Jo Stevens MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Prisons and Probation, responding to the latest NOMS Workforce Statistics, said:

“These figures lay bare the gap between the Tory Government’s rhetoric on recruiting prison staff and the reality across the estate.

"At a time when our prisons are in crisis, with violence and overcrowding on the rise, it is worrying that staff are increasingly overstretched. Over 1,600 prison officers have resigned in the last year alone.

"Prison staff do a great job in increasingly difficult circumstances and Tory Ministers must do more to support them, starting with an urgent review into their safety at work.”