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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the staff turnover rate has been in (a) the prison estate and (b) HM Prison High Down in each month since September 2013.

Jeremy Wright

The monthly staff turnover rate is calculated as leavers divided by number of staff in post at the beginning of the month. Figures on staff turnover are enclosed in the table below.

Table: Staff turnover rate at (i) High Down and (ii) all prison service establishments in England and Wales, between September and December 2013

Prison Service Establishment	Month	Leavers	Staff in Post	Turnover Rate
High Down	September 2013	40	430	9.5%
	October 2013	10	430	2.1%
	November 2013	~	380	0.3%
	December 2013	~	380	0.0%
All Prisons	September 2013	1,270	43,630	2.9%
	October 2013	440	43,500	1.0%
	November 2013	320	42,320	0.8%
	December 2013	330	42,560	0.8%

Note:

~ denotes suppressed values of 5 or fewer. Low numbers are suppressed, in conjunction with the rounding policy in line with the department’s policy for presenting staffing statistics.

Staffing numbers, which are derived from a dynamic administrative system, have been rounded to the nearest 10 to reflect the level of uncertainty in the figures.

Staff turnover rates include staff on both fixed-term and permanent contracts.

Information on staff turnover is only available up to December 2013.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many acts of prisoner on prisoner violence there have been in HM Prison High Down in each month since September 2013.

Jeremy Wright

The number of assaults on staff and prisoner on prisoner assaults at HMP High Down between September 2013 and December 2013 can be found in Table 1. The monthly figures between September 2013 and December 2013 are broadly in line with the average number of assaults at HMP High Down over the last 5 years. Assault statistics by establishment are published annually in April with the latest statistics published covering up to 2013.

There are many factors that can drive changes in the number of assaults at individual establishments from one month to the next, including changes in admissions rates and composition of the prison population. Short-term monthly figures do not give a good indication of trends, and a view over a long time period should be taken when considering trends.

Table 1: Number of assaults, HMP High Down, September 2013 to December 2013

	September	October	November	December
Assaults on staff	2	3	3	5
Prisoner on prisoner assaults (including fights)	19	11	12	8

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many assaults against prison staff there have been in HM Prison High Down in each month since September 2013.

Jeremy Wright

The number of assaults on staff and prisoner on prisoner assaults at HMP High Down between September 2013 and December 2013 can be found in Table 1. The monthly figures between September 2013 and December 2013 are broadly in line with the average number of assaults at HMP High Down over the last 5 years. Assault statistics by establishment are published annually in April with the latest statistics published covering up to 2013.

There are many factors that can drive changes in the number of assaults at individual establishments from one month to the next, including changes in admissions rates and composition of the prison population. Short-term monthly figures do not give a good indication of trends, and a view over a long time period should be taken when considering trends.

Table 1: Number of assaults, HMP High Down, September 2013 to December 2013

	September	October	November	December
Assaults on staff	2	3	3	5
Prisoner on prisoner assaults (including fights)	19	11	12	8

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much has been spent purchasing additional prison places from existing privately run prisons in each month since 1 January 2014; from which prisons such additional spaces have been purchased; how many additional spaces were agreed; for how long each such additional space has been purchased for; and what the cost was for each space agreed.

Jeremy Wright

The Ministry of Justice has purchased the following Additional Prisoner Places (APPs) in existing privately run prisons since February 2014.

We are unable to provide the cost of APPs at each prison as this information is commercially sensitive.

We have presented the information below setting out at which prisons the APPs have been purchased since February 2014, and the duration of these places.

Prison	Number Places	Duration
Altcourse	100	11 months
Dovegate	73	11 months
Forest Bank	96	11 months
Lowdham Grange	32	6 months
Peterborough (male only)	48	6 months
Parc	63	9 months
Total Number of Places	412

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the proven re-offending rate was of (a) those released from prison and (b) those released from prison who self-identified as Muslim in each year since 2010.

Jeremy Wright

The latest proven re-offending rates for those offenders released from prison can be found in tables 1 and 2 below. Table 1 provides overall proven re-offending rates for offenders released from prison and has been taken from the Proven Re-offending Statistics Quarterly Bulletin series. Table 2 provides proven re-offending rates for Muslim offenders released from prison.

A proven re-offence is defined as any offence committed in a one year follow-up period resulting in a court conviction, caution, reprimand or warning in the one year follow-up. Following this one year follow-up, a further six month waiting period is allowed for the offence to be proven in court.

These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing. A prisoner’s religion is self declared and prisoners are under no obligation to declare.

1. A certain proportion of offenders could not be matched to the Police National Computer (PNC) and are, therefore, not included. Therefore, this number does not represent all proven offenders

1. A certain proportion of offenders could not be matched to the Police National Computer (PNC) and are, therefore, not included. Therefore, this number does not represent all proven offenders.

2. Data on offenders’ religious beliefs are not available for 2010 due to data quality issues following the introduction of a new prison IT system.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the nationality was of (a) all people in prison and (b) people in prison who self-identified as Muslim on 1 January 2014.

Jeremy Wright

Data are held centrally on the prison population in England and Wales on the last day of each month, so figures have been provided for 31^st December 2013 (with the exception of PQ 197068 which has been answered as at 30 June 2013 – the latest available data for criminal history information).

For PQ 197067, Table 1 below provides the number for the sentenced prison population by sentence length for self-declared Muslim prisoners and the total for all religions.

For PQ 197068, Table 2 provides the number of offenders in prison on 30th June 2013 who identified themselves as Muslim and all other religions by the number of previous custodial sentences received.

For PQ 197069, Table 3 provides the prison population by nationality for self-declared Muslims and the total for all other religions.

For PQ 197090, Table 4 provides the prison population by age group for self-declared Muslims and the total for all other religions.

Please note that the religion of prisoners is self declared and prisoners are under no obligation to declare their religion.

These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, at what time the disturbance at HM Prison Northumberland on 29 March 2014 began; when it ceased; how many prisoners were involved in that disturbance; what injuries were sustained by prisoners and officers; how many prison officers were used to quell the disturbance; and what resources external to the prison were called on to assist in quelling the disturbance.

Jeremy Wright

A disturbance took place in part of one wing at HM Prison Northumberland on 29 March 2014. It began at approximately 4.45pm and the affected wing was secured at 00.35am on 30 March 2014 with no resistance from prisoners. Fifty-seven prisoners were involved with one reporting that he had been assaulted during the incident. No staff injuries were reported and minimal damage was caused.

In response to the incident, Gold Command based at National Offender Management Service (NOMS) headquarters, was opened in support of management locally. In line with normal procedure, mutual aid arrangements involved 84 prison officers, together with local staff, were deployed. The National Tactical Response Group and National Dogs and Technical Support Group, as routine in such incidents, were also activated.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for what reasons the closed wings at (a) HM Prison Hull and (b) HM Prison Chelmsford were (i) closed and (ii) re-opened.

Jeremy Wright

We will always have enough prison places for those sent to us by the courts and continue to modernise the prison estate so that it delivers best value for the taxpayer

This Government has a long term strategy for managing the prison estate. We will have increased the adult male prison capacity so that we have more places than we inherited from the previous Government.

The retention of significant spare prison capacity over and above what is required is expensive and cannot be justified given the current financial climate. The mothballing of spare capacity at HM Prisons Chelmsford and Hull saved the taxpayer £3.6m in the financial year 2013-14. This compares to the significantly lower cost of maintaining this accommodation on a mothballed basis, so that it could be reactivated if necessary.

We have reviewed the refurbishment requirements at both sites and believe that, with minor investment, they can now be reopened on a contingency basis without carrying out a full refurbishment. These costs are anticipated to be around £132k by the time they have reopened. From the end of March to date, around £12k has been spent on Chelmsford, and around £107k has been spent on Hull.

The indicative additional staffing requirement to reactivate the places at Hull is around 65 members of staff – of which approximately 40 are uniformed. The indicative additional staffing requirement to reactivate the places at Chelmsford is around 30 members of staff – of which approximately 20 are uniformed grades. This means we are able to create additional places at an average cost of £7k per place (subject to final benchmarking review), as opposed to the average cost of a prison per place of £26,139.

The staffing requirement will initially be met by short term detached duty from other prisons, before looking to redeploy staff permanently where surpluses exist – and if necessary through external recruitment.

Subject to certification, Hull will create 282 places and Chelmsford 148 places, with prisoners due to start arriving this summer.

The reactivation of these places is a prudent and good value for money response to an increased prison population. Under the previous administration, police and court cells were turned into temporary prisons, with over 50,000 prisoners held in these cells in 2007-08 alone.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when the re-opened wings at (a) HM Prison Hull and (b) HM Prison Chelmsford will take prisoners.

Jeremy Wright

We will always have enough prison places for those sent to us by the courts and continue to modernise the prison estate so that it delivers best value for the taxpayer

This Government has a long term strategy for managing the prison estate. We will have increased the adult male prison capacity so that we have more places than we inherited from the previous Government.

The retention of significant spare prison capacity over and above what is required is expensive and cannot be justified given the current financial climate. The mothballing of spare capacity at HM Prisons Chelmsford and Hull saved the taxpayer £3.6m in the financial year 2013-14. This compares to the significantly lower cost of maintaining this accommodation on a mothballed basis, so that it could be reactivated if necessary.

We have reviewed the refurbishment requirements at both sites and believe that, with minor investment, they can now be reopened on a contingency basis without carrying out a full refurbishment. These costs are anticipated to be around £132k by the time they have reopened. From the end of March to date, around £12k has been spent on Chelmsford, and around £107k has been spent on Hull.

The indicative additional staffing requirement to reactivate the places at Hull is around 65 members of staff – of which approximately 40 are uniformed. The indicative additional staffing requirement to reactivate the places at Chelmsford is around 30 members of staff – of which approximately 20 are uniformed grades. This means we are able to create additional places at an average cost of £7k per place (subject to final benchmarking review), as opposed to the average cost of a prison per place of £26,139.

The staffing requirement will initially be met by short term detached duty from other prisons, before looking to redeploy staff permanently where surpluses exist – and if necessary through external recruitment.

Subject to certification, Hull will create 282 places and Chelmsford 148 places, with prisoners due to start arriving this summer.

The reactivation of these places is a prudent and good value for money response to an increased prison population. Under the previous administration, police and court cells were turned into temporary prisons, with over 50,000 prisoners held in these cells in 2007-08 alone.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners were subjected to levies under the Prisoners’ Earnings Act 1996 in each of the last four years.

Jeremy Wright

The Prisoners’ Earnings Act (PEA) commenced on 26 September 2011. Information for October 2011 to March 2012 was published in the NOMS Annual Report 2011-12: Management Information Addendum in July 2012, which can be accessed via the following link to the Gov.uk website:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/218333/noms-annual-report-2011-12-addendum.pdf

Figures for the full financial year 2012-13 were published in the 2012-13 edition of the Addendum at the following location: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/225225/mi-addendum.pdf

Figures for 2013-14 will be published on 31 July.

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