Prison Workshops (Hansard, 20 March 1986)

§ 1. Mr. Kilroy-Silk
asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has reached a decision on the prison department's recommendation that 57 prison workshops should be closed.

§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. David Mellor)
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State hopes to make an announcement shortly.

§ Mr. Kilroy-Silk
Before the Secretary of State comes to a decision on the future of those prison workshops, will the Minister ensure that he bears in mind that their closure would lead to a substantial reduction in the quality of the prison regime? Incidentally, the Chief Inspector of Prisons has already decided that that quality is unacceptable for the majority of inmates. Furthermore, does the hon Gentleman accept that such closures would make a mockery of the prison department's stated aim of enabling prisoners to lead a good and useful life?

§ Mr. Mellor
Our aim is to give prison industries a firmer base so that they can provide a more efficient service and better value for money. We certainly do not want to destroy them. We recognise that their prime aim is to provide work for inmates. As the hon. Gentleman has said, purposeful work makes a contribution to the maintenance of good order and control in establishments. Our job is to try to arrest the decline in prison industries which has been experienced during the past 12 or 15 years, and that is what we are trying to do.

§ Mr. Lawrence
Is my hon. Friend aware that if there is to be any hope for rehabilitative prison sentencing, more work, not less, will have to be done in prisons? If we ensure that there is a proper and widespread system of prison work, we might be able to abolish the parole system and let people work their way out of prison.

§ Mr. Mellor
I am afraid that ambition is well short of realisation in the real world. Work, education and vocational and physical training are all key elements in our plans. However, last year the prison industries lost £25 million, which is a matter of concern to us and to the Public Accounts Committee. Plainly we must bear that in mind and put prison industries on a more efficient footing.

§ Mr. Beith
Is the Minister aware that the unused workshop facilities, which represent such a gap in the rehabilitative regime that is supposed to exist in our prisons, are made worse by such cuts in the overtime budget as will occur at Castington? Indeed, I expressed fears about that during a recent Adjournment debate.

§ Mr. Mellor
I know of the hon. Gentleman's concern, but he also knows that this Government have made more money available to prisons than any of their predecessors did. We have strengthened the prison service and are in the process of constructing prisons that are far more pleasant for prison officers to work in. Obviously, however, we cannot do everything at once, and we must keep a tight financial grip on things such as overtime.

§ Mr. Soley
Does the Minister not understand that his last answer will be greeted with contempt by just about everyone who has any knowledge of the prison system, and by all the staff in the prison service? Both they and the Minister know that the Government are undermining the prison workshop regime because of the problems of prison overcrowding. The Government should be dealing with the problems of overcrowding so that workshops and education can be a proper part of the prison regime, as the inspector wants them to be.

§ Mr. Mellor
The hon. Gentleman has made a wild statement, which is not typical of him. It must have been his lunch. I do not think that he will find people saying anything like that. Our position, in trying to run the prison system, would have been made much easier if we had inherited a system from the Labour Government that was in a less than utterly ramshackle state.