§ Mr. Boydenasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many vacancies for male assistant governors of prisons have been filled since 1st January, 1961; and how many men appointed were prison officers;
(2) how many vacancies for female assistant governors of prisons have been filled since 1st January, 1961; and how 125W many women appointed were prison officers.
(3) how many assistant governors of prisons were appointed during 1959 and 1960, respectively; and how many of these men and women were serving prison officers.
(4) if, when he is filling the 22 recently advertised vacancies for assistant governors of prisons, he will promote to a majority of these posts men from the lower ranks of the Prison Service.
§ Mr. R. A. ButlerThere are two classes of assistant governor: Class I and Class II. Class II is the normal recruitment grade, vacancies in which are filled by two methods of entry. The first is confined to established prison officers for whom a staff course is held each year for selected candidates. When the number of such officers is not sufficient to fill the vacancies existing, the balance is made up by selection following an open competition held by the Civil Service Commission. This year the balance is expected to be about 22.
In 1959, 15 newly appointed Assistant Governors Class II took up duty, of whom 4 were members of the prison officer class. In 1960 the corresponding figures were 32 and 13. Since 1st January, 1961, 18 newly appointed male Assistant Governors Class II have taken up duty, 5 of whom were members of the prison officer class. One woman Assistant Governor Class II, not a member of the prison officer class, has taken up duty since that date, and 4 women, one of whom is a member of the prison officer class, have accepted offers of appointment but none of them as yet has taken up duty.
Appointments to Assistant Governor Class I are by promotion from Assistant Governor Class II and from the higher grades of the prison officer class. Since 1st January, 1961, 8 officers have been appointed Assistant Governor Class I, one of them being promoted from chief officer.
§ Mr. Boydenasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many governors of prisons there are in the Prison Service; and how many of them have served at least 10 years as prison officers;
126W(2) how many posts there are of commissioner and assistant commissioner in the Prison Service; and how many of these posts are held by men or women who had previously served at least 10 years as prison officers.
§ Mr. R. A. ButlerThere are 5 prison commissioners, 9 assistant commissioners and 81 governors, including wardens of detention centres.
No commissioner has been a prison officer. One assistant commissioner and 13 governors have been prison officers, 10 of whom served 10 years or more as prison officers.