PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Young Offender Institutions (5 February 2024)

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many times (a) the National Dog and Technical Support Group was deployed to Youth Offender Institutes and (b) those dogs were used in those deployments in each year since 2017.

Asked by:
Chris Elmore (Labour)

The National Dog and Technical Support Group (NDTSG) provides prison dogs for patrol and detection purposes and a wide range of technical support including the transmission of audio and visual information, and the capability to capture evidence of an incident.

The table below states how many times NDTSG was deployed to each Youth Offenders Institute and how many times those dogs were used in those deployments in each year since 2017.

Establishment	2023		2022		2021		2020		2019		2018		2017
	NDTSG deployments	Dog uses	NDTSG deployments	Dog uses	NDTSG deployments	Dog uses	NDTSG deployments	Dog uses	NDTSG deployments	Dog uses	NDTSG deployments	Dog uses	NDTSG deployments	Dog uses
Cookham Wood	18	0	0	0	2	0	2	0	2	-	2	-	3	-
Feltham	39	3	28	1	14	0	11	0	46	-	15	-	8	-
Parc	37	0	30	0	17	0	18	0	23	-	30	-	15	-
Werrington	13	2	13	2	3	1	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Wetherby	13	1	5	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	-
Total	120	6	76	3	37	1	35	0	71	0	47	0	28	0

“–” indicates where dog uses are not recorded pre-2020.

NDTSG is deployed to support the National Tactical Response Group (NTRG) with a wide range of technical support including the transmission of audio and visual information, and the capability to capture evidence of an incident. As shown by the number of dog uses, the increased deployment of NDTSG is not necessarily indicative of an increase in the use of dogs. Equally, where dog uses have increased, this may be due to an increase in proactive searches and patrols at establishments, and is not necessarily indicative of responses to disorder.

Answered by:
Edward Argar (Conservative)
13 February 2024