Speeches

Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison officers have taken up the voluntary early departure scheme in each month since May 2010; how much has been paid in severance in each month to those prison officers; what average amount is paid in severance to those prison officers; and what the average continuous service was of those prison officers.

Andrew Selous

Information on the number of prison officers taking voluntary early departure has been published in PQ 25478. The total and average amount of severance they received and their average length of service in each month since May 2010 is contained in the table below. The severance amounts in the table relate to the payments made to the officers who left during the particular month and may not reflect the actual date that the money was received. For this reason the information will not match with accounting records.

All prison officers who left on voluntary early departure had at least 24 months continuous service.

Voluntary exit was used in the last Parliament as a result of the closure of uneconomic prison places. These prison closures and benchmarking reforms have delivered savings of £300 million a year, with the average cost per prison place falling in real terms by 19% since 2009/10.

Prison Officers Taking VEDS, May 2010 to September 2015

Year

Month

VEDS Leavers

Total Severance Received (£)

Average Severance Received (£)

Average Length of Service of VEDS leavers (Years)

2010

May

~

~

~

~

June

~

~

~

~

July

~

~

~

~

August

70

£2,132,290

£29,209

17.6

September

~

~

~

~

October

~

~

~

~

November

~

~

~

~

December

~

~

~

~

2011

January

~

~

~

~

February

~

~

~

~

March

~

~

~

~

April

30

£1,108,573

£38,227

17.1

May

~

~

~

~

June

~

~

~

~

July

~

~

~

~

August

~

~

~

~

September

~

~

~

~

October

20

£617,345

£38,584

22.7

November

~

~

~

~

December

10

£360,949

£36,095

21.8

2012

January

~

~

~

~

February

~

~

~

~

March

~

~

~

~

April

~

~

~

~

May

~

~

~

~

June

~

~

~

~

July

~

~

~

~

August

30

£1,257,194

£41,906

21.1

September

~

~

~

~

October

~

~

~

~

November

~

~

~

~

December

40

£1,121,641

£30,315

14.6

2013

January

~

~

~

~

February

~

~

~

~

March

180

£6,204,024

£33,718

19.5

April

~

~

~

~

May

~

~

~

~

June

180

£6,353,177

£35,100

20.3

July

170

£7,010,396

£40,290

19.7

August

~

~

~

~

September

720

£25,920,953

£35,802

18.9

October

130

£4,964,209

£37,608

20.8

November

~

~

~

~

December

40

£1,298,680

£29,515

17.2

2014

January

100

£3,152,467

£32,838

20.0

February

10

£425,167

£38,652

24.5

March

30

£1,308,937

£39,665

19.8

April

~

~

~

~

May

~

~

~

~

June

~

~

~

~

July

~

~

~

~

August

~

~

~

~

September

~

~

~

~

October

~

~

~

~

November

~

~

~

~

December

~

~

~

~

2015

January

~

~

~

~

February

~

~

~

~

March

~

~

~

~

April

~

~

~

~

May

~

~

~

~

June

~

~

~

~

July

~

~

~

~

August

~

~

~

~

September

~

~

~

~

Notes:

All figures are rounded to the nearest 10, with numbers ending in 5 rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias. 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, and to present unrounded figures would be to overstate the accuracy of the figures. Rounding to 10 accurately depicts the level of certainty that is held with these figures.

~ denotes suppressed values of 5 or fewer or calculations based on a population of 5 or fewer. Low numbers are suppressed, in conjunction with the rounding policy to prevent disclosure in accordance with the Data Protection Act, 1998.

Information in the table relates to cases of voluntary exits where payment information is available. In a small number of cases information on severance payments does not reflect the reason for leaving held on the central reporting system and may vary slightly from leavers figures published from that source in the NOMS Workforce Bulletin.