Suspension forms part of the MoJ's discipline policy. Staff may be suspended during a disciplinary process if initial fact finding shows that the employee's actions might amount to gross misconduct; may impact on the health and safety of the employee or other employees might be at risk; it is suspected that potential witnesses might be influenced by the employee; the working relationship with the employee has broken down; or it is suspected that there is a risk to MoJ's property. Under the Civil Service Management Code individuals under criminal investigation or disciplinary procedures may be suspended from duty to protect the public interest.
Suspension is not a disciplinary sanction nor is it considered an indication of guilt and, in most cases, employees will not be suspended during the disciplinary process. A suspended employee will normally continue to receive full pay and is expected to remain available during their normal working hours and to fully co-operate with a disciplinary investigation. In some circumstances, for example when an employee is remanded in custody, an employee may be suspended on no pay.
MoJ policies in this area are made available to all employees via our intranet.
The records for MoJ, excluding the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) show that, as at 21 April 2009, 17 employees were suspended. All of them were suspended on full pay in line with the MoJ policy and all of these were suspended for reasons that initial investigations indicated might fall into one or more of the categories set out above.
The length of time suspended from duty of the 17 employees referred to above varies from one to five months.
NOMS does not hold the detailed information centrally in a format that would enable us to answer this question without incurring disproportionate cost.