§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) whether he will consider substantially increasing the budgetary allocation of hours for Her Majesty's Prison, Bedford, in view of the 230W many and unpredictable demands imposed on prison officers by the requirements of the Crown courts it serves;
(2) of the total of some 6,000 hours a week allowed to Her Majesty's Prison, Bedford, for the past year, what is the percentage of the total so taken up to meet the requirements of the four Crown courts served, hospital escorts and transfers, as distinct from running the internal operations of the prison;
(3) how many manpower surveys have been conducted in Her Majesty's Prison, Bedford, in the past seven years; whether the recommendations have been both accepted and implemented; and what steps are taken to ensure that manning levels are sufficient to meet security requirements and to enable prison officers effectively to discharge their services while working reasonable overtime;
(4) if he will authorise an up-to-date manpower survey at Her Majesty's Prison, Bedford, to facilitate resolving the local industrial dispute.
§ Mr. JohnStaffing arrangements at all penal establishments are kept under continuing review to ensure that an acceptable level of security is maintained. Three manpower reviews have been conducted at Bedford Prison in the last seven years. No action was taken on the first, but in 1975 additional staff were approved to meet the operational needs of the prison. The findings of a more comprehensive review which took place in 1976 were overtaken by the introduction of budgetary control of hours. My Department proposes to arrange for a further review to take place as soon as a manpower team can be made available. Any revision of the budgetary allocation of hours will necessarily follow this review. About 22 per cent. of the total weekly hours at present allowed to Bedford Prison relates to court and other external commitments.
§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many serious assaults have occurred at Her Majesty's Prison, Bedford, involving prison officers during each of the past five years.
§ Mr. JohnThere is no ready classifica-wages and salaries; and what is the tion of "serious assaults", but our records show two cases, one in 1973 and 231W one in 1976, of assaults on prison officers involving gross personal violence. In addition, there were other assaults on prison officers as follows: 1972, one; 1973, three; 1974, one; 1975, two; 1976, twelve.
§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the prisons in England and Wales comparable with Bedford and indicate the number of Crown courts served in each case.
§ Mr. JohnThose local prisons in similar geographical situations, and with a similar proportion of unsentenced and civil prisoners to Bedford, are listed below, together with figures showing the number of Crown and county courts served in each case; the number of magistrates courts to which there is some degree of commitment is also shown.
Prison Crown Courts County Courts Magistrates Courts Bedford … 4 15 36 Canterbury … 2 20 15 Oxford … 3 8 37
§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if it is the intention of the Government to use police instead of prison officers to man Crown courts in Bedford; if this has occurred; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. JohnThe answer to the first two parts of the Question is "No". It remains the position that the Crown court is always entitled to call upon the services of police for security purposes, and in practice a police officer is almost invariably present when there is a Crown court hearing.
§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of Slate for the Home Department what is the ratio of prison officers to prisoners in Her Majesty's Prison, Bedford; if he will list comparative ratios for the 25 other similar prisons in England and Wales; and to what extent the ratios are affected through having details away from the prison on court duties.
§ Mr. JohnThe information relating to Bedford Prison and the other 23 local prisons for the week ending 28th May 1977 was as follows:232W
Establishment Overall ratio Daily average ratio after court details Bedford … 1:2.13 1:2.72 Birmingham … 1:3.53 1:4.16 Bristol … 1:2.46 1:2.87 Brixton … 1:2.15 1:3.70 Canterbury … 1:2.60 1:3.20 Cardiff … 1:2.89 1:3.48 Dorchester … 1:2.99 1:3.38 Durham … 1:3.00 1:3.54 Exeter … 1:3.03 1:3.28 Gloucester … 1:2.88 1:3.21 Leeds … 1:3.48 1:4.38 Leicester … 1:1.76 1:1.90 Lewes … 1:2.34 1:2.60 Lincoln … 1:2.77 1:3.32 Liverpool … 1:4.06 1:4.17 Manchester … 1:4.66 1:4.75 Norwich … 1:2.46 1:2.81 Oxford … 1:2.81 1:3.74 Pentonville … 1:4.21 1:4.57 Shrewsbury … 1:2.10 1:2.41 Swansea … 1:2.42 1:2.81 Wandsworth … 1:4.46 1:4.71 Winchester … 1:2.82 1:3.33 Wormwood Scrubs … 1:3.42 1:3.62