§ Mr. N. MACLEANasked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he is aware that the Scottish Prison Officers' Representative Board has made representations to the Prisons Department to be supplied with waterproof coats similar to those issued to prison officers in England and Wales; whether the Scottish prison officers' pay and conditions of service were assimilated with those obtaining in England and Wales; and, if so, why this discrimination has been made in the case of the Scottish warders?
§ Sir G. COLLINSThe answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. The pay and conditions of service in Scotland are generally assimilated to those obtaining in England; but differences in circumstances in certain respects require to be taken into account. Every discipline officer in Scotland is provided with a uniform greatcoat, and an adequate number of waterproof cloaks is maintained for general issue to officers when required; but having in view that practically every officer is provided with official quarters adjacent to the prison, a routine issue of waterproof cloaks in every case would not appear to be necessary. I shall, however, be glad to look 371W into any particular case where the existing provision may be represented as falling short of reasonable requirements.
§ Mr. MACLEANasked the Secretary of State for Scotland the amount of boot allowance paid per annum to each Scottish warder in 1914; the amount paid immediately preceding the issue of boots in 1923; the cost per officer under the present arrangements of providing a pair of boots including the sum allowed for repairs; and is he aware of the complaints made by the Prison Officers' Representative Board regarding an inferior kind of boot supplied and that the repair allowance is inadequate?
§ Sir G. COLLINSThe amount of boot allowance paid per annum to each Scottish warder in 1914 was 26s., and in 1922, 52s. In 1923 the supply of boots in kind was undertaken, and arrangements were subsequently made for uniform boots to be made at Polmont Institution. The cost per officer under present arrangements of providing boots, including the sum allowed for repair, is 21s. 6d. per annum. No complaint has been received from the Prison Officers' Representative Board that an inferior kind of boot has been supplied, and I have no reason to believe that the repair allowance, which was fixed after full inquiry, is inadequate.