The Mount

The MoJ’s statisticians should take this as an opportunity to assess the effectiveness of these programmes in stopping re-offending.

I can assure the Board that the Ministry of Justice and HMPPS are committed to evaluating accredited offender behaviour programmes and have an ongoing programme of evaluation which includes studies to assess effectiveness. In January 2021 we published a reoffending impact evaluation for Resolve, which is a violence programme for medium risk men, and a copy of the report can be found on GOV.UK -
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/957855
/RESOLVE_report.pdf.

The MoJ needs to consider how best to support these prisoners across the prison estate.

I appreciate the Board’s continued concerns regarding prisoners serving indeterminate sentences (IPP). I would like to reassure you that HMPPS remains committed to doing all it can to support their progression and efforts to reduce their risk to the point where the Parole Board determines that they may be safely released. This commitment, by means of a bespoke and regularly refreshed action plan, has in recent years delivered a substantial reduction in the number of IPP prisoners who have never been released. That number stood at 1,722 at the end of June 2021, a reduction from 1,969 at the end of June 2020. This is very good progress considering that the population of unreleased prisoners serving IPP sentences was at its highest in 2012 with over 6,000. It is important to note that, as the number of IPP prisoners who have never been released continues to decrease, the proportion of those who remain in prison who committed more serious offences and whose cases are complex grows. These prisoners are still assessed as posing a high risk of committing further violent or sexual offences and have a complex set of risks and needs. These must be addressed before the Parole Board can consider release. This is not a simple task, and we continue to work with these individuals to offer them opportunities to reduce their identified risks.

Some investment has been made to improve the showers but more is still needed to bring them to an acceptable standard.

Last year HMPPS allocated funding for two showers on Ellis and Lakes units to be refurbished, however, three have now been refurbished. This year, £150k (including VAT) has been allocated for shower refurbishments on A and D wings. This work has not yet started but all other showers have been deep cleaned as part of the Clean and Decent project and are now of a better standard than before. Shower deep cleans are completed by the prison’s cleaning teams supervised by the Decency lead. New products have been introduced which have helped improve the condition of the shower facilities. The use of these new products is now part of the prison’s cleaning routine.

The Prison Service needs to review what lessons can be learned when evaluating tenders and planning for changes in healthcare providers.

All bidders for prison healthcare services are invited to receive feedback on their bids, and the NHS Commissioner also invites successful and unsuccessful bidders to provide feedback on the operation of the tender process. Service users are involved in the procurement of services and are able to influence the appointment of providers.

It will be important to provide sufficient number of workplaces for the prison’s population, providing workshops for the planned large foreign national population, ensuring spaces for those with any sort of disability, those on basic regime and high-risk prisoners and, importantly, providing cover for instructor absence.