§ 1. Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department which prisons are to be upgraded during the next financial years; and what improvements will be carried out.
§ The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. James Callaghan)I would refer my hon. Friend to what I said in the debate in the House on 14th November.
§ Mrs. ShortHaving given a considerable list of improvements to be made, can my right hon. Friend say whether they will provide for the more effective use of prison officers' time by, for example, the introduction of mechanical equipment, and will these improvements remove the degrading system of slopping out?
§ Mr. CallaghanI certainly hope that the improvements which are to be made will include such things as better plant and machinery, workshops and power supplies, and that consideration will be given to the installation of electrical locking and unlocking systems, which would overcome the difficulty raised in the second part of my hon. Friend's supplementary question.