§ Mr. N. MACLEANasked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether the statutory rules governing the Scottish Prison Officers' Representative Board contain any provision by which the representatives may personally approach the Secretary of State or a representative from the Scottish Office in the event of the representatives feeling that they have not been satisfactorily treated by the Department?
§ Sir G. COLLINSThere are no statutory rules governing the Scottish Prison Officers' Representative Board, and the terms of its constitution do not include a provision of the kind mentioned. The Prisons (Scotland) Rules provide that written applications by prison officers to the Secretary of State shall be submitted by the Prisons Department, and I am always prepared to give careful consideration to such applications, whether the officers making them are or are not representatives of the board.
§ Mr. MACLEANasked the Secretary of State for Scotland on whose authority additional words in brackets were made to an official circular issued to the Scottish prison staff relating to lines 3 and 4 of the Stanhope Report, paragraph 18, and interpreted to include warders employed at the criminal lunatic department at Perth?
§ Sir G. COLLINSThe application to the Scottish Prisons Service of para-2160W graph 18 of the report of the Prisons Officers Pay Committee was explained in a circular issued to prison governors by the Prison Commissioners for Scotland in January, 1924, and the then Secretary for Scotland was satisfied that the commissioners had correctly given effect to the intention of the report.
§ Mr. MACLEANasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the amount of weekly lodging allowance paid to warders of the various grades when living out of quarters by consent of the Department?
§ Sir G. COLLINSWarders not provided with official quarters are granted a lodging allowance of 6s. 6d. per week; this rate may be increased where necessary in the case of married officers up to a maximum of 10s. 6d. per week.
§ Mr. MACLEANasked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether the Removal Expenses Circular, of 24th October, has now been applied to the staffs of Scottish prisons; if so, to what date does the concession apply; and whether he is aware that this circular applied to the prison officers in England and Wales from 24th October, 1925?
§ Sir G. COLLINSThe terms of the removal expenses report referred to, as applied to the Civil Service generally, were extended to the Scottish prisons service as from 6th September last in supersession of the special rules which, as explained in my replies to questions by the hon. Member on the subject on 14th February and 18th July last, were designed to meet the particular conditions obtaining in the Scottish prisons service. I understand that the terms of the report referred to were applied to the prisons service in England and Wales on 1st April, 1926.
§ Mr. MACLEANasked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he is aware that the Scottish Prison Officers' Representative Board has repeatedly asked the Department to be supplied with waterproof coats for the warders similar to the coats supplied to officers in the English prison service; and whether, having regard to the fact that these warders are civil servants similar to the warders in England, he will make the concession to Ole Scottish warders?
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§ Sir G. COLLINSI am aware of the applications made by the Scottish Prison Officers' Representative Board for a personal issue of waterproof cloaks to warders; but, as explained in my replies to questions on the subject by the hon. Member on 14th March and 19th June last, differences in circumstances in certain respects between the prison services in Scotland and England require to be taken into account. In Scotland, every warder is provided with a uniform greatcoat, and an adequate number of waterproof cloaks is maintained at each prison for issue at times when they are required; and as practically every warder is provided with official quarters adjacent to the prison, a personal issue of waterproof cloaks to every warder would not appear to be justified.