• Prisons Chief Inspector can now directly alert Justice Secretary where serious failings are found in establishments
• Justice Secretary will publish his response and a plan of action within 28 days of the report being received
• The urgent notification process is part of a package aimed at improving the safety of people in prisons

A new process introduced by the Secretary of State, David Lidington, will mean that prisons that require urgent attention will have 28 days to introduce tough measures that will drive improvement.

From today (30 November 2017), and for the first-time, the Secretary of State will be directly alerted by the HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (HMIP) if an urgent issue needs addressing to ensure that recommendations are acted upon immediately.

A team of specialists will be brought together to ensure immediate action is taken, along with a more in-depth plan to ensure we see sustained improvement for the prison in the long term.

This team, who are accountable to Ministers, will have 28 days to set out what steps the prison and department are taking to improve safety and bring the prison up to the required standard.

Secretary of State, David Lidington said:

Openness and transparency are powerful instruments of change and I believe we should be accountable so the public can see exactly what we are doing to turn prisons into safe places where offenders can change their lives.

“A team of specialists will now respond when HMIP trigger Urgent Notification to urgently drive improvements and ensure that prisons are safe, secure and providing a regular regime.

To implement these actions plans and improve safety, the recruitment of an additional 2,500 prison officers is key and we are already halfway towards reaching that target.

This process forms part of the broader work of the Secretary of State to enhance our responses to external scrutiny.

Peter Clarke, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, said:

I welcome the new ‘Urgent Notification’ protocol which the Secretary of State for Justice has signed and which will now play a key role in the work of HM Inspectorate of Prisons to inspect the treatment and conditions for many thousands of prisoners and other detainees held in custody.

In particular, I welcome the principle of transparency and accountability underlying this new protocol. The Secretary of State has accepted that he and his successors will be held publicly accountable for delivering an urgent, robust and effective response when HMIP assesses that treatment or conditions in a jail raise such significant concerns that urgent action is required.

Senior officials in HMPPS and MOJ will be directly involved in the work to ensure immediate action is taken, along with a more in-depth plan to ensure we see sustained improvement for the prison in the long term.

Notes to editors:

• urgent notification is a new process where the Chief Inspector of Prisons can inform the Secretary of State of any urgent and severe prison problems found on an inspection
• Secretary of State will have 28 days to publicly report on action taken to resolve issues raised by HMIP
• response at the 28 day point will focus on urgent and severe issues
• there will be a longer-term plan to support sustained improvement
• there are already taking a number of steps being taken to improve safety in the prison estate, including an investment of £100 million to boost the front line by 2,500 additional prison officers
• we are also investing to make sure our dedicated officers have the tools they need, including £2 million for body-worn cameras

Updated: More detail has been added, in both documents, on the soil testing rule in relation to Nitrogen levels.

Latest update

As of 11 December 2017, there have been 28 confirmed cases in Leeds, 18 confirmed cases in Liverpool, 7 confirmed cases in Surrey and Sussex, 4 confirmed cases in Manchester and 13 confirmed cases in Birmingham. All of the cases have been reported in children and adults who have not received 2 doses of the MMR vaccine.

Previous update

As of 29 November 2017, there were 16 confirmed cases in Leeds, 11 confirmed cases in Liverpool and 9 confirmed cases in Birmingham. All of the cases have been reported in children and adults who have not received 2 doses of the MMR vaccine.

Measles is a highly infectious viral illness that can be very unpleasant and can sometimes lead to serious complications.

Children and young people who have not received 2 doses of MMR vaccine are at risk. Unvaccinated people travelling to Romania and Italy, where there are currently large outbreaks of measles, are at particularly high risk.

Anyone planning to travel to Europe over the Christmas period should check NaTHNaC travel health advice.

PHE local health protection teams are working closely with the NHS and local authorities to raise awareness of the outbreaks in England and Europe with health professionals and local communities.

The MMR vaccine is available to all adults and children who are not up to date with their 2 doses. Anyone who is not sure if they are fully vaccinated should check with their GP practice.

Dr Mary Ramsay, Head of Immunisation at PHE, said:

The measles outbreaks we are currently seeing in England are linked to ongoing large outbreaks in Europe. People who have recently travelled, or are planning to travel to Romania, Italy and Germany and have not had 2 doses of the MMR vaccine are particularly at risk.

This serves as an important reminder for parents to take up the offer of MMR vaccination for their children at 1 year of age and as a pre-school booster at 3 years and 4 months of age. Children and young adults who missed out on their MMR vaccine in the past or are unsure if they had 2 doses should contact their GP practice to catch-up.

We’d also encourage people to ensure they are up to date with their MMR vaccine before travelling to countries with ongoing measles outbreaks.

The UK recently achieved WHO measles elimination status and so the overall risk of measles to the UK population is low, however due to ongoing measles outbreaks in Europe, we will continue to see cases in unimmunised individuals and limited onward spread can occur in communities with low MMR coverage and in age groups with very close mixing.

The Prime Minister held bilateral talks with King Salman of Saudi Arabia and the Crown Prince, Mohamed bin Salman, in Riyadh earlier this evening.

They discussed regional security and stability, noting in particular the good progress that had been made in Iraq in the fight against Daesh.

They discussed Iran, where the Prime Minister noted that we shared Saudi Arabia’s concerns about Iran’s destabilising regional behaviour, and where they agreed that more work needed to be done to bring the international community together to counter it.

They discussed Yemen, where the Prime Minister made clear that the flow of commercial supplies on which the country depends must be resumed if we are to avert a humanitarian catastrophe. They agreed that steps needed to be taken as a matter of urgency to address this and that they would take forward more detailed discussions on how this could be achieved.

They agreed the relationship between the UK and Saudi Arabia was strong and would endure. They discussed “Vision 2030”, Saudi’s ambitious blueprint for internal reform which aims to deliver greater inclusivity for all Saudi citizens, which they agreed was essential to Saudi Arabia’s long-term stability and success.