The HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) COVID-19 statistics provides monthly data on the HMPPS response to COVID-19. It addresses confirmed cases of the virus in prisons and the Youth Custody Service sites, deaths of those individuals in the care of HMPPS and mitigating action being taken to limit the spread of the virus and save lives.

Data includes:

• Deaths where prisoners, children in custody or supervised individuals have died having tested positive for COVID-19 or where there was a clinical assessment that COVID-19 was a contributory factor in their death.

• Confirmed COVID-19 cases in prisoners and children in custody (i.e. positive tests).

• Narrative on capacity management data for prisons.

Pre-release access

The bulletin was produced and handled by the ministry’s analytical professionals and production staff. For the bulletin pre-release access of up to 24 hours is granted to the following persons:

Ministry of Justice:

Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice; Minister of State for Prisons and Probation; Permanent Secretary; Second Permanent Secretary; Private Secretaries (x6); Deputy Director of Data and Evidence as a Service and Head of Profession, Statistics; Director General for Policy and Strategy Group; Deputy Director Joint COVID 19 Strategic Policy Unit; Head of News; Deputy Head of News and relevant press officers (x2)

HM Prison and Probation Service:

Director General Chief Executive Officer; Private Secretary - Chief Executive Officer; Director General Operations; Deputy Director of COVID-19 HMPPS Response; Deputy Director Joint COVID 19 Strategic Policy Unit

Related links

Update on COVID-19 in prisons

Prison estate expanded to protect NHS from coronavirus risk

Measures announced to protect NHS from coronavirus risk in prisons

Data include COVID-19 related deaths and confirmed cases of COVID-19 in custodial settings among service users.

Pre-release access

The release was produced and handled by the ministry’s analytical professionals and production staff. For the release, pre-release access of up to 24 hours is granted to the following persons:

Ministry of Justice:

Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice; Parliamentary Under Secretary of State; Permanent Secretary; Minister and Permanent Secretary Private Secretaries (x8); Special Advisors (x2); Director General for Policy and Strategy Group; Deputy Director Data and Evidence as a Service - interim; Head of Profession, Statistics; Head of Prison Safety and Security Statistics; Head of News; Deputy Head of News and relevant press officers (x2).

HMPPS:

Chief Executive Officer; Director General Prisons; Chief Executive and Director General Private Secretaries and Heads of Office (x4); Deputy Director of COVID-19 HMPPS Response; Deputy Director Joint COVID 19 Strategic Policy Unit (x2); Director General of Probation and Wales; Executive Director Probation and Women; Executive Director of Youth Custody Service; Executive Director HMPPS Wales; Executive Director, Performance Directorate; Head of Health, Social Care and Substance Misuse Services; Head of Capacity Management and Custodial Capacity Manager.

Related links

Update on COVID-19 in prisons

Prison estate expanded to protect NHS from coronavirus risk

Measures announced to protect NHS from coronavirus risk in prisons

The HMPPS workforce bulletin provides statistics on staffing levels and staff inflows and outflows in England and Wales. This publication updates statistics on HMPPS staffing levels up to the end of March 2022.

The prison officer and operational support grade (OSGs) recruitment diversity annex provides diversity statistics (ethnicity, disability and gender) at each stage of the recruitment process for Prison Officers and OSGs.

The probation officer recruitment annex provides the difference between required and current staffing levels of Probation Officers, and the number of Trainee Probation Officers and other qualified staff.

This statistics release provides data on COVID-19 amongst staff in HMPPS in England and Wales – on deaths, cases and absence.

The bulletin is released by the Ministry of Justice and produced in accordance with arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority.

Pre-release list

HMPPS workforce bulletin is produced and handled by the Ministry of Justice’s (MOJ) analytical professionals and production staff. Pre-release access of up to 24 hours is granted to the following persons:

Ministry of Justice

Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State; Minister of State for Justice; Parliamentary Under Secretary of State; Permanent Secretary; Director, Prison Reform Policy; Director General, Justice Analysis & Offender Policy; Director of Prison Safety & Reform Programme; Director of Analytical Services; Chief Statistician and Deputy Director Justice Statistics Analytical Services; Deputy Director, Head of Data Science & HR Analytical Services; Head of HR Analysis, Reporting and Modelling; Deputy Director, Prison Reform Policy; Deputy Director, Prison and Probation Analytical Services; Deputy Director - Human Resources, Head of Data and Insight; Director of Communications; Prison Officer Recruitment – Head of Data and Insight; Press officers (x9); Private secretaries (x8); Special advisors (x2)

HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS)

Chief Executive Officer; Head of CEO’s Office; Head of Executive Management Team; HR Director; Head of HR Reform; Deputy Director of HR Prisons; Deputy Director of HR Probation; Deputy Director of Recruitment and Retention.

The report presents key statistics on activity in the criminal justice system for England and Wales. It provides information up to the year ending September 2020 with accompanying commentary, analysis and presentation of longer-term trends.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause MoJ to review our data gathering, access and release practices, focusing efforts on priority analysis and statistics. Our statement explains this further and in particular, we have limited access to the Police National Computer, to minimise non-essential travel by our analysts. In line with guidance from the Office for Statistics Regulation, the decision has been made to delay the following publications:

• Cautions data to September 2020 is planned for publication on 20 May 2020
• First Time Entrants (FTE) data to March 2020 is planned for publication on 20 May 2021
• FTE data to June 2020 is planned for publication on 20 May 2021
• FTE data to September 2020 is planned for publication on 20 May 2021

Statistician’s comment:

The figures published today highlight the impact on criminal court prosecutions and convictions of the COVID-19 pandemic. Latest short-term trends are mostly reflective of the impact of the pandemic on court processes and prioritisation rather than a continuation of the longer-term series.

The monthly data shows that following the sharp falls in prosecutions and convictions immediately following the March 2020 ‘lockdown’, these have recovered by September 2020, although not quite to pre-pandemic levels.

Custody rates and average sentence lengths have both increased overall. For custody rates, this is likely to partially reflect the prioritisation in courts of more serious offences since April 2020 – meaning a greater concentration of court time for offences more likely to get a prison sentence. The increase in average sentence lengths continues the trend of the last 10 years, and it is less clear from the monthly data what impact, if any, the pandemic may have had.

Pre-release access

The bulletin is produced and handled by the ministry’s analytical professionals and production staff. Pre-release access of up to 24 hours is granted to the following persons:

Ministry of Justice

Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice; Minister of State for Prisons and Probation; 2 Parliamentary Under Secretary of States; Permanent Secretary; Principal Private Secretary; Deputy Principal Private Secretary; Deputy Private Secretary; 5 Private Secretaries; Special Advisor; Head of News; Chief Press Officer; 4 Press Officers; Director, Family and Criminal Justice Policy; Chief Statistician; Director of Data and Analytical Services; Director General for Policy and Strategy Group; Chief Financial Officer & Director General for the Chief Financial Officer Group; Deputy Director, Bail, Sentencing and Release Policy; 2 Section Heads, Criminal Court Policy; Director, Offender and Youth Justice Policy; Statistician, Youth Justice Board; Data Analyst, Youth Justice Board; Deputy Director, Crime; Crime Service Manager (Case Progression) - Courts and Tribunals Development; Deputy Director, Legal Operations - Courts & Tribunals Development Directorate; Head of Criminal Law policy; Policy Manager – Youth Courts and Sentencing; 7 Policy Advisors; Head of Custodial Sentencing; Head of Criminal Courts Statistics.

Home Office

Home Secretary; Private Secretary to the Home Secretary; Permanent Secretary, Home Office; Assistant Private Secretary to the Home Office Permanent Secretary; Minister of State for Policing and the Fire Service; Assistant Private Secretary Minister of State for Policing and the Fire Service; Director of Crime, Home Office; Head of Crime and Policing Statistics, Home Office; Head of Recorded Crime Statistics.

The Judiciary

Lord Chief Justice; Private Secretary to the Lord Chief Justice; Private Secretary to the President of the Queen’s Bench; Lead for Criminal Justice for the Senior Judiciary.

Other

Principal Analyst (Justice), Cabinet Office