Durham

There have been no cuts to the national prison education budget, however, the cost of delivering high-quality education has risen significantly in recent years, and while the budget has increased, it has not kept pace with rising costs. As a result, some reductions in the volume of Core Education delivered have been necessary from October 2025. HMPPS have published transparency data on the level of Core Education commissioning under the previous and current Core Education contracts within prisons. The national reduction in delivery volume in October 2025 was 21%. HMP Durham saw a reduction of 16%. A revised funding formula has also been applied to ensure fair allocation based on prison population and regional cost differences. This redistribution means that some prisons will see greater delivery reductions, while others will see increases. This delivery reduction applies only to Core Education contracts and does not affect other education services such as libraries, careers advice, distance learning or vocational training delivered through industries and workshops. HMPPS is also investing in digital infrastructure, new assessment tools, and specialist staff to ensure that every pound spent delivers the greatest possible impact for learners. The Prison Education Dynamic Purchasing System also remains available to Governors to commission provision to meet the needs of their local prisoner cohort, and HMP Durham is utilising this option together with enrichment projects with third parties such as Durham University. It is also important that prisons continue to plan their curriculum based on careful analysis of their population's needs, and that ongoing efforts are made to improve attendance and allocations to ensure learners can gain the maximum benefit from the provision available.

Following feedback from the operational line, some changes have been made to the format of the ACCT ongoing record. Although the format has changed, the content remains the same. Additionally, some minor formatting and wording adjustments have been made to the ACCT document to ensure alignment with the Safety Policy Framework. Local and national training has taken place for staff on the use of the most recent version of the ACCT document. In accordance with the new Safety Policy Framework which came into effect in January 2025, the electronic ACCT Quality Assurance tool was revised to strengthen local assurance of ACCT outcomes. Additional guidance on completing the tool was also issued. A new ACCT Analysis Tool will be available later this year and is intended to support establishments that do not currently have their own method for analysing ACCT specific data, helping to improve local understanding of strengths and areas for development in ACCT delivery. HMPPS will continue to review opportunities for improvement in the delivery of ACCT while continuing to prioritise the individual needs and safety of those supported through the ACCT process.

The Early Days in Custody family services worker was not commissioned by HMPPS for their work within HMP Durham. The part-time temporary family worker supporting early days was an initiative independently commissioned by the Nepacs charity, which holds other HMPPS-commissioned family services including a visitor’s centre team leader, visits teams, and a Family Engagement Worker (part-time) to work within HMP Durham. HMP Durham funds a full time Family Development Worker at the prison in addition to the Family Services provision, which is there to support all prisoners at HMP Durham, and the prison resources the First Night and Induction Unit with Prison Officers to support the early days of prisoners arriving at the establishment.

As set out in last years’ response, delivery of the 10-Year Prison Capacity Strategy is in full flow and the Government is committed to delivering an additional 14,000 prison places with an aim to do so by 2031. We have already delivered approximately 3,100 of these places since taking office. Our build programme consists of the construction of four new prisons, including HMP Millsike which opened in Spring 2025, as well as the expansion and refurbishment of the existing estate. We have committed a further investment of £4.7bn over the spending review period (2026/27 to 2028/29) to deliver these places, including breaking ground at the site of the new HMP Welland Oaks in Leicestershire in November 2025. We are also committed to undertaking critical maintenance work and the ambition to acquire more land for future prisons, should they be required. Whilst there are no additional places being delivered at HMP Durham as part of these expansion plans, the delivery of additional capacity will help to ease pressure across the estate.

Generic response indicating HMPPS investment for 2024 to 2026. Nothing specific to HMP Durham.

I was pleased to note the better provision of hot water and heating since April 2025 which was raised as a concern in the last years’ report.

I was deeply upset to hear twelve prisoners died during the reporting year, either in custody or shortly after release. I understand that the two deaths in custody were suspected to have been self-inflicted with the remaining ten deaths within 28 days of release. These deaths are extremely tragic and I offer my sincere condolences to the friends and family of all the deceased. Whilst there were recommendations for healthcare in some of the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) reports, I would like to reassure the Board that any recommendations made by the PPO are always taken very seriously and trust the local management to inform the Board of all deaths using the agreed protocols.

The Governor has provided the Board with two plans i.e. violence reduction and ACCT improvement

•The prison considers healthcare priorities, treatment times, and bespoke regime care concerns relating to the supervision of medication for inpatients at the weekly Regime Management Plan meeting. •The prison reprofiled and implemented new shifts and profiled tasks taking effect in January 2025 which detailed specific officers for supervising early medication issue. •D wing (which accommodates prisoners receiving methadone) has staffing priority in the weekly Regime Management Plan meeting and subsequent detailing priorities. •The prison receives assurance through our Local Delivery Board that the regime plan is balanced effectively for delivery of the healthcare regime.

Staffing resources remain an issue, and we have an overtime incentivised scheme in place to help resources. Our focus in the beginning of the year has been on regime delivery to stabilise the prison and provide adequate time out of cell to the prisoners. In the last three months we have focused on making key work more relevant by improving quality and reducing the number of invalid sessions. This is evidenced by the improvement shown on the performance hub. A keywork audit has taken place and action plan has been agreed by the Governor. The action plan includes developing a keywork policy and improving Quality Assurance feedback loop and staff development. Keywork delivery will be in our business plan for 26/27 and one of the six main priorities of the prison for the year. Delivery of resources for key work will be monitored daily through the Governors morning meeting and through the weekly regime management plan meeting.

•Strand leads appointed for all P/C's with dates now submitted plotting out forums to be held across the next six months •D&I meeting plan under review by the Governor, to ensure this brings value and reviews strategic aims rather than just going through data. •DIRF (Discrimination Incident Reporting Forms) process now more embedded, with revised QA process, learning now shared with managers following DIRF investigations to improve future DIRFs •Weekly check of all captured protected characteristics by D&I CM, missing data is circulated to CMs and this is updated each week to ensure we have a full data set, which makes EMT (Equality Monitoring Tool) more meaningful and accurate.

A notice to staff outlines the process for receiving clothing parcels and was issued in January last year and will be an annual notice to staff, additionally reception staff are able to advise staff of the process for both reception and enhanced clothing parcels to be received at the prison. Notice to prisoners outlines the process to prisoners for having clothing parcels sent in. This also will go out annually as a reminder. Additionally for prisoners, the process is covered within the IPF (Incentives Policy Framework) framework and information available from Prisoner Information Desk workers and explained during the induction process. The information is also displayed in the visitor's centre for prisoner's visitors to be made aware of the process