Prisons and Probation: Criminal Records
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many paid support workers working in (a) prisons and (b) probation had criminal convictions in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
Answered by Sir Nicholas Dakin
All support workers and volunteers in HM Prison & Probation Service are subject to vetting checks on entry, to protect the security and integrity of the organisation. This includes anyone recruited via our Lived Experience routes, such as Going Forward into Employment or Standard Plus. The vetting process includes review of any convictions that may lawfully be taken into account, in accordance with the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.
To obtain the information requested, it would be necessary to undertake a manual search of individual records, and to make local checks. This could not be done without incurring disproportionate cost.
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