To ask the Minister of Finance (i) for his assessment of the working environment in the Northern Ireland Prison Service and; (ii) how he plans to support personnel through Civil Service sickness policies if sickness absence is work related.

Whilst the Prison Service falls under Department of Justice all the Civil Service staff working there, including prison officers, are supported by the civil service sickness absence policies as follows. Staff can self-refer to Inspire, the civil service counselling service, and or obtain assistance from the Welfare Service and the Occupational Health Service. Also, all prison establishments still retain on site HR teams to provide face to face service for all staff. Furthermore, an additional professional support service operated by the Police Rehabilitation & Retraining Trust was introduced in the summer of 2017 for those operational staff who are suffering from mental health issues or who require physiotherapy treatment.