Cardiff

HMPPS is committed to achieving a target of 15.8% of all staff recruited being from a Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Background. As at 30 June 2024, 14.7% of HMPPS staff who declared their ethnicity were from an ethnic minority background. On the same date, 12.7% of all Public Sector prisons staff, 24.0% of all Youth Custody Service staff, 13.2% of HQ and Frontline Support staff, and 18.1% of Probation Service staff were from an ethnic minority background. Between 1 July 2022 and 30 June 2024, 39.6% of Prison Officer applicants and 34.9% of Operational Support Grade (OSG) applicants were from ethnic minority backgrounds, compared to 34.8% of all HMPPS candidates. HMPPS regularly reviews and evaluates candidate performance during the Prison Officer recruitment process for fairness and efficacy and no adverse impact has been found against any group participating in the Prison Officer recruitment process at any stage of the recruitment process, including ethnic minority candidates. We continue to recruit Prison Officers and OSGs, tailoring our marketing and attraction to increase diversity of applications. HMPPS is targeting prisons and probation regions where there is disparity between the Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic workforce population and the regional working population through using an enhanced recruitment approach. This includes engaging with the wider diverse community to increase knowledge of careers within HMPPS, designing and facilitating recruitment attraction events through digital platforms and allocating a “buddy” for candidates from ethnic minority backgrounds to support them through the recruitment process. More broadly, specific Inclusive recruitment guidance is available for vacancy managers to support them in embedding all elements inclusion through each step of their recruitment campaigns. Furthermore, a MoJ Diverse Interview Panel Guidance has been published to support vacancy managers to ensure an inclusive sifting and interview process. To increase understanding of the Equality Act 2010 and the impact it has on recruitment, all MoJ People Functions staff are currently being offered Inclusive Recruitment workshops, with live case studies and a separate one-day training session on “Making Fair and Effective Decisions in Recruitment.”

The whole workforce model will be reviewed in conjunction with the health needs analysis report.

The Head of Healthcare will continue to monitor applications for medications and prescriptions. The theme within the requests is around men requesting medication that they have not been prescribed in the community. Therefore, when the team are undertaking medication reconciliation, they are unable to do this accurately. The GPs will need to review them for a new prescription. The GPs have taken the pragmatic approach that what the men are prescribed in the community, will continue in HMP Cardiff including medication for mental health conditions.

The newly introduced practice of triaging only those individuals who ask to see mental health during their reception or secondary health screening process will be kept under review. We would like to reassure the Board that all men get asked about their mental health on primary and secondary screening. Also, there is a very low threshold for any member of staff to refer to the mental health team for a review.