Supplementary memorandum submitted by
HM Prison Service
Questions 95—96 (Sarah McCarthy-Fry) Howard
League evidence of prison exercise of male juveniles
All establishments that hold juveniles are providing
at least the minimum level of PE as specified in the Service Level
Agreement between the Youth Justice Board (YJB) and the public
sector Prison Service. As part of the PE activity, the young people
will sometimes be taken outside to play football or take part
in other outdoor sports. Our experience is that the young people
we have to deal with need very careful supervision in all the
activities they undertake as otherwise they can be dangerous to
themselves and others. This equally applies to outdoor activities.
Prison Service Order 4950 (Regimes for Under
18 Year Olds) states: "If weather conditions permit, every
young person must be given a minimum of one hour of outside activity
or recreation each day." Some establishments struggle
to deliver the time in the open air due to physical restrictions
and other purposeful activity priorities. We are addressing the
difficulties with a view to improving performance in this area.
In particular, we are looking—with the Youth Justice Board—at
capital investment programmes to improve the physical environment
of the establishments that hold juveniles; and at how time in
the open air might be factored into the core day. The key point
is that the Prison Service has taken this issue on board and are
treating it seriously.
Our understanding is that the specific (unnamed)
establishment in the Howard League note was Huntercombe. We can
confirm that improvements have been made at Huntercombe. Huntercombe's
PE programme provides the opportunity for all juvenile prisoners
to take part in outside football and tennis, the PE department
are currently recording around 800 hours per month on outside
activities. Huntercombe also operate a running club in the mornings
although that is, for obvious reasons, restricted to certain types
of prisoners.
Question 112 (Greg Clark) Porridge and breakfast
packs
Porridge
The following table illustrates the number of
prisons (including private sector) that regularly offer porridge
to prisoners: Establishments that serve porridge and the frequency
at which they serve it are listed below (data collected on 21st
April 2006).
| Every day | 9
|
| Most days | 11 |
| Weekends | 24 |
| Sometimes | 9 |
Never 95
NB Most days and weekends are not mutually exclusive—this
leads to some overlap in the figures.
Breakfast Packs
The minimum requirement to be offered to all prisoners for
the breakfast meal is as follows:
— A portion of breakfast cereal
— 2 x bread roll / sliced bread / toast—2
x sachet jam or marmalade
It is recommended that the breakfast meal is complemented
with either a piece of fresh fruit, dried fruit portion, a yoghurt,
slice of cheese, boiled egg or whole fruit juice. This is balanced
against the rest of the day's menu.
59 establishments take breakfast packs from the internal
prison industry that assembles the item. Information suggests
that breakfast packs are served on a regular basis at some 115
establishments, the balance being assembled locally.
Question 147 (Mr Alan Williams) Variations between juvenile
establishments
In April 2000, the Youth Justice Board became the commissioning
and purchasing body for all secure accommodation for remanded
and sentenced children and young people. The basis of the relationship
with the Prison Service—as the main provider of these services
and in view of the parallel accountability to the Home Secretary—is
that of a strategic partnership. A five-year partnership agreement
sets out how the strategic partnership will operate. The agreement
is currently supported in a three-year Service Level Agreement
(2005-08), which specifies the services to be delivered and the
detailed contract monitoring arrangements that will operate.
Prison Service establishments holding those prisoners that
the YJB are responsible for receive funding as identified in the
price and budget schedules that form part of the Service Level
Agreement (SLA). The cost model for the SLA works at a high aggregate
budget level. Overall level of funding is agreed with the YJB
for the provision of juvenile custodial services. Funding is based
on historic baseline amounts with annual Prison Service/YJB negotiations
covering efficiency savings, inflation requirements and new services.
Budget allocations to prisons are not re-worked each year. Allocation
is in effect the historic budget adjusted in line with changes
made to the SLA. The high level aggregate budget includes a core
activities component. Catering is recognised as an element of
core activities and is not separately identified or reported on
as part of the SLA financial management arrangements.
The high-level aggregate budget for core activities is then
distributed within the Prison Service to all those establishments
holding juveniles. It is then up to Governors to spend the money
allocated to them on meeting the requirements set by the YJB.
As part of the cost model the funding attributed by the YJB to
fund the cost of food was £1.5m for 2005-06. Of the total
funds allocated to each establishment Feltham chose to spend £152k
in 2004-05 on food whilst Brinsford spent £102k. Both establishments
hold roughly the same number of juveniles and the difference reflects
local priorities and operational demands. In retrospect we should
have made it clearer that the distribution and spending of funds
on specific items—such as food—was a Prison Service
decision on how best to meet the requirements set. We apologise
for any confusion caused. An additional £337k cost was attributed
to the daily food allowance for juveniles to take account of internal
Land Based Activity products. Commenting on the actual daily food
allowance for establishments holding juveniles is also complicated
by the fact that the majority of these establishments also hold
young offenders (prisoners up to 21) and have a central kitchen,
and effectively, a single food budget that provides meals for
the whole population.
Establishments currently holding juvenile prisoners [and
the average number of YJB Juveniles held in 2005-06] are:
MALE
| Brinsford | [209] |
| Castington | [140] |
| Feltham | [207] |
| Hindley | [151] |
| Huntercombe* | [347] |
| Lancaster Farms | [130] |
| Stoke Heath | [189] |
| Thorn Cross | [42] |
| Warren Hill* | [204] |
| Werrington* | [136] |
| Wetherby* | [334] |
*Establishments that only hold juvenile prisoners—the others
hold a mixture of juveniles and young offenders:
FEMALE
| Cookham Wood | [8] |
| Downview | [14] |
| Eastwood Park | [10] |
| New Hall | [37] |
All female establishments also hold young offenders as well as
adults.
The catering service needs to be, as a minimum, in accordance
with the specification agreed with the YJB. This provides the
necessary flexibility for the provision of a varied, healthy,
multi-choice menu to suit the needs of the local prisoner population.
Any additional funding provided for food is found from within
local prison budgets and reflects local priorities. How the specification
is met and with what budget—within set standards—is
up to individual Governors to achieve.
Responsibility for determining the establishment food budget
lies with the governing Governor who will set aside a realistic
sum that will meet the dietary needs of the population of the
establishment (the "daily food allowance"). Governors
set the catering budget during the establishment's annual business
planning process. Within set standards individual Governors make
management decisions about the amount of the budget allocated
to them that they will spend on the provision of food to those
held in their establishment. This accounts for much of the variation
seen between establishments.
In addition variations in the daily food allowance amongst
establishments generally, including those that hold juveniles,
are influenced by a number of factors, including:
— Differences in size of population ie economies
of scale
— Cultural variations in populations
— Age and sex of population
— Number of serving points and whether clustering
arrangements exist
— Number of catering staff and their capabilities
It is worth noting that operational necessities often require
utilising food service as a management tool. Providing special
dishes, or extras can sooth what are sometimes very difficult
circumstances. These circumstances do impact on budget spends.
However we fully accept the recommendation contained in the NAO
Report that we should further explore the scope for future financial
savings in benchmarking catering operations.
The table below shows—provisionally—the food
costs for all establishments holding juvenile prisoners in 2005-06. The
first column represents the costs attributable to the YJB whilst
the second column is the additional funding for products sourced
for the Prison Service's Land Based Activities (LBA).
YJB JUVENILE ESTABLISHMENT'S VICTUALLING COSTS 2005-06
(PROVISIONAL DATA)
| ESTABLISHMENT | Juveniles (YJB)
| Juveniles (including LBA) | Juveniles Total DFA
|
| | |
|
| | |
|
| BRINSFORD | 109,297 | 152,038
| 1.99 |
| CASTINGTON | 86,015 | 112,668
| 2.20 |
| FELTHAM | 200,118 | 211,571
| 2.80 |
| HINDLEY | 102,204 | 111,167
| 2.02 |
| HUNTERCOMBE | 387,466 | 438,291
| 3.46 |
| LANCASTER FARMS | 90,260 |
111,366 | 2.35 |
| STOKE HEATH | 120,089 | 148,406
| 2.15 |
| THORN CROSS | 24,647 | 29,723
| 1.94 |
| WARREN HILL | 114,962 | 142,563
| 1.91 |
| WERRINGTON | 81,646 | 110,401
| 2.22 |
| WETHERBY | 201,054 | 277,294
| 2.27 |
| TOTAL MALES | 1,517,758 |
1,845,489 | 2.42 |
| COOKHAM WOOD | 8,088 | 9,648
| 3.30 |
| DOWNVIEW | 6,017 | 7,500
| 1.47 |
| EASTWOOD PARK | 10,111 |
12,048 | 3.30 |
| NEW HALL | 16,342 | 20,712
| 1.53 |
| TOTAL FEMALES | 40,558 |
49,908 | 1.98 |
| GRAND TOTAL | 1,558,316 |
1,895,397 | 2.41 |
| | |
|
NB: The above data for females should be treated with high
caution as they are either for part year or the number of places
provided at the prison changed significantly during the year.
Four of the above establishments (Huntercombe, Warren Hill,
Werrington and Wetherby) hold juvenile prisoners only. All others
hold a mixture of juvenile and other types of prisoner.
The most significant outrider is now Huntercombe. The local
reasoning for additional spending was to provide at least five
portions of fruit and vegetables in line with national guidance.
In addition there is the provision of fruit juice at breakfast,
fruit squash at tea, fresh milk (250ml) twice a day and occasionally
at lunch. The main meals were also enhanced.
In 2006-07 the food budget for this financial year has been
reduced to £315k which will take the Daily Food Allowance
below £3.
|
