Asked by: David Anderson (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she has submitted evidence to the Prison Officers Pay Review Body; and what the reasons were for the time taken for that submission.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The government has now submitted its evidence to the Prison Service Pay Review Body (PSPRB), which outlines the pay proposals for all operational prison staff for 2017/18, following extensive talks with both the Prison Officers’ Association (POA) and the Prison Governors’ Association (PGA).
Asked by: David Anderson (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she plans to take to ensure the independence of the Prison Officers' Pay Review Body from (a) prison service management and (b) Government.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The Government respects and values the role of the independent Prison Service Pay Review Body (PSPRB) as a compensatory mechanism for Operational staff within the Prison Service for whom the inducement to participate in industrial action is prohibited by law.
The PSPRB members are independently appointed through the Public Appointments Team and the panel makes independent recommendations having considered evidence from both NOMS, in agreement with wider Government, and trade unions.
Asked by: David Anderson (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether it is her Department's policy to provide information to prisoners and their families in the event of their transfer to another prison; and by what mechanism prisoners and their families can appeal a prison transfer.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
Prison Rules require prisons to actively encourage prisoners to maintain outside contacts and meaningful family ties.
Prisoners also have a statutory entitlement to send and receive letters and are entitled to one free letter to inform someone they are being transferred. They are also given the access to make a telephone call on the day of their arrival to a new prison to inform their family of their new location if they have not been able to do so in advance. It is the prisoners’ responsibility to advise their family if they are transferring to another prison.
The prisoner can make an appeal through the complaints system and is entitled to a reply, which should provide clear reasons for their decision. If they are not satisfied with their response they can write to the Prison Ombudsman. Families can also raise any concerns directly with the Prison.
Asked by: David Anderson (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment her Department has made of the implications for (a) prison officer and (b) prisoner safety of prison officers working in shifts at other prison establishments in addition to those prison establishments at which they are based.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
There is a requirement that home/parent establishments maintain records of all official duties carried out by members of staff, both those duties within their home/parent establishment and within or for any other establishment. Establishments are also required to maintain records when members of staff from other establishments carryout duties within or for their establishment.
Individual members of staff have a responsibility to support the above and are required inform their parent establishment of their wish/intention to work additional hours at another establishment, in advance of the hours being worked.
When members of staff are deployed to another establishment for a protracted period on Detached Duty they are given an appropriate induction to familiarise them with specifics of the prison and key issues relating to individual prisoners. If standard duties are carried out on an ad hoc basis for other establishments standard risk assessments and briefs will be carried out.
In all circumstances records should be maintained.
Asked by: David Anderson (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information her Department holds on the number of prison officers who work additional shifts at other prison establishments; and whether line managers at those prison officers' main place of work are aware of additional shifts worked elsewhere.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
There is a requirement that home/parent establishments maintain records of all official duties carried out by members of staff, both those duties within their home/parent establishment and within or for any other establishment.
Establishments are also required to maintain records when members of staff from other establishments carryout duties within or for their establishment.
Individual members of staff have a responsibility to support the above and are required inform their parent establishment of their wish/intention to work additional hours at another establishment, in advance of the hours being worked. In all circumstances records should be maintained.
Asked by: David Anderson (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what representations she has received on prison officers working additional shifts in other prison establishments than those at which they are based without the knowledge of their line management.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
Following an audit of the arrangements under which members of staff undertake additional hours/shifts, new arrangements and requirements were introduced that mandated the need to maintain records of all attendance arrangements, both those within parent establishments and also any additional attendance within other establishments.
The above new arrangements were introduced in 2014 with the publication of Notice to Staff 43/2014.
Concerns have previously been raised relating to staff undertaking additional hours/shifts within establishments other than their home/parent establishment by the Prison Officers Association. It is felt that the introduction of the above address’s this, as the arrangements ensure that information is readily available to managers to enable them to monitor the additional attendance.
Asked by: David Anderson (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department knew of any restrictive covenant on the use and disposal of HMP Holloway, the land upon which it is situated or its buildings before publication of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015.
Answered by Andrew Selous
We will consider what impact the existence of any restrictive covenant would have on any future closures and new prison sites. Providing a list of restrictive covenants on the use and disposal of each prison in England and Wales could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: David Anderson (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what restrictive covenants exist on the use and disposal of each prison establishment in England and Wales.
Answered by Andrew Selous
We will consider what impact the existence of any restrictive covenant would have on any future closures and new prison sites. Providing a list of restrictive covenants on the use and disposal of each prison in England and Wales could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: David Anderson (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what account the prison estates review took of the existence of restrictive covenants prior to the Government's announcement of the programme of prison closures and new prison construction.
Answered by Andrew Selous
We will consider what impact the existence of any restrictive covenant would have on any future closures and new prison sites. Providing a list of restrictive covenants on the use and disposal of each prison in England and Wales could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: David Anderson (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of courts and tribunal buildings in England and Wales have wifi access.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
One of the main projects within the Criminal Justice Efficiency Programme was to introduce Wi-Fi throughout the criminal courts, allowing professional court users access to their home systems and the internet, improving their productivity and efficiency of flow of cases in court. With 158 courthouses already connected, the Programme is on track to deliver to all criminal courts well before summer 2016. Further courts may come into scope depending on the outcome of the consultation on the court estate which is currently underway. In addition to the wifi provided for professional court users many courts have commercially provided BT wifi solutions to allow court users to access the internet. These have been installed locally and no central record is held on the exact number of courts where this is available.
We have secured over £700m of funding to invest in our courts and tribunals. We have worked closely with the senior judiciary to develop a plan for investing this in reforming the courts and tribunals so they can deliver swifter, fairer justice at a lower cost. This will include digitisation and modernisation of our IT infrastructure. This will mean court users can attend hearings remotely, and not be inconvenienced by having to take a day off work to come to court. It will also mean victims of crime can give evidence from somewhere they feel safe.