§ Mr. HoyleTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures he is taking to combat a further rise in assaults on prison officers.
§ Mr. Peter LloydResponsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from A. J. Butler to Mr. Doug Hoyle, dated June 1993:
The Home Secretary has asked me, in the absence of the Director General from the office, to reply to your recent Question about measures to combat a further rise in assaults on prison officers.
The increase in assaults on staff is of great concern to the Prison Service. Indeed, one of our key performance indicators is the number of assaults on staff and others. Initiatives to combat the increase include: the analysis of incidents to identify factors leading to assaults; the introduction of a new intelligence-handling system; the creation of smaller, more manageable living units by sub-dividing wings; and the development of skills in stress management and anger control.
§ Mr. HoyleTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prison officers were assaulted in each of the last five years; and if he will give details of those assaults.
§ Mr. Peter LloydResponsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General, who has been asked to arrange for a reply.
Letter from A. J. Butler to Mr. Doug Hoyle, dated June 1993:
ASSAULTS ON PRISON OFFICERS
The Home Secretary has asked me, in the absence of the Director General from the office, to write to you directly in reply to your Parliamentary Question about the number of assaults on prison officers in each of the last five years.
The available information is for the number of assaults, committed at Prison Service establishments in England and Wales, which were punished under the prison discipline system. Data are not available prior to April 1989 as assaults on prison officers, staff and others were grouped together in 79W a single category "Gross Personal Violence". Between April and December 1989, 1,260 assaults on prison officers were recorded. Comparable figures for 1990 and 1991 show 1,850 and 2,026 assaults respectively. Provisional figures for 1992 show 2,344 assaults against prison officers.
Information for 1989, 1990 and 1991 was taken from the corresponding editions of "Statistics of Offences Against Prison Discipline and Punishments, England and Wales" (Cm 1236, 1651 and 2066, Tables 10, 12 and 14 of 1989 edition and Tables 9, 10 and 11 of the 1990 and 1991 editions) copies of which are held in the Library. These show the establishments at which the assaults took place. No other details of the assaults are recorded centrally.