HC Deb 23 February 1921 vol 138 cc943-4W
Mr. CAPE

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether an application, dated 6th January last, and signed by the Prison Officers' Representative Council, dealing with the recently reduced rates of permanent pay, was submitted to the General Prisons' Board by the President of the Representative Council, and that no reply of any kind has been given to that application; and whether he will take early and immediate steps to have the claims embodied in the application sent forward to the Civil Service Conciliation and Arbitration Board, or give permission to the Council to forward those claims to that Board?

Mr. T. GRIFFITHS

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether a number of principal warders and Class 1 warders employed on clerical duties in offices, stores, and schools in the Irish Prison Service have been degraded to the rank of clerk and schoolmaster under the new scheme of assimilation and have accordingly suffered a great reduction in permanent pay; whether the Assistant Undersecretary promised the Prison Officers' Representative Council on the 17th August last that existing holders of those positions would not be interfered with; and, if so, will he now take steps to see that those existing officers are restored to their former ranks or are permitted to retain the permanent scale of pay common to the principal warder rank?

Mr. LUNN

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether, in view of the dissatisfaction prevailing in the Irish Prison Service consequent on the degrading of a large number of principal warders and the reduction of their permanent pay, and also other irregularities under the assimilation scheme, he will allow the whole question of assimilation to go before the Civil Service Conciliation and Arbitration Board, as requested in the application of the Prison Officers' Representative Council, dated 14th February, 1920?

Sir H. GREENWOOD

There are various questions affecting grading and pay in the Irish Prisons Service, to which I am at present giving my personal attention. If necessary, the Prison Officers' Representative Council will be given an opportunity for a conference on the whole matter at an early date. Pending such conference, the question of a reference to the Civil Service Arbitration Board does not arise.