Police, Prison and Probation Officers

Question

14:49:00

Asked by

To ask His Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to improve the morale, recruitment and retention of police, prison and probation officers.

I know that noble Lords will join me in paying tribute to the amazing work of police, prison and probation officers, and to the importance of our recognised trade unions in representing them. The Government inherited a justice system in crisis, which placed a huge burden on our staff. I am committed to making HMPPS a world-class organisation, and I know my Home Office colleagues are working hard to give police officers the support they need to tackle crime and keep the public safe.

I thank the Minister for that response. In a civilised society, our police, prisons and probation services must never be run on the cheap. Crumbling prisons and shortages of prison and probation staff are endemic. Therefore, does the Minister agree that it was a terrible mistake by the last Government not to protect these vital public services, which are so important to protecting the public, when they unleashed their short-sighted and counterproductive austerity agenda?

It is clear that we inherited a mess from the previous Government, with a prison system on the verge of collapse and decimated neighbourhood policing numbers. This Government took decisive action to alleviate the immediate capacity pressures and are committed to making sure that this situation never happens again. That is why we published the first annual statement on prison capacity and a 10-year prison capacity strategy, and commissioned the Independent Sentencing Review. This Government are also taking steps to rebuild neighbourhood policing, which is why we have made £200 million available in 2025-26 to support the first steps of delivering 13,000 more neighbourhood policing personnel.

My Lords, last week the Minister promised a “seismic shift” to improve professional standards across the Prison and Probation Service. He described reports of bullying, discrimination and harassment as “a wake-up call and an opportunity to change”, and we agree. Retention rates are very bad: 10.4% of probation officers are leaving annually. For Probation Service officers, who include assistants and trainees, it is over 12%. They have too much to do, often with little experience; 7.8% of prison officers leave every year. Low morale is a major contributor but so are pay and conditions, given the challenges they face. What extra resources will the Government put into recruitment and retention in those services?

Last year we recruited 1,000 extra probation officers, and this year we are recruiting 1,300. It is clear that it is not just about recruiting staff and training them; it is about embracing technology to help them do their jobs better. Last week we announced that we would agree to all 12 recommendations of the Rademaker review, and we are very grateful to one of HMPPS’s non-execs, Jennifer Rademaker, for all the work she did on it. It is totally unacceptable that our staff have to work in conditions where they are bullied, belittled and sexually harassed, and as Minister I am determined to stamp it out. Retention rates are not where I would like them to be. I am working very hard to make sure that HMPPS is a world-class organisation. That means high rates of training, high rates of morale and high rates of success.

My Lords, the Ministry of Justice reported a 12.5% leaving rate among band 3 to 5 prison officers for the year ending December 2024. Considering that the number of new recruits decreased by 35.4% during the same period, will the Minister explain what practical steps the Government are taking to improve both recruitment and retention among prison officers?

The latest figures are that we have 97% of the number of staff we need in our prisons, but clearly we still have a bit to go. Also, a number of those staff are yet to be fully trained and in the right place. Before I was asked to come and do this role, I did a full review into the training of prison officers. I am fortunate that it is more likely to happen now I am in this role, because training is a big part of the reason why some of our staff leave too early. We want to make sure that people build their whole careers in the Prison Service, because the skills they learn—those soft skills about how they speak to prisoners and offenders—really make the difference in helping turn someone’s life around.

My Lords, the Police Service of Northern Ireland currently has an all-time low of 6,300 officers. The chief constable is seeking approximately £200 million additional funding to increase the headcount to 7,000 in 2028. While I acknowledge that responsibility for funding the PSNI is devolved, national security is clearly the responsibility of His Majesty’s Government. Given the specific threat from republican terrorists to police and prison officers in Northern Ireland, does the Minister agree that it is incumbent on UK Ministers to step forward to bridge this funding gap to help keep these brave men and women safe?

I am pleased to say that we as a Government are putting an extra £1 billion into policing, which will go a long way to addressing the neighbourhood policing issues that we have discussed.

My Lords, last week I observed the intensive supervision court in Birmingham, where women serving community orders for low-level offences are closely monitored by judges. Probation staff play a pivotal role. It is clear that the work is high and intense. What steps are the Government taking to urgently ensure that problem-solving courts have the best chance of succeeding—and, indeed, other creative community proposals that we hope will come out of the Independent Sentencing Review?

I hope we will not have to wait too long for the Independent Sentencing Review; I may need to ask some noble and learned Lords about what the exact dates are. The best day I have had in this job—and I have had lots of really good days—was going to the intensive supervision court in Birmingham. It was incredibly uplifting seeing female offenders coming up from the cells in the morning looking very ill and then seeing how the lives of those who have been engaging with the intensive supervision court for six months have changed. But they knew that they had to engage with probation, housing and often drug and addiction work—and, if they did not, they went to prison.

My Lords, I thank the Government and congratulate them on the re-establishment and re-emphasis of neighbourhood policing. The running down of neighbourhood policing was a terrible mistake by the last Government. Will my noble friend the Minister accept that neighbourhood policing is not just an essential element of effective policing but crucial to the confidence that the public have in the police service, because they can see police on the beat and in their own neighbourhood?

Neighbourhood policing is the bedrock of British policing, and it is the right model for us. We lost 20,000 police officers under the last Government, but we expect up to an initial 3,000 neighbourhood officers in neighbourhood policing roles by the end of next year. Every community deserves visible, proactive and accessible neighbourhood policing, with officers tackling issues that matter to people.

My Lords, as I am sure the Minister will know, police services countrywide struggle to recruit members from the black and ethnic-minority communities, and that is mainly because of the very low level of morale among black serving officers. What work is the Minister specifically doing to support the morale of those police officers?

I am pleased to know that we have a race action plan that we are working with police constables; it is really important that we recruit fantastic people and make sure that we represent the communities we serve.

My Lords, in answer to the noble Lord, Lord Rogan, the Minister said that there was an extra £1 billion coming into policing this year. However, not one penny of that £1 billion will go to Northern Ireland because policing is a devolved matter. Given that the Northern Ireland policing budget is significantly eroded by paying out for dealing with legacy in Northern Ireland, when will the Government create ring-fenced funding to deal with the situation in Northern Ireland, which will then allow Northern Ireland’s police to serve the community in the way in which they wish—properly staffed and properly resourced?

I will pass that question on to the Northern Ireland Secretary responsible for legacy issues and write to the noble Baroness.

My Lords, the Government are clearly taking all the issues across the criminal justice system very seriously, but does my noble friend agree that there is a slight risk that not everything will be dealt with entirely coherently? Does he agree with the many voices in this Chamber and beyond that what is really needed is a royal commission on the whole criminal justice system, as promised by the last Government but not delivered?

We are a Government of action and I am a Minister of action, and I am already getting going. For me, it is really important that we have had the Independent Sentencing Review, which I hope we will be talking about shortly, and the Leveson review is ongoing. Those are significant reviews, and we will implement those reforms quickly.