Skip to main content

HM Prison Service

Question for Ministry of Justice

UIN HL1216, tabled on 8 July 2015

To ask Her Majesty’s Government which prisons received the highest (1) number and (2) proportion of detached duty staff from another prison in each month of 2015.

Answered on

20 July 2015

The deployment of staff between prisons on detached duty is a regular and normal part of prison resourcing. It allows staff to be allocated from prisons with the capacity to provide them, to those where additional staffing is required. A large proportion of the capacity is typically available from prisons that are in the process of closure or going through a re-role.

The average weekly provision of staff that were received and contributed as part of the nationally co-ordinated detached duty scheme across public sector prisons are shown in the tables below. The information covers the period January to March 2015, which coincides with the latest published prison staffing data.

On average over the three month period (January to March 2013), less than 1% of staff were provided on detached duty.

The absolute amount of detached duty staffing contribution received by each establishment can be found in table 1 below. The establishment that received the highest proportion of staffing on detached duty in January and February 2015 was Elmley, where 2% and 7% of officer staffing in the prison was provided by detached duty in each month respectively. In March the highest proportion of officer staffing contributed by detached duty was at Aylesbury with 12% of the total.

All figures are rounded to the nearest 10, with numbers ending in 5 rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias. Rounding to 10 accurately depicts the level of certainty that is held with these figures. Values of 5 or fewer are denoted as ‘~’

Table 1. Average Monthly provision of staff received on detached duty to establishments in England & Wales January - March 2015

Monthly Contribution

Establishment

Jan-15

Feb-15

Mar-15

Aylesbury

~

10

20

Bedford

~

~

~

Brinsford

~

~

10

Bullingdon

~

~

10

Chelmsford

~

10

10

Cookham Wood

~

~

10

Elmley

~

20

20

Feltham

~

~

10

Gartree

~

~

~

Glen Parva

~

~

~

Haverigg

~

~

~

High Down

~

10

20

Highpoint

~

~

~

Hull

~

~

~

Isis

~

10

10

Isle of Wight

~

~

~

Leeds

~

~

~

Leicester

~

~

~

Nottingham

~

10

10

Onley

~

~

~

Pentonville

~

~

~

Rochester

~

~

10

Swaleside

~

~

~

Wandsworth

~

~

~

Wayland

~

~

~

Werrington

~

~

~

Wetherby

~

10

10

Woodhill

~

10

20

Wormwood Scrubs

~

10

10

Total

30

100

210

Table 2. Average Monthly provision of staff contributed on detached duty to other establishments in England & Wales January - March 2015

Monthly Contribution

Establishment

Jan-15

Feb-15

Mar-15

Aylesbury

~

~

~

Blantyre House

~

~

10

Bristol

~

~

~

Brixton

~

~

~

Buckley Hall

~

~

~

Bure

~

~

10

Cardiff

~

~

~

Channings Wood

~

~

~

Dartmoor

~

~

~

Deerbolt

~

~

10

Dover

~

~

~

Downview

~

20

30

Durham

~

~

~

East Sutton Park

~

~

~

Eastwood Park

~

~

~

Exeter

~

~

~

Featherstone

~

~

~

Ford

~

~

~

Frankland

~

~

~

Full Sutton

~

~

~

Garth

~

~

~

Glen Parva

~

~

~

Guys Marsh

~

~

~

Hatfield

~

~

~

Hindley

~

10

20

Hollesley Bay

~

~

~

Holloway

~

~

~

Holme House

~

~

10

High Security Prisons

~

~

~

Isle of Wight

~

~

10

Kennet

~

~

~

Kirklevington

~

~

~

Kirklevington Grange

~

~

~

Lancaster Farms

~

~

~

Leeds

~

~

10

Leicester

~

~

~

Lewes

~

~

~

Littlehey

~

~

10

Liverpool

~

~

~

Long Lartin

~

~

~

Low Newton

~

~

~

Maidstone

~

~

~

Moorland

~

~

~

Morton Hall

~

~

~

New Hall

~

~

~

North Sea Camp

~

~

~

Norwich

~

~

10

Portland

~

~

~

Preston

~

~

10

Risley

~

~

~

Send

~

~

~

Stafford

~

~

~

Stocken

~

~

~

Stoke Heath

~

~

~

Sudbury

~

~

~

Swansea

~

~

~

The Mount

~

~

~

Thorn Cross

~

~

~

Wakefield

~

~

~

Wandsworth

~

~

~

Warren Hill

~

~

~

Wealstun

~

~

~

Wetherby

~

~

~

Whatton

~

~

~

Whitemoor

~

~

~

Winchester

~

~

~

Woodhill

~

~

~

Wymott

~

~

~

Total

30

100

210