§ Mr. WILKIEasked the Secretary for Scotland if he will make inquiries as to whether the lower ranks of the Scottish prison service female staff were not allowed to have fires in their small grates on certain days of the week during the recent severe weather; whether fires were allowed for the higher ranks; whether there is official sanction for this discrimination; will he ascertain the approximate cost for the staff to have their fires as before the order was made restricting them to certain days of the week; is he aware that the majority of the rooms not heated by the radiator system are wet and cold, and that water runs freely down the walls; whether the Commissioners received a report from a medical man in Greenock condemning the quarters; whether the Commissioners have received any medical report lately; and, if not, whether he will call for one, so that the complaints of the female staff may receive attention?
§ Mr. MUNROI have again inquired into this matter, and I am assured that fires were allowed all through the winter in the sitting rooms of the Scottish prison female staff, and in their bedrooms when it was considered necessary. In this matter no discrimination is made between different ranks of the staff. As regards cost, it is essential at the present time that the utmost economy should be exercised in the matter of coal consumption, and bedroom fires are not justifiable except for special health reasons. As regards the remainder of the question, no report has been received by the Prison Commissioners from a medical man in Greenock condemning the prison quarters there, which were only built in 1913. There is no reason to suppose that any rooms are occupied under conditions which might be injurious to health, and no special medical investigation seems to be called for.