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Written question asked by Graham Allen (Labour) on Monday, 4 December 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 6 December 2006. It was answered by Gerry Sutcliffe (Labour) on Tuesday, 12 December 2006 on behalf of the Home Office.

Chaplaincy Staff

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many publicly funded full-time equivalent chaplaincy staff there were in the Prison Service in 2005-06, broken down by religion; what the cost was of chaplaincy staff in 2005-06; what estimate he has made of the costs in (a) 2006-07 and (b) 2007-08; and whether he has made an assessment of the merits of providing equivalent pastoral support for those who are not religious and who may not wish to receive such support from a religious chaplain.
Answer

Information on the number of directly employed chaplaincy staff is contained in the following table. Information on the present and projected costs is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.Chaplaincy Teams are available to provide pastoral support to prisoners and staff, both to those who have registered in a particular religion, and to those who have not. There are a wide range of other services and provision for those who do not wish to receive support from a chaplain including the personal officer scheme, prison visitors and listeners.

Number of directly employed chaplaincy staff
Religion Full-time equivalent staff 31 March 2006
Christian 219.5
Muslim 26.0
Hindu 1.0
Total 246.4

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
454 c1042-3W;454 c1046-7W; 105333
Session
2006-07
Subjects
Prisons Ministers of religion Religious persons
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk