Written question asked by Sadiq Khan (Labour) on Friday, 7 January 2011, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 11 January 2011. It was answered by Crispin Blunt (Conservative) on Monday, 17 January 2011 on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.

Prisons: Discipline

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the terms of reference are for the inquiry into the disturbances at HM Prison Ford in December 2010 and January 2011.

Answer: The Commissioning Officer, Michael Spurr (chief executive officer, NOMS) appointed Ian Mulholland, the Investigating Officer, to investigate the events surrounding the disturbance at HMP Ford on 31 December 2010 and 1 January 2011: to determine what occurred; to establish the causes and chronology of events; how the incident was managed; and, to identify learning to enable the service to prevent or better manage such incidents at Ford and elsewhere across the estate in future.He specifically asked the Investigating Officer to consider:The events that led to the disturbance, what occurred and whether preventative action could have been taken, including:"Any intelligence or risk assessment made prior to and during the disturbance;""The level of staffing on duty.""The response to and management of the incident itself, including:""The ““first at scene””, Silver and Gold arrangements;""Deployment of national resources and joint working with the emergency services.""Any underlying issues/factors which may have contributed to the disturbance including any aspects of the general management of the prison which may have had an impact."

Secondary information