§ MR. JOHN HUTTON (Yorkshire, Richmond)To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is now in a position to do anything to improve the position of prison officers with regard to their rate of pay or terms of service for pension; whether there is any difficulty in obtaining a sufficient number of suitable warders; and how many prison officers have retired with a three-quarter pension after forty years service.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Ritchie). I am not in a position to announce any decision in this difficult matter, but it is not being lost sight of. It cannot be said that there is a serious difficulty in obtaining suitable candidates for the post of prison warder. Since the 1st April, 1878, when the local prisons were taken over by the Government, the number of officers (including both local and convict prison officers) who have retired with the full pension (two-thirds) after forty years service, is twenty-eight.