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1.47 am
The Minister of State, Home Office (Miss Ann Widdecombe): May I first congratulate the right hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Mr. Beith) on
securing this Adjournment debate on two of the prisons in his constituency. I cannot say that I congratulate him on the seasonable hour that he has chosen, but I thank him for the courteous and constructive tone that he adopted during the debate. It may help the right hon. Gentleman if I offer to visit his two prisons. My timetable will not allow me to do so this side of the summer recess, but if he can spare a day in the summer recess to come with me, I shall be delighted to visit his prisons.
I shall deal with the specific issues that the right hon. Gentleman raised in a few minutes, but I must say that it is rather a pity that the Opposition parties seem to table items on the Prison Service only ever to draw attention to difficulties and perceived weaknesses. That gives the public the wrong impression of an increasingly efficient service, one which has in the past three years met its targets in increasingly difficult circumstances.
The difficult circumstances to which I refer include the ever-growing prison population, which today reached a new record of 54,045. That represents a 6.38 per cent. increase in the population since the end of April last year, and I have to add that the population is growing most rapidly in the north.
Despite this, on 12 April the Prison Service announced--the right hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed alluded to it--that the degrading practice of slopping out has ended in all prisons in England and in Wales. In addition, no prisoners have been held in police cells since June 1995. Between April 1995 and February 1996, escapes fell by 59 per cent. compared to the same period in 1994-95, and by 78 per cent. compared to the same period in 1992-93. Assaults have also fallen by 8 per cent. on the 1994-95 figures over the same period.
The Prison Service is doing well on running positive regimes for prisoners in its custody, so that they now spend 8 per cent. more time in purposeful activity than in 1992-93. At the end of February 1996, 36 per cent. of prisoners were unlocked for more than 12 hours per weekday, compared to 24 per cent. at the end of March 1993--immediately before the Prison Service became an agency. Everyone who works in the Prison Service is to be congratulated on their efforts to achieve those targets and to maintain the high standards they represent.
I turn to the main thrust of the right hon. Gentleman's speech: the cost reduction strategy that is being applied to the Prison Service. Hon. Members will be aware that the Prison Service has been asked to achieve a 9.5 per cent. real-terms reduction in cost per place over the next three years. The Prison Service has responded to that request by drawing up a cost reduction strategy, and savings will need to be made across the service, including at headquarters and at central services.
Having heard the right hon. Gentleman, I need to set the record straight on a couple of issues. First, it is not true that the Prison Service has imposed cuts across the board without differentiating between those prisons that are already running efficiently and those that are not. In fact, Acklington prison is a good example of just the reverse--it is one of the most efficiently run category C prisons in the country.
Because of this, and the extra work that Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons' report identified, the governor of Acklington was not required to make as significant savings as other and rather less efficient prisons. Indeed, an increase rather than a decrease in prison officer grades is planned at Acklington.
Secondly, let me put the terms "efficiency savings" and "cost reduction" in context. Efficiency savings can be made with little perceptible change to the regime. For example, by allowing prisoners to get up at 8.30 am at weekends rather than at 7.30 am, a governor would save the equivalent of two prison officer posts.
Thirdly, it is not helpful to suggest--as the right hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed did--that security and control will suffer as a result of these measures. A major part of the cost reduction strategy is for governors to look at the way work is done in their prisons and by whom it is done, to ensure that trained prison officers are deployed where they will be most effective--in contact with the prisoners.
Jobs that do not involve contact with prisoners can then be carried out by civilians. This means that levels of supervision can be maintained--indeed, improved--while ensuring that the required efficiency savings are made. For example, at Acklington the governor has gone through this process, and has decided that, by flattening management structures, sharpening the operational line and introducing civilians into the prison's services, he can afford seven additional prison officers--the grade of staff that has the most direct supervision of prisoners.
Fourthly, I assure the right hon. Member and his constituents that cost reductions will not put prisoners, staff or the local public at increased risk in the event of a major incident. The Prison Service has tried and tested contingency plans to deal with such events, and has a system of mutual aid under which, in the event of an incident at a prison, staff from neighbouring prisons are called to assist until the situation is under control.
I welcome the suggestion that Acklington and Castington should share facilities to help provide quality services to both prisons efficiently. I can tell the House that this is already the case at Acklington and Castington, where one health care team and one works department serve both prisons. Sharing the facilities is one of the strategies recommended by the Prison Service to its governors, and the operational director for the north has asked his area managers to explore where that can be done in their areas.
Thus the area manager for the north-east is actively examining other ways in which Acklington and Castington might share facilities.
Mr. Beith:
In that case, how will the gap be filled that will be left when the five prison officers in the health care team are removed as, to quote the document, "surplus to requirements"?
Miss Widdecombe:
If health services are shared, there is room for increasing economies of scale and increasing rationalisation.
I shall now discuss staff losses. The right hon. Gentleman asked what staff would be lost at each prison as a result of the savings. Castington will lose 10 uniformed staff posts and seven support staff posts in the next two years. Some of those losses will be achieved by natural wastage, others by not filling vacancies when they arise, and the remaining reductions will probably be achieved through the Prison Service's voluntary early retirement and severance package.
The cost reduction strategy at Castington will result in a reduction in regime activities in the prison, but steps have been taken to minimise the effect of those reductions by, for example, the planned introduction of part-time education to ensure that as many prisoners as possible continue to have access to education.
I am aware that the right hon. Gentleman also expressed fears that bullying will increase as a result of cost reductions. The governor of Castington has informed me that manning levels in the residential and employment areas remain unchanged by his plans, and that he therefore does not expect any increase in bullying. Indeed, it is important, when talking about staff reductions, that we take account of where staff reductions will apply. If they do not apply on the wings and the landings, that is clear evidence that control and involvement with prisoners will remain at current levels.
Castington has had a bullying strategy since July 1995, part of which is to monitor trends in bullying and respond as necessary. I am sure that that process will continue, and that, in the unlikely event of an increase in bullying--or other misbehaviour--as a result of cost reduction, the governor and his team will take steps to tackle it.
At Acklington, two principal officer posts and four senior officer posts will be lost, but as there will be an additional seven prison officers to undertake group work with prisoners and security-related tasks, the effects of that reduction will be minimised.
The right hon. Gentleman's objections to the cost reduction strategy and the objections of the local Prison Officers Association do not seem to have taken into account that increase of the grade that has the most direct impact on supervision of prisoners and thus their secure and controlled custody. There will also be alterations in the way that support staff's tasks are staffed, including moves towards the use of civilians in catering and health care, which will allow quality of service to be maintained at reduced costs.
Part of Acklington's cost reduction strategy is to reduce hours of education available to prisoners, but it is important to emphasise that that has been done by cutting from the curriculum only those classes that were under-subscribed and could be seen as "non-essential". That has meant that it has been possible to allocate additional hours to core subjects that will most benefit prisoners on their release, while making a significant saving.
It is not anticipated at present that workshop hours will be affected. Indeed, workshop hours are currently showing an improvement, following the introduction of the incentives and earned privileges scheme in January 1996.
I can assure the House that the cost reduction strategies at both prisons have been devised carefully, bearing in mind the differential in the scope for economies at each establishment. The maintenance of good security and control has been at the forefront of the minds of the area managers and of the two governors as they have planned their approaches to cost reductions in each establishment.
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