Carl Newman

Dear Mr Rebello Thank you for your Regulation 28 Report of 6 March 2020, following the recent inquest into the death of Carl Newman at HMP Liverpool on 6 October 2017. I know that you will share a copy of this response with Mr Newman’s family and I would like first to express my condolences for their loss. Every death in custody is a tragedy and the safety of those in our care is my absolute priority. You expressed concern that evidence given during the inquest indicated that staff at HMP Liverpool were unaware of how to access their personal training records, and suggested that this may also be an issue in other prisons. You also asked what actions HMPPS is taking to ensure that all staff have up to date training in ACCT and other safer custody processes. All training courses – both those organised centrally by the national Learning and Development team (including ACCT case manager training) and those provided locally at establishment level (including the various modules of the Introduction to Suicide and Self-Harm Prevention training) – are recorded on myLearning, the HMPPS national learning database. Staff enrol on a course using this system, and

on successful completion of the training, their record is updated to reflect their attendance (and pass/fail outcome for some courses). Both the learner themselves and the local training department have access to this record. Training departments are also able to run a report to see who has attended and/or passed a particular course, and when. We consider that this electronic system achieves the same outcomes as the system of certificates with expiry dates that you mention in your letter. As a result of the matters that arose at the inquest, the Governor of HMP Liverpool has issued a staff information notice to promote the use of the myLearning system, and staff have been reminded that they are able to view their personal training records on it. This notice reiterates the importance of staff knowing when they need to undertake any future refresher training and will shortly be followed up with a comprehensive guide on how to use the system. There is also a local training co­ ordinator who is available to assist staff with queries about these issues, and has responsibility for ensuring that staff are able to attend refresher training as required. As you know, we intend to roll out a new version of the ACCT case management system soon, and we will be taking this opportunity to update the related training packages, and to refresh our approach to safety training more broadly. This will allow us to reduce duplication between courses whilst ensuring that the content is consistent and makes appropriate links between related issues. As we develop this new set of training materials we will ensure that expectations as to which staff should attend which courses, and the frequency of refresher training, are clear. Thank you again for bringing these matters of concern to my attention. We will ensure that learning from this tragic incident is shared widely across the prison estate.