To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the starting salary of a prison officer was in 1997 in (a) monetary and (b) real terms; and what the starting salary of prison officers was as at 1 September. (155000)

Prison officer starting salary was £14,791 in 1997 and £17,744 on 1 September 2007. A new entrant prison officer on starting salary in 1997 will have received increases in the period 1997 to 1 November 2007 to take them to £27,530, an increase of 86.1 per cent. in monetary terms and 58.6 per cent. in real terms.