Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Campbell of Alloway (Conservative). It was answered on Tuesday, 7 February 2012.

Prisoners: Transport

Question: Is this really a question of training? Is it not a question of making appropriate provision in these special circumstances?

Answer: Yes, my Lords, but the fleet for transporting prisoners has recently been updated, so there should be greater security in those circumstances. There is training of staff—prisoners are accompanied by staff—and an assessment is made in advance, particularly of the transportation of Category A prisoners. The investigation under way will look at what is in place and whether those procedures were followed and, if all the procedures that were in place were followed and yet a successful break was made, what lessons are to be learnt from that.

Secondary information