:06 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
	tabling member	4389 label Biography information for Ruth Cadbury

1668641

	registered interest
	date	08/11/2023
	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 and Recruitment
	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 prison officers recruited in the last 12 months have left the prison service.
	tabling member constituency	Brentford and Isleworth
	tabling member printed	Ruth Cadbury
	uin	829
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/11/2023 answer text <p>In the period from 1 October 2022 to 30 September 2023, there were 4,911 band 3-5 prison officers who joined HM Prison and Probation Service. Details of the number and proportion who have left the prison service (including YCS) as of 30th September 2023 are given in the table below.</p><p> </p><p>Table 1: Status of band 3-5 prison officers1 who joined between 1 October 2022 and 30 September 2023 - as of 30 September 2023</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>Headcount</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Still working in the prison service (including YCS)2</p></td><td><p>4,382</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Not working in the prison service (including YCS) but still in HMPPS3</p></td><td><p>2</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Left HMPPS altogether</p></td><td><p>527</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Total</p></td><td><p>4,911</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Percentage of those no longer working in the prison service (including YCS)</p></td><td><p>10.8%</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>Notes</p><p>1. Includes Bands 3-4 / Prison Officer (incl specialists), Band 4 / Supervising Officer and Band 5 / Custodial Managers.</p><p>2. Even though these staff are still working in prison service (including Youth Custody Service) they may no longer be in prison officer roles due to staff movements etc</p><p>3. These include staff moving to other areas of HMPPS such as Probation Service</p><p> </p><p>Appropriate staffing across our prison estate is vitally important. In line with Prisons Strategy White Paper, published in December 2021, we are committed to recruiting up to 5,000 additional prison officers across public and private prisons by the mid-2020s in line with estate expansion. The number of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) prison officers has increased over time. As of 30 September 2023, there has been increase of 1,441 FTE (6.7%) since 30 September 2022. For prison officers, there has been an increase of 632 FTE (2.8%) compared to June 2023. Over the year to 30 September 2023, 5,377 band 3 to 5 offers were appointed (consisting of new recruits and existing staff who converted to a band 3 officer grade).</p><p> </p><p>Alongside this recruitment, we recognise the importance of retaining experienced staff. Since April 2022, we have invested in several initiatives, including new colleague mentors and a new peer to peer learning scheme, as well as focused leadership training in sites where staff attrition is highest.</p><p> </p><p>We have also made significant investments in pay to recognise the hard work of our staff. The 2023/24 Prison Service pay award was announced in July and delivered a 7% increase in the starting salary for an entry level prison officer on 39 hours, rising from £30,702 to £32,851 on the national pay scale.</p><p> </p><p>For band 3-5 officers, the resignation rate was 8.6% in the year ending 30 September 2023 which is a decrease of 1.2 percentage points since the year ending March 2023.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 20/11/2023 12:13:19 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
	tabling member	4389 label Biography information for Ruth Cadbury