HC Deb 27 February 1969 vol 778 cc339-40W
Mr. Clifford Williams

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what new proposals he has for recruiting prison governors.

Mr. Callaghan

Prison governors are at present recruited through an annual limited competition and, to the extent that insufficient recruits are obtained in this way, by open competition. In the past, the majority of vacancies have been filled from outside the Prison Service by the latter method. It is my aim that promotion from within the service should be the normal method of filling governor vacancies and for this purpose I have appointed a working party with the following terms of reference:

(1) To recommend what changes are necessary to secure that over a period a one-tier system is introduced into the Prison Service in England and Wales and that meanwhile an increasing proportion of the vacancies in the governor class is filled from within the Prison Service; and for this purpose

(2) to examine—

  1. (a) what modifications are needed in the arrangements for the recruitment 340 of prison officers, their conditions of entry and opportunities of promotion to assistant governor;
  2. (b) what improvements are needed in the facilities available to suitable prison officers wishing to prepare for such promotion; and
  3. (c) what steps are needed to remove any circumstances which may deter officers from seeking such promotion.

The Working Party will be under the chairmanship of the Director General of the Prison Service and will comprise, besides senior officials of the Home Office, staff association representatives of governors, prison officers and other Prison Service staffs.