We value the Clink’s longstanding partnership with His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service.

The current contract at HMP Brixton will terminate on 30 September 2026, and in line with public procurement regulations a tendering process for the new contract is now in progress. Recommissioning this service provides an opportunity to update the specification that reflects the changing needs of the prison population at Brixton since the original contract was agreed over a decade ago.

As the incumbent supplier, the Clink has direct experience of operating this service and will be able to draw on this in its bid to operate the new contract. It is important that all government opportunities are subject to fair and open competition to ensure value for money.

The specification for the new contract continues to require delivery of independently accredited training, with a defined programme of learning that prepares prisoners for work after release. Prisoners will be able to acquire accredited and non-accredited qualifications that are relevant to the current needs of the labour market.

No prison closures (male or female) are currently planned beyond those already announced.

The prison estate is kept under careful review to ensure there is always sufficient capacity, and we have committed over £4 billion capital funding to make significant progress in delivering 18,000 additional prison places across England and Wales by the mid-2020s.

The decision regarding access to prisons for volunteers is a matter for HM Prison and Probation Service.

The decision of the Deputy Governor was re-examined by the Prison Group Director for London & Thames Valley when Pastor Song exercised his right to appeal against that decision. The decision was upheld.

Other than one sessional chaplain (who resigned in October in order to take up a post in the police force), there have been no resignations or dismissals from the Chaplaincy Service at HMP Brixton during the last six months.

Regular Christian classes are held throughout the week, including several Bible study classes. The Alpha course has not been provided at the prison for a number of years – records show the most recent session as having been held on 27 January 2010. Plans are in place, however, to restart the course.

We recognise the importance of faith and the positive impact that it can have on the lives of offenders, which is why there are multi-faith chaplaincy teams in every prison.

Other than one sessional chaplain (who resigned in October in order to take up a post in the police force), there have been no resignations or dismissals from the Chaplaincy Service at HMP Brixton during the last six months.

Regular Christian classes are held throughout the week, including several Bible study classes. The Alpha course has not been provided at the prison for a number of years – records show the most recent session as having been held on 27 January 2010. Plans are in place, however, to restart the course.

We recognise the importance of faith and the positive impact that it can have on the lives of offenders, which is why there are multi-faith chaplaincy teams in every prison.

That is a brilliant question. The answer is that I am still trying to get to the bottom of it and I cannot provide an answer to the House.

So what exactly has happened at the chaplaincy at HMP Brixton?

Every prison establishment, including HMP Brixton, has an Anglican chaplain and offenders are able to attend services in accordance with the rites of the Church of England.

We recognise the importance of faith and the positive impact that it can have on the lives of offenders, which is why there are multi-faith chaplaincy teams in every prison.

We are investing £1.3 billion to reform and modernise the prison estate to make it more efficient, safer and focused on supporting prisoner rehabilitation. We will build new prisons and close prisons that are in poor condition and those which do not have a long-term future in the estate. We will also simplify the organisation of the estate so prisoners are placed at the right level of security in prisons with appropriately tailored regimes. This will ensure that the supply of places providing rehabilitation and resettlement services, and those that serve the courts, are balanced with demand.

We want to make sure that our prisons are run in the most effective way to achieve our reforms. We are currently considering how best to reorganise the prison estate as a whole to achieve this goal, and will announce our plans in due course.

We are investing £1.3 billion to reform and modernise the prison estate to make it more efficient, safer and focused on supporting prisoner rehabilitation. We will build new prisons and close prisons that are in poor condition and those which do not have a long-term future in the estate. We will also simplify the organisation of the estate so prisoners are placed at the right level of security in prisons with appropriately tailored regimes. This will ensure that the supply of places providing rehabilitation and resettlement services, and those that serve the courts, are balanced with demand.

We want to make sure that our prisons are run in the most effective way to achieve our reforms. We are currently considering how best to reorganise the prison estate as a whole to achieve this goal, and will announce our plans in due course.

Information on the change in the number of full time equivalent band 3 to 5 prison officers in Brixton between 31 May 2010 and 31 March 2015 is shown in the table below.

Table: Number of Full Time Equivalent Officers in Brixton by Officer Grade, 31 May 2010 - 31 March 2015

Brixton was re-rolled from a Category B local prison to a Cat C Resettlement prison in July 2012. Resettlement prisons operate differently to local prisons and require fewer staff, therefore the staffing requirements in Brixton reduced when it was re-rolled.

Further savings were made when Brixton went through the New Ways of Working staffing model. The staffing levels are in line with a national benchmark for a Category C prison.

All figures in the above table have been rounded to the nearest 10, with numbers ending in 5 rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias. As with all HR databases, extracts are taken at a fixed point in time, to ensure consistency of reporting. The database itself is dynamic however, and where updates to the database are made subsequent to the taking of the extract, these updates will not be reflected in figures produced by the extract. For this reason, HR data are unlikely to be precisely accurate, and to present unrounded figures would be to overstate the accuracy of the figures. Rounding to 10 accurately depicts the level of certainty that is held with these figures.

Every prisoner will have a period out of the cell each day. The actual amount will depend on whether the prisoner is fully engaging in the regime; his level on the Incentive and Earned Privilege (IEP) Scheme (a prisoner on the basic level will have less time out of the cell but if attending work will get a minimum of 9.25 hours); and, whether they are subject to any disciplinary action. Enhanced Category C offenders will get an additional session out during the evening so will get 11.25 hours out of cell.

A Standard Category C prisoner engaging in the regime could expect to be out of their cell for an average of 10.25 hours each weekday and Category D prisoners 12.5 hours. At weekends this would be 7.5 hours for both categories.

Weather permitting all prisoners are entitled to a minimum of 30 minutes in the outdoors every day.

The recorded number of assaults on staff in HMP Brixton in each of the calendar years 2010 to 2014 are as follows:

NOMS is committed to running safe establishments and is working hard to reduce levels of violence in prisons. Violence of any kind in prison is wholly unacceptable and we treat any assault extremely seriously. We have introduced a new protocol between NOMS, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Police that will ensure that when there are serious assaults on prison staff, the perpetrators will be prosecuted unless there is a good reason not to do so.

Prisoners are risk assessed before being allocated to HMP Brixton. On arrival each prisoner will have their cell sharing risk assessment reviewed before they are allocated to a cell. For any prisoner arriving who is subject to self-harm, monitoring procedures will be reviewed.

All incidents within the prison are monitored and recorded. Violent incidents are monitored by time, location and the cause, if known. Concern about individual prisoners or the stability of any unit will be reported by an intelligence report. These are monitored daily by the Duty Governor, and Brixton is required to report stability levels to the Regional office on a weekly basis. Self-harm issues and violent incidents are considered by the Head of Safety and by the monthly safer custody meeting. This meeting reviews any serious incident of self-harm or death in custody.

The Health & Safety manager is responsible for monitoring H&S issues and there is a monthly H&S meeting chaired by a Senior Manager.

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons report on the safety of Prisons, and the NOMS Internal Audit team audit safer custody procedures.

The following services are scheduled weekly at HMP Brixton:

Friday

12.30pm Muslim Prayers

1.45pm Sikh, Buddhist and Hindu service.

Sunday

9.15 am Roman Catholic Mass

10.15 am Church of England & Free Church Service

Evening bible studies are run on A and B wings on Wednesdays at 4.30pm; on G wing on Mondays at 4.30pm; and on C wing at 6.00pm and D wing on Thursdays at 4.30pm. Muslim classes run each day Monday to Thursday. There is also a full-time, four week, paid resettlement course “Faith in the Future” that is open to people of any faith and none – although it looks at resettlement from a Christian perspective.

In addition, prisoners have access and can see chaplains or ministers from the following faiths:

Church of England

Roman Catholic

Free Church

Orthodox Christian

Muslim

Jew

Sikh

Hindu

Buddhist

Jehovah’s Witness

Pagan

Learning and skills for over 18s in custody in England is funded by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and co-commissioned between NOMS and the Skills Funding Agency. Provision is delivered by education providers via the Offenders’ Learning and Skills Service (OLASS) and aims to mirrors provision available in the community. Core elements of the curriculum are literacy and numeracy, vocational training, preparation for employment and personal and social development. Governors decide what should be offered in their prison, based on prisoner needs as well as the needs of employers in the areas into which prisoners will resettle.

HMP Brixton provides a diverse curriculum and opportunities for real work experience – this currently includes subjects covering barista, bakery, barbering, business studies, cleaning, numeracy, literacy, graphics, horticulture, IT, painting and decorating, retail and customer service activities. The current learning offer at HMP Brixton will be changing in the new academic year to be increasingly focussed on vocational training in areas such as hospitality, catering, customer service, retail and horticulture. Guidance will also be available on self employment. Work and learning projects include the Bad Boys Bakery; a new dry lining workshop; and the CLINK Restaurant offering prisoners nationally recognised vocational qualifications to enhance their job prospects after release.