HC Deb 23 April 1953 vol 514 cc1392-3
38. Mr. Irvine

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is satisfied that the existing system of selecting prison officers does not require candidates to perform unnecessarily re sponsible duties over an undesirably long period before they may be informed that they have failed to qualify.

Sir D. Maxwell Fyfe

Yes, Sir. The course of training is no longer than is necessary to ensure that well-qualified men and women are recruited to the ser vice. During that part of the course which takes place in a prison or Borstal, recruits are treated as students super numerary to the staff, and, save in excep tional circumstances, they ought not to perform any responsible duties.

Mr. Irvine

Is the Home Secretary aware that, while I am grateful to him for having investigated the case to which I drew his attention, there will be disappointment at his reply? Why should it be necessary for a candidate to be tried out for as long as five months, in charge of large batches of prisoners and evening patrols, before he is told that he is not suitable, although there is no reflection on his character?

Sir D. Maxwell Fyfe

I appreciate the disappointment in cases such as that put forward by the hon. Member, but it is vital to have a very high standard in this service. I should be pleased to consider any practical suggestion which the hon. Member puts to me.

Mr. Pannell

Will the Home Secretary appreciate that this merely underlines the point that I have been pressing on him and his predecessors for a very long time about the procedure for the admission of applicants as officers to the prison service and that my hon. Friend's experience apparently corroborates all that I have previously said? In view of all this, will he cause an independent investigation to be made by persons who have not so far been implicated in the question of re cruitment?

Sir D. Maxwell Fyfe

I had looked into the subjects in relation to the district to which the hon. Member referred; but in every case it was clear to me that the deci sion taken was necessary for the benefit of the service.