Slopping Out (Hansard, 17 March 1994)

§ Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

[holding answer 14 March 1994]: Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Scottish Prison Service under the chief executive, Mr. E. W. Frizzell. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from E. W. Frizzell to Mr. John McFall, dated 17 March 1994: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton has asked me to reply to your Question about slopping out in Scottish prisons. With the recent completion of the installation of in-cell toilets at Inverness and Aberdeen Prisons, there are 6 prison establishments, out of the total of 20 in Scotland, which in varying degrees require further sanitation facilities. These are Barlinnie, Dumfries, Edinburgh, Perth, Perterhead and Polmont YOI. (Greenock Prison has 4 cells without sanitation but these are held for observation purposes only). A high priority is being attributed to the ending of slopping out, as indicated in the Estates Strategy for the Service (contained at Chapter 9 of, and Annex B to, the Scottish Prison Service Corporate Plan, a copy of which was deposited in the Library in August of last year). Work is continuing to be undertaken through a rolling programme which, among other things, has to take account of the feasibility of cells being taken out of use for this purpose at a time of high prisoner numbers. Work is currently underway in installing an electronic locking system, to provide access to night sanitation, throughout a large part of the cellular accommodation at Polmont YOI and it is planned that this will be followed up by projects to provide in-cell toilets in the remaining accommodation. In the coming financial year, sanitation work is planned to commence in Perth (E Hall), Edinburgh (D Hall), Dumfries (C Wing) and, provisionally, in the latter part of the year, in Barlinnie (D Hall). If we can maintain subsequent progress I would expect the programme to be completed by the end of the 1990s at the latest. Prisoner numbers will however have an important influence on how quickly work can be undertaken.