§ LORD BROOKE OF CUMNORMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they propose to alter the established arrangements for the appointment of assistant governors and governors in the Prison Service.]
THE MINISTER OF STATE, HOME OFFFICE (LORD STONIIAM)My Lords, assistant governors are at present recruited through an annual limited competition open only to serving members of the prison officer class, or by promotion from among prison officers who have reached the rank of chief officer; and, to the extent that insufficient recruits are obtained in these two ways, by open competition. Since 1948, it has been the aim of successive Governments that as many governors as possible should be appointed from within the ranks of the Prison Service, but progress has been slow, and in practice the majority of vacancies has been filled from outside the Prison Service by open competition. As my right honourable friend announced recently in another place, it is his aim that promotion from within the Service should be the normal method of filling governor vacancies, and for this purpose he has appointed a Working Party of officials and staff representatives to recommend what changes are necessary to secure that over a period a one-tier system is introduced into the Prison Service in England and Wales and that meanwhile an increasing proportion of the vacancies in the governor class is 296 filled from within the Service. It is already the practice to appoint prison governors by promotion from the assistant governor ranks. No change in this procedure is contemplated.
§ LORD BROOKE OF CUMNORMy Lords, I thank the noble Lord for that information. While I cordially agree with him about the desirability of its being open to prison officers with the requisite abilities to rise to the highest positions in the Service, may I ask whether, bearing in mind the high quality of assistant governors and governors in the Prison Service generally, he will undertake not to make any substantial change in the existing arrangements for recruiting and appointing them without first publishing the Report of the Working Party which has been set up?
§ LORD STONHAMMy Lords, I join with the noble Lord in his tribute to the quality of governors and assistant governors generally, and appreciate the importance of the point he has just raised. As he will know, three present governors and one former governor are members of the Working Party. I think that guarantees the quality of the advice that my right honourable friend will receive. I will certainly make representations to my right honourable friend with regard to the point of publication of the Report.