The number of band 3-5 prison officers that were recruited in the last three years, by age and gender are provided in table 1 below. The leaving rate of band 3-5 officers for the same period is provided in table 2.

Table 1: Band 3-5 prison officers¹ joiners, by age and gender, 2016-2018

Table 2: Underlying leaving² rate of permanent³ band 3-5 officers¹, 2016-2018

~ denotes suppressed values of 2 or fewer or other values which would allow values of 2 or fewer to be derived by subtraction. Low numbers are suppressed to prevent disclosure in accordance with the Data Protection Act, 1998.

We want prison officers to stay and progress their careers. We’ve improved induction processes to ease transition into the job, provide care and support for our staff and offer additional training. These measures are part of the work we are doing directly with Governors to address local issues and ensure experienced staff and new recruits remain in the service.

The Government has been clear that the performance of Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) in England and Wales has been disappointing and needs to improve. We have taken decisive action to end current CRC contracts early and made changes to existing contracts to improve service delivery. We have also conducted a public consultation on proposals for future arrangements and are carefully considering the responses we received.

We are committed to developing a more stable and resilient system, where public, private and voluntary sectors providers can work together effectively to protect the public and tackle reoffending. We will set out our plans later this year.

We set out our intentions in the prisoner Education and Employment Strategy, published last year. In April 2019, the new prison education contracts commence. The services these contracts deliver have been chosen by prison governors to ensure that the learning available to prisoners is both relevant for their own development needs and linked to labour market information, supporting employment outcomes. The new contracts, and increased local and national management of the education providers, will provide better and more immediate information on the quality of the service being delivered and provide better levers for governors to manage underperformance.

In addition to these main contracts, our prison education Dynamic Purchasing System allows prison governors to commission specific, short-term education provision to meet niche and other learning needs their prisoners have, or to commission training to address employers’ bespoke training requirements. This will allow prisoners to take advantage of labour market opportunities on release.

Retaining and recruiting engaged and motivated staff is critical to delivering the solutions to drive improvement across the service. We know that retention of staff will take more than a ‘one size fits all’ approach, and specific action is being taken where attrition is most acute.

We launched a Retention Framework and Action Plan, designed to support prisons in identifying drivers of attrition and local interventions. Governors are proactively using the Framework to implement the actions required to tackle attrition at their prisons. A Retention Board has also been established to review Band 3-5 Prison Officer resignation rates, providing support and targeted interventions to prisons with acute issues or increasing resignation rates.

We are taking decisive steps to tackle the use of drones as a supply route for organised criminals to bring drugs and mobile phones into prisons. These drone operators can be prosecuted for offences related to conveyance of items into prison under the Prison Act 1952. Last year we launched Operation Trenton, a specialist team of police and Prison Service investigators, to work together to intercept drones and track down the criminals behind them.

On 26 October, following the largest investigation of its kind, an organised criminal gang of 15 were collectively sentenced to nearly 40 years in prison for using drones to drop drugs into several prisons. One member of the gang received a sentence of 10 years’ custody, the highest single sentence for drone-related activity to date.

Prisoners who break the law in prison should expect to be sanctioned according to the severity of the crime, with serious crimes being referred to the police for investigation. The maximum sentence that a court may impose will depend on the facts of the case and the offence the prisoner has been found guilty of committing. In respect of controlled drugs, for example, prisoners involved in their delivery may receive a sentence of up to 10 years’ custody and an unlimited fine.

I welcome the publication of this report and share PCS’s commitment to improving rehabilitation and reducing reoffending among people released from our prisons. We look forward to ongoing work with HMPPS’s National Trade Union Side on this critical issue.

Since ‘An Alternative Vision for Prisons’ was published we have launched both our Education and Employment Strategy on 24 May 2018, and our Female Offender Strategy on 27 June. The former sets out the Government’s approach to supporting ex-offenders to secure meaningful employment so that they are less likely to reoffend. Our new model for delivering education services in prisons will go live in April next year.

The Female Offender Strategy sets out our commitment to a new programme of work for female offenders, driven by our ambition to see fewer women coming into the criminal justice system at all, and fewer of those that do ending up in custody. We also want to see more female offenders managed successfully in the community, along with better conditions for those in custody.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet Office has introduced a new cross-government Reducing Reoffending group to address some of the main causes of reoffending including employment, health and accommodation. The Group met for the first time last month.

Reoffending currently costs society around £15 billion per year. We know that most prisoners will be released from custody at some stage, and that through effective rehabilitation we can reduce the number of victims of crime in the future.

We also know that effective rehabilitation needs prisoners to be willing to commit to change, take advice, learn new skills and take opportunities to work – both during their sentence and after.

In the lead up to the implementation of the Career Average Civil Service pension scheme for new entrants in 2007, the pension age increased from 60 to 65. The Pensions Technical Team in Cabinet Office gave consideration to the fact that the prison officer role can be physically demanding. They concluded that there were a number of other civil servants whose jobs were just as demanding (e.g. seaman on Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships and on fishery protection vessels) and that it could not justify a lower pension age than other scheme members. The trade union signed up to the 2007 scheme, which introduced a Normal Pension Age (NPA) of 65. HMPPS has been recruiting new entrant prison officers with a pension age of 65 from 1 July 2007 up until 31 March 2015.

Under the 2012 public sector pension reform proposals, the pension age for police officers was reviewed and increased from 55 to 60. It was also noted that the pension age under the police officer scheme would be subject to future review and could be increased to reflect individual member’s State Pension Age (SPA)

The Pensions Technical Team in the Cabinet Office and HMPPS have had a number of meetings with the Prison Officer trade union in relation to the pension age for Prison Officers.

An important point of principle which the Government took into account in maintaining a pension age of 60 for police officers was that, the individuals contribute 12.44% towards their pension. The average contribution rate for those in the Civil Service pension (including Prison Officers) is around 5.45%.

The Normal Pension Age (NPA) under the Civil Service pension scheme is linked to the individual member’s State Pension Age (SPA) and ranges from 65 to 68, based on their date of birth.

Prison Officers, who are covered by the Civil Service Pension had a NPA of 60 (under the pre July 2007 final salary schemes) or 65 (Career Average scheme brought in from 1 July 2007).

Since 2007, when the NPA changed for new entrants to 65 under a Career Average Pension, HMPPS has been recruiting new Prison Officers in their sixties who have passed the fitness test and are performing their roles effectively. In addition, many staff who have the right to retire at 60 choose to work beyond their retirement age.

The Pensions Technical Team in the Cabinet Office and HMPPS have had a number of meetings with the Prison Officer trade union in relation to the pension age for Prison Officers.

HMPPS is taking action to improve prison safety and security, alongside reforms to overhaul the system to focus on the rehabilitation of offenders. This includes tackling the supply and demand of drugs, drones and phones which drive prison violence and undermine safety. We are undertaking mandatory drug testing for psychoactive substances which is now happening across the prison estate and rolling out Body Worn Cameras. Violence in prison is a crime and any prisoner who commits an act of violence can expect to have action taken against them.

HMPPS takes very seriously the health and safety of all staff working within prisons. Staff have access to an Employee Assistance Programme and are covered by a wide range of Occupational Health services provided by a range of specialist health care professionals.

For the first time, criminals when they are sentenced will be notified that while they are in prison, their punishment includes the loss of the right to vote.

We are amending prison service guidance to address an anomaly in the current system, where offenders who are back in the community on licence can vote, but those who are in the community on temporary licence and working towards their release, cannot.

In practice, it is likely that less than 100 additional offenders will be eligible to vote at any given time, based on recent data on the number of offenders released on temporary licence.

The numbers released on temporary licence, on any given day is relatively small, partly due to the rigorous risk assessment that accompanies it. This change would not enable all offenders on temporary licence to vote as they would also need to be registered to vote or be able to register to vote (and, obviously, there would need to be an election).

UK Government officials are working with colleagues in the Devolved Administrations on the implementation of these changes in Scotland and Northern Ireland. The UK Parliamentary franchise is a reserved matter but aspects of the criminal justice system is devolved.

​I would like to express my condolences to the family and friends of Ian Squire who died in Nigeria following his kidnapping on 13 October. He devoted his life to helping others and it is clear he touched many lives during the course of his work. I welcome the release of David and Shirley Donovan and Alana Carson, kidnapped alongside Ian. We will continue to do all we can to support the families. I am grateful to the Nigerian authorities for their assistance.

The safety of British Nationals living and working abroad is a priority for this Government. We liaised closely with Nigerian authorities throughout the recent kidnap and regularly discuss security issues in Nigeria with members of the Nigerian Government at the highest levels. There is a high threat of kidnap throughout Nigeria, either for financial or political gain, or motivated by criminality. This is set out in our travel advice for Nigeria, which is kept under constant review.

We used the fourth session of the UK-Sudan Strategic Dialogue on 16 October to raise with Sudan's Special Rapporteur for the Advisory Council for Human Rights our concerns about reports of restrictions on freedom of religion or belief, in particular with regard to the demolition of churches and the restrictions on Christian schools closing on Sundays. Sudan remains a Human Rights Priority Country for the Foreign & Commonwealth Office.

The work of the churches is vital for addressing the causes of conflict in South Sudan. The British Government recently agreed a package of funding that will help the South Sudan Council of Churches to implement their Action Plan for Peace. The Action Plan, which promotes the development of neutral fora where an inclusive dialogue can take place, will play an important role in the pursuit of peace and reconciliation.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office does not hold information on the number of Nigerian Christians who have been killed in Nigeria, but it is clear that, in the North East, Boko Haram have caused immense suffering in both Christian and Muslim communities. We are fully committed to helping Nigeria and its neighbours in the fight against Boko Haram. We are providing a substantial package of military, intelligence and humanitarian support to Nigeria and its neighbours. This includes training and advice for Nigerian armed forces deploying against Boko Haram and £5 million to support the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF).

Nigeria also faces the challenge of inter-communal clashes involving pastoralists and local farmers, particularly in central Nigeria. We continue to call on all parties to find a peaceful solution to the underlying causes of these incidents, and welcome President Buhari's commitment to ending this inter-communal violence.

The conflict and dire humanitarian situation in South Sudan was a key topic of discussion at the fourth session of the UK-Sudan Strategic Dialogue, which took place on 16 October.

We welcomed the opening of humanitarian corridors by the Government of Sudan, which has allowed aid to be delivered to the most affected populations in South Sudan. We have also welcomed Sudan's hosting of increasing numbers of refugees from South Sudan. Through DFID's South Sudanese Refugees and Migration programme, we will provide lifesaving humanitarian assistance to up to 150,000 South Sudanese refugees in Sudan this year.

We encourage the important role the Government of Sudan continues to play in the regional initiative, led by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), to revitalise the peace process in South Sudan.

The UK Government is deeply concerned by the conflict in South Sudan, which has caused 2 million people to flee to neighbouring countries, including Sudan. The UK Government does not provide any direct funding to the Government of Sudan. However, through the Department for International Development (DFID)’s South Sudanese Refugees and Migration programme, the UK is providing up to £5 million of support this year to meet the essential humanitarian needs of up to 150,000 South Sudanese refugees in Sudan. DFID is also the largest donor to the UN’s Sudan Humanitarian Fund, which provides support to South Sudanese refugees and other vulnerable people in Sudan. We regularly discuss the conflict with the Government of Sudan, and welcome the opening of three humanitarian corridors by the Government, which has allowed aid to be delivered to the most affected populations.

In Kenya, the Department for International Development has supported development of Kenyan transport systems, including railways and roads, to improve the speed and efficiency of transport and trading routes. Financial disbursements have been as follows:

The UK Government signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2015 committing us to collaborate with the Egyptian Government on higher education and research, including health education and research and medical training. This has been built on with a number of collaborative programmes, though there has been no direct engagement on childhood cancers to date.

The Government is committed to supporting Fairtrade around the world. Over the last six years, the Department for International Development (DfID) has provided £18 million to Fairtrade International to support their work and strengthen the global Fairtrade system. This includes Fairtrade producer and worker organizations that are the drivers of inclusive economic, environmental and social development in their communities around the world. DfID continues to actively engage with Fairtrade on a variety of projects and campaigns, such as the forthcoming Fairtrade Fortnight from 27 February to 12 March. Minister Stewart will be speaking at the All Party Parliamentary Group event marking the launch of Fairtrade Fortnight where he will meet Fairtrade campaigners from the UK and a Fairtrade coffee producer from Tanzania.

The Kajaki Dam was financed by the US Government. In the summer of 2008 UK military forces were involved in delivering a third turbine to the dam. DFID, however, was not involved, and has not been involved in the dam.

The Department for International Development has controls in place to protect its aid budget throughout the project cycle. Every project is subject to an annual performance review and a project completion review to ensure that the objectives have been achieved and aid has been delivered to the intended beneficiaries. Controls also include a comprehensive risk management framework which requires risk to be identified at design stage and reassessed regularly during the project. This includes the risk of aid diversion to terrorist organisations. Prior to the release of funding the Department undertakes a rigorous due diligence process on its delivery partners, with the findings re-tested at each annual project performance review.

The Department is proactively engaged in the cross Government agenda to strengthen its response to the threat of terrorist financing. Internal procedures and guidance have been enhanced and a dedicated Counter Terrorist Financing Officer appointed.